05/09/1988 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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e e e David Fidanque, 1679 Willamette Street, represented the American Civil Liber- ties Union. He said what the council has before it is a budget decision and a question of priorities in terms of how the City will use its resources. He said there is a strong criminal statute on the book prohibiting the sale of drug paraphernalia and tobacco paraphernalia to minors. He asked why that ordinance was not being enforced. He said the police department has been required to make tough choices on how it will spend tax payers dollars in enforcing the law. He said the problem is not a lack of laws; the problem is how the City is going to attack the problem. Mr. Fidandque said the ordi- nance before the council has flaws. He said regardless of whether the ACLU gets involved in a court battle, there are other groups prepared to challenge this ordinance on legal grounds. Mr. Fidanque said as a citizen of the city of Eugene and a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union, he hoped the council would make a decision directing the police to continue doing a good job and not put another unenforced ordinance on the books, or put one on the books that will result in a lengthy and expensive court battle for the City. He urged the council to put this amount of money in the battle against the real drug problem, methamphetamine manufacture and other serious crimes in the city. Mr. Fidanque said that the Eugene School District has a program about to be cut dealing with "students-at-risk." At the same time, the council is contemplating the expenditure of money on this direction, which Mr. Fidanque called a misdirection of scarce resources. Mr. Fidanque urged the council to delete the section relating to hypodermic needles if the ordinance is approved. Bob Smalley, 303 Centre Court, said he is retailer and property owner in Eugene and Portland. He product line includes t-shirts, posters, novelty items, and smoking articles targeted for licensing in the ordinance. He said he has been in business in Oregon for 16 years and entered the Eugene market five years previous. He said a retailers reason for deciding whether to enter a new market is based solely on an anticipated demand for the product being sold. The success of a new retail venture is based on satisfying existing customer retail demand. Mr. Smalley said he had invested $250,000 in commercial buildings and a house in Eugene on West 7th Avenue. Mr. Smalley said he has a substantial investment in the city of Eugene. He has always complied with State law governing the sale of smoking articles to minors and posts signs forbidding minors to enter or remain on the premises. He said he favored the law passed by the Oregon legislature; it gave him the ability to regulate the sale of smoking articles to minors and it works because it is illegal for minors to use smoking devices for any purpose. Mr. Smalley said he feels his store is being targeted and his customers discrimi- nated against through this ordinance. State law has not determined that any of his products are illegal to sell to adults. He failed to see why the City of Eugene would want to enact a law targeting stores engaged in legal activi- ty. He found the ordinance offensive in its obvious intentions of ridding Eugene of targeted stores, and discriminating against his adult customers. MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 9, 1988 Page 7