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identified that the federal courthouse needed downtown parking. He asked that the council not “slap away this opportunity.” He submitted his testimony in writing. th Rick Wright , 25 West 25 Avenue, chief executive officer for the PC Market of Choice stores, averred that a parking garage in partnership with a commercial project was a subsidy. He thought the real debate should focus on who would win and who would lose. He opined that the only winners would be Whole Foods Grocery and landlords and the whole community stood to lose something. He stressed that the city of Eugene had a unique blend of locally owned grocery stores supported by an infrastructure of farmers, manufacturers and suppliers. He felt Eugene offered one of the most sustainable food industries in the country. He predicted that Whole Foods Grocery would do as much business as the combined business of nine existing businesses. He felt this would significantly affect the sales of local businesses and the sales of local growers as well. Ginevra Ralph , 2187 University Street, spoke on behalf of the Shedd Institute for the Arts. She urged the th council to move forward with a parking structure at 8 Avenue and High Street, including foregoing an open bid process in this case. She said the City identified the need for additional structured parking on East Broadway for eight years. She asserted that current parking was already seriously inadequate for existing civic and commercial activity. She noted that the Shedd Institute currently served 700 students and approximately 200 ticket buyers, staff, and faculty each week during daytime hours. She said this was in addition to several thousand each month who attended evening concerts and public events. She stated that the business hour users were served with 36 parking spaces in their lot. She underscored that the Shedd Institute did not support providing a subsidy to businesses and disagreed with the assertion that the proposed parking garage was such a subsidy, as the Whole Foods Grocery would provide its own parking. She believed it was within the City’s role to provide adequate infrastructure parking in the downtown core and that this would support the revitalization of the area. She opined that the alternative was urban sprawl, shopping malls with acres of surface parking. Dwight Collins , 1600 Orchard Street, thanked the council for giving the public the opportunity to share its vision of the downtown area and how public monies should be spent on achieving that vision. He stated that he had owned Newman’s Fish Market for over 27 years, a business that was started in Eugene more than 115 years earlier. He joined many other small grocery businesses in their opposition to the use of public money for the public garage, which he considered to be a subsidy to a competitor. He thought there were already enough grocery stores in the downtown area. He said the free enterprise system invited growth and competition, but this growth should not be subsidized. He asserted that Whole Foods must not be meeting its parking goal given that the business made the parking structure a deal-breaker. He remarked that all businesses faced parking issues and no other business would ask the City to provide more spaces. He did not believe this was an appropriate use of public money. He said the council should show there was a great need for the parking structure and this was a good use of $8 million in public money. Michael Roberts , 1919 Myers Road, said he owned a business in the downtown area. He supported the building of the parking garage because the community had long-planned to build it. He declared that the community must support compact urban growth and not sprawl. He felt construction of the garage would foster many more projects in the downtown area. He asserted that every condominium or apartment built downtown meant one less home outside the urban growth boundary (UGB). Mr. Roberts said the “team-based delivery system” that was proposed on this construction project was currently the leading method of building projects throughout the world. He stated that his company currently delivered 80 percent of its projects on a team-based approach as opposed to a low-bid process. He MINUTES—Eugene City Council -- March 13, 2006 Page 12 City Council Meeting