02/08/1988 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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- e e submitted a memo on the budget item for the bicycle pathways preservation program. Ms. Bremiller said members were concerned that the memo had been unclear about the request for a funding increase, which was the result of an unexpected need for reconstructing a portion of the Fern Ridge bike path between Chambers and City View. She said the reasons for the reconstruction were clearly stated in the memo, however the amount shown in the budget item for FY88-89 probably was not adequate to make the repair and to permit coverage of average maintenance costs. Consequently, she said, the committee requested that the council consider increasing that budget item. Richard Gold, 1486 East 25th #B, asked that the City Council, as the Eugene Urban Renewal Agency, consider the following questions concerning the Eugene downtown, also known as the Eugene Development Area, as listed in the Capital Improvement Program draft FY89-94: 1) Is the Capital Improvement Program the best mechanism for looking at changes in the downtown tax increment district, or should these changes be separated and looked at in the context of the downtown urban renewal district itself? For instance, he said, the council might look at the use of tax increment funds for loans. 2) Who pays for downtown parking, and is this form of payment fair? Certain downtown parking structures with reserved spaces were being rented to downtown businesses for less than half their replacement costs, he said. 3) Who benefits from the proposed changes as listed in the draft plan, and are these changes the best use for tax allocation funding? Gary Kutcher, 85560 Svarvend Road, said he objected to so much money being spent on capital improvements, when much-needed services that could provide for the welfare of the people in the City were being ignored or cut. Mr. Kutcher said one case of the service cuts to which he objected was the recently begun taping and broadcast of City Council meetings by cable access television. He said the program was important for keeping people in touch with the actions of the City Council, and it was a relatively small budget item, at about $100,000. In comparison, Mr. Kutcher said several budget items in the millions of dollars included costs that he believed had been overexaggerated and were not needed. He cited the planned expenditure of more than $20 million for a new library as one example, "Yet we don't have the $100,000 to keep cable access going." Another example was that, after much testimony at a well-attended public hearing last summer on the issue of the downtown mall (and overwhelming opposition to major changes in the mall, particularly opening the mall to traffic), the budget now included several million dollars for changes to the mall. Mr. Kutcher said it seemed that the council was failing in its responsibility to be sensitive, responsive, and open to the concerns of the public. "Losing cable access is just a symbolic case, where people aren't going to be able to watch the council in its proceedings," he said. Meanwhile many City services, such as those dealing with the unemployed, homeless, and people with drug problems, were being ignored MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 8, 1988 Page 17