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Mayor Piercy agreed that Eugene should not just take credit for its success and needed to show action, not <br />just talk, but she suggested that such successes gave people the motivation to keep going. She did not think <br />such praise for just “praise for praise’s sake,” but acted as a building block to help people move forward. <br /> <br />Mr. Laue spoke to the concept of the triple bottom line—economic, social, and environmental—and said <br />that those were very large topics. He said the commission had discussed the need to measure its progress on <br />its work plan in definable ways; there was no way to do that without partnerships with the community and <br />City organization. Mr. Laue said that while sustainability seemed to be a relatively new concept to some, <br />the City of Eugene had been working on many sustainability practices for a long time, and he said it should <br />receive credit for the work it had done long before sustainability became the “issue du jour.” He emphasized <br />that the topic was huge and recommended the council pay close attention to what the commission did and <br />remember it could not do it all but wanted to do what it could well. <br /> <br />Mr. Shaver invited the council’s input in the future. <br /> <br /> <br />B. WORK SESSION <br /> Railroad Quiet Zone <br /> <br />Tom Larsen, Public Works Transportation, provided the staff report, reminding the council of past work <br />sessions about the topic, where staff was directed by the council to monitor the train crossing situation in the <br />central area and investigate the success of other quiet zones. Subsequently, staff learned of the availability <br />of some federal funding in the form of Section 130 dollars, safety money administered the by State. In order <br />to qualify for those dollars, crossings must be closed, with a focus on redundant crossings. The federal <br />government indicated that the six crossings in six blocks likely constituted redundant crossings. He said that <br />the council had a policy against closing streets and the council directed staff to solicit public input on the <br />topic. <br /> <br />Mr. Larson emphasized it was possible to have a quiet zone without any street closures. The closures could <br />vary in cost from $25,000 to $400,000; many crossings were not appropriate for the lower cost supplemen- <br />tal safety measures. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the railroad strongly <br />supported closures but there was limited funding. He said that closing at least one closures helped in regard <br />to the negotiations and diagnostic process. <br /> <br />Rob Inerfeld of Public Works Transportation overviewed the community outreach done in regard to the <br />topic. He reported there was strong residential support for quiet zones, while businesses were supportive or <br />noncommittal. People favored quiet zones with no street closures but a majority of those who attended <br />expressed support for one street closure. Staff had recommended that street be Madison Street. <br /> <br />Mr. Larson called attention to information in the AIS regarding costs, noting the single street closure was <br />reflected in Table 1. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy solicited council comments and questions. <br /> <br />Ms. Ortiz commended the staff work but found none of the staff-prepared motions sufficient. She noted that <br />a group of people had been identified to serve on a Citizen Advisory Group (CAG) charged to work on <br />railroad-related issues and she thought the topic was one of the topics that groups should be assessing. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 25, 2008 Page 6 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />