07/22/1991 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Gleason said the council had put in an amazing amount of work on the e Eugene Agenda educating the community. He said this process had shown that having the community's attention was not necessarily a solution to the City's problems. Mr. Nicholson said the City needed to find a humane and sustainable method of providing services. He said the Eugene Agenda had led to the belief on the part of some that only one segment of the community was being heard. He said the council needed to find a politically viable proposal which did not leave one segment of the community bitter. Jim Meeks, City Librarian, said there had been a strong campaign for a new Library and that while people seemed favorable to a previous proposal, they had voted against it. He cautioned against being overly optimistic simply because the public seemed to favor an idea. Cathy Briner, POD, said she had felt better after the forums for the River- front Research Park Master Plan had begun. She said definite themes had emerged from this process and would probably be repeated in the Eugene Deci- sions process. Warren Wong, Director of the Administrative Services Department, pointed out that Eugene's problems are reflected in cities throughout the country. He said the City's cash reserves can be used to "buy time" for the City and council to work with the community to find solutions. e Mr. Wong said the City had not taken the time to build coalitions for the Eugene Agenda. He said decision points related to this process had been reached over the ensuing five years. He said a great deal of Eugene Deci- sions would involve education, and answers would be generated over a five- year period. Ms. Norris said the executives had heard a great deal of pride expressed by City employees about how the council was addressing the issues involved in Eugene Decisions, and employees felt the City was making its best attempt to solve its problems. Sandra Franklin, of the Municipal Court, said the executives were experienc- ing all of the concerns expressed by the council. Dave Whitlow, Director of the Department of Public Safety, said he had spent time with police officers and fire fighters discussing the Eugene Decisions process. He said the concern he heard most often is that the Eugene public still believes that the City government is comparatively well off. He noted that human service organizations believe that the City is wealthy. Mayor Miller asked the councilors to attend scheduled media sessions. The meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 22, 1991 Page 6