CC Minutes - 02/11/08 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Regular Meeting Council Chamber—Eugene City Hall February 11, 2008 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Andrea Ortiz, Chris Pryor, Betty Taylor, Bonny Bettman, George Poling, Jennifer Solomon, Alan Zelenka. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Mike Clark. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the regular meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. She asked for a moment of silence in honor of the tragic killings of two city councilors and the mayor of Kirkwood, Missouri. 1. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. Mark Rabinowitz , PO Box 51222, Eugene reiterated the concerns he expressed in the past regarding climate change. He asked what the City of Eugene and Lane County were willing to give up to reduce energy consumption. He noted that a federal comment period was underway regarding the Interstate 5 construction in Glenwood “even though in coming years oil availability” would be reduced. He recalled that Mayor Piercy had voted for the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) in November. He felt that if the City was truly concerned about climate change it would not support more transportation planning. He criticized the University of Oregon’s plans to build a new arena. He remarked that while the City was waiting for “intelligent urban design” it continued to “rubber stamp” big box stores in west Eugene. He said that it was legal according to Oregon law to bar such development. He alleged that athletes who went to the Olympics in China would be banned from saying anything about human rights or air pollution. He said if Eugene was going to be the human rights city, it should not subsidize a “communist Chinese dictatorship” and its “massive human rights abuses.” Mary Jo Davis , 30519 Overholser Road, Cottage Grove, said she had lived in the woods west of Cottage Grove for 35 years. She related that during this time she had been personally affected by logging. She wished to register her opposition to the Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR), which would reopen Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land for logging. She submitted a petition signed by over 300 people to the City Council. She averred that the BLM had given three alternatives, all three of which would create more problems. She said the number one reason to oppose the WOPR would be the impact to drinking water that allowing cutting more closely to the river banks would create. She predicted that this would increase the silt in water, decrease retention of water, kill fish, and potentially increase herbicide levels in drinking water. She also predicted this would generate numerous lawsuits. She pointed out that the preferred plan would increase cutting by 700 percent, though there were “so little of these trees left.” She MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 11, 2008 Page 1 Regular Meeting