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

Home Browse Search

e e e statistics for Oregon were offered, he said. Mr. Emmons said manufacturing industries experiencing growth were in the electrical and electronics fields, most of which occurred in California and Washington. He said the lumber industry was cited as one industry not experiencing growth. Mr. Emmons said the data cited as evidence by the proponents, upon analysis proved to be worthless as pertinent data supporting industrial demand, heavy or otherwise, for Oregon and for this site in particular. Mr. Emmons said the cost of providing services to the Awbrey-Meadowview property had been calculated to appear negligible or at least reasonably manageable in planning documents, but nothing could be further from the truth. He said costs would be inordinately high, and certainly unacceptable, considering that the City, having pledged funding for "high-ticket" projects like the Hult, the Hilton, and the Airport, now was not providing adequate service within the urban growth boundary and was facing severe budget cuts in the coming years. Mr. Emmons said the articles on the merger of police and fire departments published in Sunday.s Register-Guard only began to suggest the "devious manner in which strategic reductions in basic services have been distorted, misrepresented, and hidden to feed this administration's zeal for large-scale development and annexation at any cost." Mr. Emmons said environmental impacts had been written off simply as lessons by changes in technology and environmental regulations--"the old refrain, in other words, that science and government will take care of it, when time and again they have proven to be negligent, politically encumbered, or downright incompetent." He said the City had not attained airshed requirements, because of industrial smokestacks, car exhaust, slash and fuel burning, and woodstoves, all pinned down by chronic cold air inversions. But environment includes more than air and watershed concerns, he said, adding that the social environment also should be considered in terms of the impact of heavy industrial development, narrowly defined as progress, on the carrying capacity of the community, on the sense of place that defines its character. Mr. Emmons said it was clear to him that the argument in support of the amendment was nothing more than a fabrication to allow a few influential people, in a favorable political climate, to subvert established policy, reverse the direction toward light industrial recruiting, and betray the community's good faith. Mr. Emmons said much had been made of public support for the amendment, but he thought the public was largely unaware of the significance of the action, because it had no vital context in which to make an informed judgment. He said prudent City and local media officials must provide investigation and exploration of issues and the implications of actions commensurate with the management of the public trust, yet he did not feel that had been the case in this administration. For example, he said, Councilors Rutan and Schue, as well as Mayor Obie, frequently had voiced their impatience with democratic procedures. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 8, 1988 Page 9