02/22/1988 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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e e e e e Saturday nights. He said refuse left on Saturday and Sunday mornings indicated lots of drinking and use of other drugs, and he felt that the proper alternatives were not being offered. Mr. Clements said he favored redirecting police resources into things like car meets, dances, and access to social situations for youth. He said the ordinance would provide police with a tool to control activities that interfered with his business during regular hours. Mr. Clements said he would like to keep his business open later than he now was able because of the traffic on Willamette Street that limited customer access. He said he therefore supported the ordiance as the best idea he had seen presented so far. Chris Peterson, 1852 Charnelton, representing the Friendly Area Neighborhood Association, spoke in support of the ordinance. Mr. Peterson said the group was not feeling particularly friendly of late. He noted that a task force since 1977 had looked at ways of dealing with cruising problems and of encouraging responsible behavior. He said the City had spent thousands of dollars on signing, sanitation facilities, educational, and other measures, but problems continued. He said enforcement of existing laws already required as much as 40 percent of police resources and that did not seem to be working. Mr. Peterson said that about half of those cruising liThe Gut" were non-residents, and many were adults. He reported that vandalism was worsening and becoming more violent. He also said noise and air pollution of hundreds of slowly moving cars was creating health problems for residents. He asked whether spending $25,000 on police for the area was justified when the City was faced with a rising crime rate and financial problems. Mr. Peterson suggested that proponents of cruising organize and supervise alternative social activities that had been suggested, such as creating a weekend parade route for cruisers or a cabaret for those under 21 years old. He added, however, that he thought it would be naive to assume that either option would result in automatic compliance, as experience over the past ten years had shown. He said alternative approaches had been tried and exhausted, and this was the last one. He said he thought the ordinance would a permanent motivation for change; voluntary efforts had not worked. Mr. Peterson said he thought it was a sad sign of the times that the unlimited right to drive one's car was more important than providing a safe and healthy area in which to raise families. He said the neighborhood group viewed the ordinance as similar to zoning ordinances in regulating activities for appropriate areas. "perhaps somewhere in Lane County there is an appropriate area for cruising--upper Willamette Street is not it," he said, and he urged passage of the ordinance. Gloria Timmons, 2825 Elinor Street, representing the Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC), spoke in support of the ordinance. She noted that the committee comprised representatives of various neighborhood groups, of 4J and Bethel School Districts, and of the business community. At its January meeting, the committee had voted to support the adoption and enforcement of a no-cruising ordinance in Eugene, with eight members MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 22, 1988 Page 3