Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

Home Browse Search

Councilor Bettman suggested that a student in the UO parking lot drinking a beer from an open container the day before the game could be cited by the police, but the next day, during a game during tail ating hours, the student would not be cited. The same was true of an individual across town in the park. Mr. Lidz said the constitutional standard was whether there was a reasonable basis for the classification under the law, or whether the law had a negative disparate impact on a protected class of persons. A UO student would not fall under the category of one receiving a special privilege. Mr. Lidz said unless the council was acting with a discriminatory motive, ordinances that distinguished among geographic areas did not violate the constitution. Councilor Bettman, seconded by Councilor Taylor, moved to amend the ordinance by delet- ing sections 1, 2, and 3 of the ordinance, and replacing them with a section that provides subsection 4 of Section 4.190 is hereby repealed. Councilor Bettman addressed the impact of her substitute motion, saying that the council rarely got to make life and death decisions but she considered the decision on the ordinance in question to be one. She viewed the motion offered by Councilor Pryor as the City creating opportunities for drinking and driving, which was a public health hazard. The code included an exemption for Autzen Stadium to a law that was in place the remainder of the year. She believed that the prohibition on public drinking was a justifiable law for Eugene. It had been enacted by a previous council to preserve the health and safety of the community and she thought it should apply to Duck fans as well as everyone else in the community. Councilor Bettman believed the City should maintain its law against public drinking. If the council did not think that justifiable, it should rescind the prohibition entirely. Responding to a question from Councilor Solomon, Mr. Lidz confirmed that the City could prohibit drinking at the Autzen Stadium lot. He acknowledged that the area of City and University relationships was complex and sometimes theoretical, but generally the two parties avoided bringing issues to a head by agreeing on common purposes and policies. He did not believe the City could regulate the University itself, but that was different from regulating an individual’s behavior on UO property. Responding to a request for clarification from Councilor Solomon, Councilor Bettman said her motion would remove the exemption that the UO currently received. She said if the UO had jurisdiction over its parking lot, it could exercise it, but she was attempting to remove the City-provided exemption from the code. Councilor Bettman said she had not heard that the UO had jurisdiction over its lot but if that was the case the UO could allow drinking on its lot and accept the ramifications of that. Roll call vote; the motion failed, 6;2; councilors Taylor and Bettman voting yes. Councilor Ortiz, seconded by Councilor Poling, moved to amend Section 4.190(2) as fol- lows: “The exemption is provided for the consumption of alcoholic beverages on this prop- erty during the time period commencing four hours before the start of the scheduled colle- giate game at Autzen Stadium and ending at the end of game.” Councilor Ortiz said that those she had asked had supported the four-hour window prior to game start times concept as a compromise. Mayor Piercy said she thought that ceasing activity after the third quarter was acceptable. Councilor Ortiz agreed. Councilor Bettman thought the amendment irrelevant to the issue of drinking and driving and the danger to public health. In addition, drinking at games created a huge enforcement issue for the Eugene Police MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 24, 2007 Page 3 Regular Meeting