CC Minutes - 01/24/05 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ms. Hyman announced that the Santa Clara Community Organization was holding an informational meeting scheduled for February 3, 2005, at the Santa Clara Grange, to which everyone was invited. Based on input from the meeting, both pro and con, the organization planned to formulate and vote on a recommendation. In closing, she stated that the process had served as a catalyst to unify the community and for that she was grateful. Kathy Saranpa, 3015 Friendly Street, chair of the Crest Drive Citizens Association, applauded the council's work on behalf of the neighborhood. She was gratified that the council had taken the time to listen to comments and concerns and that the council made thoughtful and valuable suggestions to staff. She commented that trust was an issue for the neighborhood and, upon seeing on the agenda that financing options for the neighborhood were being discussed, concerned Crest Drive neighbors had no idea context- sensitive design would also be discussed. Neighbors felt the postcard received during the previous weekend was not adequate notice. She said the proposal to form a land improvement district (LID) before context- sensitive design (CSD) standards had been developed caused her uneasiness. She related that neighbors present at the work session were happy that no action had been taken at this time and hoped they would be adequately informed prior to the next development. Ms. Saranpa also expressed neighborhood opposition to the recent decision by the Lane Transit District (LTD) to cut one more trip from Route 22. She urged the City Council to pass a resolution to support Senator Bill Morrisette's bill in the State Legislature to make the LTD Board an elected board. Gary E. Rayor, 2373 Washington Street, speaking on behalf of the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority (LRAPA) board, announced that the director had recently resigned. He explained that his departure had to do with employee relations and annual reviews and not with the Toxics Right-to-Know program. He said there was a transition plan in place to find a new director and, at present, the senior management was not comfortable taking the director's place due to the turmoil in the agency. Continuing, Mr. Rayor discussed the LH Baxter Company, a source of hundreds of air quality complaints, most of which were substantiated. He said the Center for Disease Control and the State Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) had come together to try to analyze the air emissions from Baxter to see the effect on the neighborhood. He related that the two agencies had not found conclusive evidence without further testing to determine what was getting into the neighborhood and where. He stated that the LRAPA Board had passed a motion to add air monitoring testing to Baxter's agreement with LRAPA and results from those tests would be turned over to the Center for Disease Control. While this did not alleviate the nuisance odor, he felt it would assess the health impacts of living in proximity to JH Baxter Company. He added that he appreciated being an LRAPA board member. Tom Watson, 1963-7th Street, Springfield, wished to address the council in response to the news of the external police review. He pointed out that the violations committed by the two officers, now in prison, had been occurring for some years prior to their convictions for being sexual predators. He thought everyone involved had been very light-handed in their regard. He related that he had become acquainted with one of Roger Magafia's victims, adding that her life had become "hell" because of being victimized. He asserted that after turning in evidence, this woman had been discarded. He said the City had neither apologized to her, nor helped her bring her life back together. He noted that $108,000 was being spent on the review of the Eugene Police Department (EPD), but millions would have to be paid to the victims of the crimes. He was concerned about how the other officers would be held accountable for their behavior. He alleged there MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 24, 2005 Page 2 Regular Session