CC Minutes - 03/13/06 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

averred that the low-bid process did not necessarily translate to a lower cost; it only ensured a low bid on bid day. He felt with a team of designers, engineers, and contractors working together, it would be possible to build a better and more efficient project. He alleged that a privately developed parking garage would save the City approximately $2,000 per space. Greg Brokaw , 114 High Street, recommended deferring to the staff recommendation on whether the parking garage should be publicly or privately bid out. He averred that staff had been the only people who spent “enough time with the details of this particular case to have an informed opinion.” He stated that he and his family lived in the downtown area and he also owned a downtown professional firm and a recently renovated building. He felt he and his partners were true progressives when it came to their commitment to a successful and sustainable future for Eugene. He said his business evaluated many things when considering a long-term investment in the downtown area in 2004, the most important of which had been the Downtown Plan and the wisdom and maturity of the elected City Councilors and the “sophistication” of City staff to carry out the day-to-day hard work of supporting a downtown renaissance. He related that two years earlier he had felt that a successful future of the downtown area was common ground for all sides of the political spectrum. Now, though he and his colleagues were still optimistic, it seemed that political leaders were wavering from the larger vision and this was disconcerting. He had expected unanimous support for a project of this caliber, given that it had been long planned for. He found it alarming that not one councilor was leading the charge for a downtown renaissance. He asked where the leadership was. He submitted his testimony in writing. rd Ronald Goldfarb , 466 West 23 Avenue, said he used to be the owner of Ronnie’s Stereo, but had moved to New Orleans to help his parents. He said that Hurricane Katrina was both an act of nature and an act of a government that had not properly taken care of its citizenry. He did not believe leaders there had done what was necessary to protect the citizenry. He thought the rest of the country looked at New Orleans and thought it “would never happen to us.” He said it could happen anywhere. He averred that a misuse of the public money would result in failure. He opposed giving undue favors, regardless of how positively they were presented, as it led to unfair competition. He also felt it was important to get competitive bids on contracts. Floyd Prozanski , PO Box 11511, State Senator, said he was speaking on behalf of all of the small businesses and constituents had had contacted him to convey their opposition. He thought it was premature for the City to build a parking garage at this time, given that the current $1.2 million study on the City Hall needs assessment had not been completed and there could be a better use for that land, current parking structures met the current needs for parking, and the current proposal was limited by its vertical design. He pointed to the Salem Capitol Mall with its underground parking and above-ground greenway as an example of building a multi-use structure within a dense community. He asked the council what position the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) had taken on the ingress/egress on a State highway. He did not th believe that ODOT agreed to any access from the 6 Avenue area. Speaking on his own behalf, he averred that bigger was not always better. He called the parking garage a “boondoggle” for a large business that would give a “very large corporation an unfair advantage” over existing Eugene businesses. Mark Rabinowitz , PO Box 51222, wanted to know the value of the land swap that had been proposed. He felt building a parking garage made it clear that the City would not “deal with peak oil and climate change.” He opined that this meant the City clearly did not “give a damn about sustainability.” He asserted that building a parking garage would be tantamount to subsidizing food shipments from Mexico and all over the world. He equated Whole Foods Grocery with sprawl. He thought the fact that it needed the parking MINUTES—Eugene City Council -- March 13, 2006 Page 13 City Council Meeting