02/11/1987 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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e Ms. Bennett said the tentative recommendation for the redesign of Willamette Street responded to 1) knowledge of the importance of access and circulation to development; 2) public comments about the importance of the public right- of-way and public amenities, regardless of whether traffic was allowed on Willamette Street; and 3) community desire for the intersection at Broadway and Willamette to function as a place for major public gatherings until another public square or plaza is available. Ms. Bennett said communication was an important issue. She said the commission was an advisory body to the City Council and was composed of nine people who were concerned and committed to downtown. She said the group sought di rect i on and input from the council, along wi th ways to improve communication and public process. Ms. Bennett suggested that a councilor might serve on the commission or that the commission Chair might offer reports at council meetings. Mayor Obie thanked Ms. Bennett for her explanations and said he thought misunderstandings had involved the councills desire for broader public input before decisions were made. He noted that the Downtown Commission's recommendation was tentative and would be presented to the public for comments and response at the forum on February 26. Ms. Bennett agreed that the tentative nature of the recommendation could be clarified. e Ms. Schue said she agreed with a comment that the commission had proceeded in a style that was different than that used by other groups in similar City decisions. She said this was the first time she as a councilor had been asked for her comments. Ms. Schue said members of the Citizen Involvement Committee had given up in frustration after trying to explain the process they favored. She suggested offering several options for the street redesign to the public for response, adding that an 'Iofficial position" made it difficult for those who disagreed to offer comments. Ms. Schue said commissioners were talented salespeople, but sometimes selling was not what was needed. Ms. Ehrman asked whether the commission had held any discussions about other City projects occurring at the same time. She said one concern of the council was that a major vote on another department's project was scheduled for the end of March. She said votes on one issue might be affected by other decisions, and that was part of the reason for suggestions to postpone the redesign discussions. Ms. Bennett said the redesign decision had been postponed from the originally scheduled date of January 1. Ms. Wooten said she had a great deal of respect for the work of the commission and she was glad that the commission was proceeding in trying to implement the Downtown Plan, as it was charged to do. She said her concern about communication was that councilors frequently felt that they had not been asked for their input, and they sometimes felt that information had been deliberately withheld from them. She said the council could not be expected to support a decision that was a surprise. Ms. Wooten noted the sensitive and difficult nature of developing projects in a public/private partnership. She said she wished that a process could be developed for the council as the Urban Renewal Board of Directors to understand more clearly what type of projects were being worked on at the outset, so that relations between projects could be understood. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 11, 1987 Page 8