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MINUTES Eugene City Council Council Chamber — Eugene City Hall 777 Pearl Street — Eugene, Oregon October 25, 2010 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Mike Clark, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, Chris Pryor, Alan Zelenka, George Brown. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the October 25, 2010, regular meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. 1. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. Boyd Iverson, 1872 Willamette Street, discussed the EmX project proposed by Lane Transit District (LTD) in West Eugene. He supported mass transit for those who needed it and thought a mass transit vision was a good thing. However, he believed that the West Eugene EmX route was less a vision and more of an agenda. He did not agree with the conclusion that traffic was a bad thing. He said that the businesses on 7"' and 6` avenues existed because of the traffic that went past their locations and would not be in business otherwise. Mr. Iverson said for a business to be successful, it must have customers, high visibility, ease of access, and adequate parking. Limiting those factors meant that consumer -based businesses would fail. The proposed EmX system affected those businesses negatively. He did not consider the streets involved to be bad, although he acknowledged they were busy. He had seen nothing that suggested here was too much traffic on West 11 Avenue, which continued to function adequately. He believed that if LTD's proposal went forward, it would kill jobs and businesses. Robert Rubin, 2836 West 11 Avenue, represented a family that owned property on West l I th Avenue. He acknowledged it was hard to turn down funds for a project but when the project was not in balance with the costs it made it easier. He said that West 11 Avenue had good bus service. It was not Franklin Boulevard, and there was no destination for the EmX route. He asked what problem LTD was trying to solve. He pointed out that LTD had a budget problem and planned to cut services. Mr. Rubin said the proposed service had fewer stops farther apart and it would be more inconvenient for riders. He noted the evolution of Aqua Serena, a business on West 11 Avenue, and said it was a multi - generational family business that could be lost because of the project. He did not think the project served the greater good of the community and said if the federal money had not been available the project would not even be under discussion. Jim Thomas, 2296 Corinthian Street, representing the Eugene Faith Center, supported the EmX route as visionary for the community. He said that LTD had worked with the church on the route plans that would affect West 13 Avenue and as a result the church had lost curb cuts and access but LTD staff had identified other visionary ways to access the church. He thought the existing system worked well. He was proud of the City and said its future appearance was important to him. MINUTES— Eugene City Council October 25, 2010 Page 1 Regular Meeting