02/25/1991 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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e Doug Dupriest, 777 High Street, testified as attorney of the Save the Mall Committee and said that the question of whether to open the mall should be separated from the question of how to open the mall. He stated further that the costs of redesign should be included in the measure and that the plan is inconsistent with several existing land-use policies. He asked the council to examine how alleys would be treated under the redesign plan. At Mayor Miller's request, Mr. Dupriest agreed to submit written testimony outlining his concerns. . (At 9 p.m., the council recessed for 5 minutes.) Arthur Shapiro, 2742 Bowmont Drive, voiced his opposition to the plan. While he supports opening Willamette Street to automobile traffic, he feels that public funds should not be used for private gain. He encouraged the council to provide additional parking downtown as a means of improving downtown ac- cess and vitality. Betty Niven, 65 West 30th Avenue, spoke as a member of the Friends of Down- town against the proposal. She urged the council to focus on other means of improving downtown, such as installing public rest rooms. She said that despite this evening's testimony, marginal public support actually exists for opening downtown streets to automobile traffic. e Tom Slocum, 1950 Graham Drive, indicated his support for opening Willamette Street. He said that he does not support the process that was used to create this design proposal and encouraged the council to explore more fully the costs associated with downtown design. A healthy retail sector downtown is a symptom of a healthy downtown. Sue Girardeau, 2398 Douglas Drive, testifying on behalf of the League of Women Voters, said that the league qoes not support opening streets downtown to automobile traffic. She voiced concern with the lack of available parking downtown and encouraged the council to reserve the use of urban renewal funds for a library at the former Sears building location. George Schaefer, 992 Willamette Street, identified himself as the owner of Poppi's restaurant on the mall and testified against the proposal. Allowing automobile traffic on the mall would ruin the intimate nature of a pedestrian downtown. He also said that the problems which exist downtown are due to the type of stores located in the area rather than poor accessibility. Merton Saling, 1510 Charnel ton Street, testified against the proposal. He urged the council to let the market dictate what is important for downtown viability and indicated that using taxpayer's money on this redesign would be a waste of money. Gary Rayor, 2064 Friendly Street, indicated that he is disappointed with the community workshops that were used to involve the public in the design pro- posal and voiced opposition to opening Willamette Street to automobile traf- fic. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 25, 1991 Page 6