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taken to handling some of the criminal activity in the neighborhood, citing specifically the Party <br />Patrol and its "knock-and-talk" approach. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman agreed with Mr. Meisner regarding the inequity of alley assessments for multi-unit <br />properties. She said that any solution should be equitable and citywide. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman raised the issue of the Multi-Unit Property Tax Exemption (MUPTE) and asked for an <br />explanation of the rationale behind the task force's recommendation to create more infill <br />development in a neighborhood with so little existing homeownership. She said that the <br />neighborhood association had stopped being active when some of the few remaining <br />homeowners moved out. She asked how taking the money from the General Fund and giving it to <br />a developer to construct more multi-unit property that would ultimately be rental property would <br />actually benefit the neighborhood. Ms. Bettman believed that would perpetuate the problems that <br />were already being experienced. Without an ironclad caveat that the developments receiving the <br />exemption were owner-occupied, she would not support the MUPTE for the area. She would <br />support a Iow-interest or no-interest loan program for rehabilitating single-family housing. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor said that the need for a housing code had come up several times. She said that she <br />had lived in the neighborhood on an alley for a year and had called on the City for enforcement of <br />the housing code in place at the time and the enforcement had been extremely effective. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor said that an active neighborhood organization needed newsletter funding, which she <br />hoped would be restored to the budget. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor asked if the churches had considered keeping a part of their facilities open in the <br />evening to serve as a gathering place for youth to sit and have coffee, soft drinks, and talk. <br /> <br />Speaking to Ms. Bettman's concerns, Mr. Kelly agreed with the need to rehabilitate single-family <br />housing in the neighborhood, but he thought that the MUPTE could be used selectively with <br />success. He thought that it could be used to support housing stock that improved the quality of <br />housing in the neighborhood such as purchased row houses or condominiums or rental row <br />houses or condominiums that would bring long-term residents to the neighborhood, not what he <br />considered "cookie cutter student rentals." He agreed that implementation would be a policy <br />challenge. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly recalled that Corvallis funded its program with a annual $8 per unit citywide charge on <br />each rental unit. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly asked when the implementation plan could be expected if the motion passed. Mr. <br />Carlson anticipated that some of the recommendations could be brought back quickly, and most <br />by fall. <br /> <br />Referring to the disturbance of the previous weekend, Mayor Torrey said that the situation could <br />not be allowed to continue to happen. The police needed to be at such events at their inception. <br />He said that police overtime for the Friday event would cost several thousand dollars that could <br />have otherwise been used for services elsewhere in the community. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey expressed appreciation for the task force's recommendations, but questioned <br />whether they were enough. <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 9, 2003 Page 9 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />