CC Minutes - 04/14/08 Work Session

Home Browse Search

Ms. Solomon expressed concern that the council had no backup plan if the Riverfront site could not be successfully negotiated by the end of May. She feared the hospital would be lost to Springfield. Ms. Taylor said she would not support the motion with the inclusion of options 2 and 3, which would devote staff time to the two North Eugene sites. Mr. Pryor felt that options 2 and 3 represented a backup plan that could be pursued if there was no decision on the Riverfront site by the end of May. Ms. Jones added that staff would also be exploring other sites within the City and would work on any that appeared to meet the hospital’s needs, in addition to the sites included in the council’s discussion. Ms. Ortiz urged unanimous council support for a site because the hospital needed to be certain of support for its move to Eugene. She would support the motion as it included all of the options and hoped councilors would support the other sites if the Riverfront site was eliminated. Ms. Bettman said her intent was to be inclusionary and her first priority was to have a full service medical facility available to the highest concentration of population in Lane County, which was the South Eugene area. She said if it came to a choice of life-saving services south of the river or not in Eugene, she would support south of the river. She said it was not as important to have the hospital in Eugene as it was to have it accessible to the concentration of population. th Ms. Piercy reminded the council that the 12 Avenue and Willamette Street site was also a possibility. Mr. Clark noted there were sites in Springfield north of the river and hoped the council’s action would not result in driving the hospital north of the river, which would be the worst scenario from the City of Eugene’s perspective. The motion to substitute, as amended, passed, 5:2; Ms. Taylor and Ms. Solomon vot- ing in opposition. The substitute main motion passed, 5:2; Ms. Taylor and Ms. Solomon voting in op- position. C. WORK SESSION: Downtown Public Safety Issues Ms. Jones introduced Police Chief Bob Lehner to discuss the issue of downtown public safety. Chief Lehner said the concerns about downtown public safety resulted from policing issues related to disorderly behavior. He said the Eugene Police Department (EPD) was asked to develop short-term and long- term strategies for addressing those problems. He said the Special Program to deploy foot and bike patrols in downtown was intended to provide overtime based resources for two officers for one 10-hour shift seven days per week from April through October. He said a focused response to a situation involving a particular downtown business owner had addressed the problem while in effect, but it was not sustainable from a staff resources perspective. MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 14, 2008 Page 6 Work Session