06/27/1983 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Linda Nelson, 225 "T" Street, Springfield, spoke as a member of the Lane Women's Political Caucus, voicing her concern over the elimination of the specialized e staff support for the Commission on the Rights of Women, noting that the past contribution of the commission and staff to the women's community was well documented. Without this support, she said, low cost professional help for women with discrimination and other problems would no longer be available; the liaison with the women's community would be cut; and scheduled workshops would not be staffed. Marion Malcolm, 795 Willamette #310, spoke as a member of Clergy and Laity Concerned to urge the council to restore the human rights staff position. Noting that there had once been three such specialist positions, she said that local support of human rights was particularly important since the Reagan administration was unsympathetic to these issues. Carl W. Hintz, 2460 Pioneer Pike, urged the council to reconsider budget proposals affecting the library, which he said had already suffered disproportionately from cuts. He observed that while only 8 per cent of the City's AFSCME members worked at the library, 30 per cent of the union positions to be cut were library employees. James K. Ashley, Sr., 2285 Silhouette, said that he agreed with previous testi- mony in favor of retaining the human rights staff support, since he believed in the importance of the program. He urged the council to look seriously at alternatives to discontinuing the Bookmobile service, which he termed a high priority. Christine D. Graham, 1490 Jefferson Street, characterized herself as a Eugene e property owner, a library employee, and an AFSCME board member. After reviewing the enormous number of transactions performed at the library each year, she expressed her gratitude for public support for the library, and urged the council to make no further cuts. Jere C. Rosemeyer, 2571 Alder, said that he was activity director at a nursing center, and spoke for continuing funds for the Bookmobile, noting that while there were alternative sources of exercise and entertainment for most users if the swimming pools were closed, the majority of the Bookmobile's users could not obtain books -- often their major source of enjoyment -- in any other way. Ada June Tolliver, 3281 West 16th Avenue, said that she was the treasurer of the AFSCME local and had been a library employee with the Bookmobile for ten years. She added that it had been extremely difficult to tell nursing home residents that the Bookmobile was being cut, since it was often their only contact with the outside world. She noted that the staff at the library was stretched now and that further cuts in hours would merely compress not cut the volume of work. She went on to express her opinion that the budget should have included provision for the AFSCME cost-of-living raise, since this had been previously contracted. Wayne Slavich, 1832 Balboa, asked the council to include funds in the budget for street lights for his street. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 27,1983 Page 2