CC Minutes - 04/14/08 City Council Meeting

Home Browse Search

2. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. Susan Walsh , 1960 Emerald Street, offered her congratulations to Mr. Ruiz and commended Ms. Jones for th doing a good job. She wished to speak in regard to the City-owned property located at 1320 West 13 Avenue. She was representing a group of non-profit organizations, which included agencies such as the Committee Partners for Youth, the HIV Alliance, and Lane ShelterCare, among others. She conveyed the groups’ desire to discuss with the City the potential of allowing a consortium of non-profits to reside there. She believed this would help the organizations share resources by reducing expenses. She thought it would enable some of the most vulnerable people access a range of social services under one roof and on the bus line. She acknowledged that a position paper had been drawn up about the site and requested the opportu- nity to review it and participate in the process. Mark Rabinowitz , PO Box 51222, Eugene, had a copy of a petition to request that the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) bond be put to a vote. He felt that EWEB should invest in solar panel factories instead given the climate change and that the world had allegedly reached peak oil production. He listed some of the neighborhood associations and asserted that they were not part of the West Eugene Collabora- tive, a group formed to look at transportation alternatives to the formerly proposed West Eugene Parkway (WEP). He opined that neighborhood groups were not welcome to participate and therefore the group was not truly collaborative. He said some west Eugene traffic issues would be solved by adding a traffic light at th the intersection of 5 Avenue and Seneca Street. Deb Frisch , Eugene, reiterated her contempt for local government and in particular the Eugene Police Department and the Chief of Police. th Dan Weiner , 751 East 16 Avenue #112, averred that the affordable housing situation in the City of Eugene had become substantially worse. He related that on February 15, Aztec Campus Housing had bought 528 units, the majority of which were quads that rented from $320 to $365. He said the units were planned to be remodeled and the rents were slated to increase to $400 to $449 per month. He believed that the majority of the quad residents would prefer lower rent over “luxury quads.” He hoped that the City would poll current residents about this. He thought one option would be to use eminent domain powers to buy the units. He provided his testimony in writing. William Ivanoff , 1810 Harris Street, Apt. 336, averred that since 1972 Eugene had been auto-oriented. He attributed this to the abandonment of the street railway in the early 1900s and car-friendly policies. He questioned why bicyclists and pedestrians were not safe in the City. He had read an article about police taking action in response to a bicycle ride. He believed that organized bicycle rides were always harassed by the police. In another article he had read that Eugene had sent two officers to check out a program that sought to obtain grants for pedestrian safety. He alleged that an organizer of the event said the officers from Eugene had seemed more interested in ticketing pedestrians than drivers. He felt anything the Mayor said regarding pedestrian or bicycle safety was akin to “putting lipstick on a pig.” He declared that no matter what was said, if enforcement of the rules for driving was not important, Eugene could not call itself a progressive place. He opined that the automobile ruled in Eugene. Gordon Anslow , 4493 Paddock Drive, spoke in support of approval of the Multiple Unit Property Tax th Exemption (MUPTE) for the property located at 450 East 14 Avenue, the eighth item on the City Council agenda. He said he had lived in Eugene since 1976 and was currently co-chair of the Infill Compatibility MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 14, 2008 Page 3 Regular Meeting