CC Minutes - 06/09/03 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilor Nathanson said the decision was a political one. She said the issue, for her, was what was the best tribute for Dr. King. She called for the council to reconcile the community. Councilor Solomon said she had been disappointed with the process. She said it had turned into a "Centennial Boulevard or nothing" debate. She said there were many creative alternatives to honor Dr. King and remarked that she did not see anything creative about renaming a street. She expressed her pleasure that the original motion had a date limit attached. She urged the council to take action by October 15 so the action could be celebrated on Martin Luther King Day. City Manager Taylor noted that the motion only called for a report back to the council by October 15. He said he believed that if Councilor Papa's motion prevailed, he could have something for action by October 15. Councilor Solomon stressed the importance of making a commitment to taking action by that date. Councilor Nathanson said that sometimes the council did extend processes or make alternative proposals to what public input or another committee had recommended. Mayor Torrey said he was deeply disturbed by comments that Eugene was a racist community. He said he would accept such a statement from members of the African-American, Hispanic, or Middle Eastern communities but would not accept such statements from those who were not raised in those communities. He stressed that he refused to be labeled without challenging such a statement. He said for him to agree with the motion to put another committee in place he would, in fact, accept the recommendation of the African-American community as the decision that he would support. He added that if there was a tie vote among the council he would vote that evening to rename Centennial Boulevard after Martin Luther King Jr. He said it was time for the council to move forward. Councilor Kelly said the Register-Guard had commented that the City Council should move swiftly to accept the recommendation of the Planning Commission and avoid further dithering over whether another alternative were preferable. He said shunting the decision off to another committee would be divisive to the community. He added that if another committee were formed to address the issue, any decision they made would have to go to the Planning Commission for a recommendation which would cause further delay. He stressed that the same City Council had voted unanimously, on January 13, to direct the city manager to start the process for renaming Centennial Boulevard. In response to a question from Councilor Pap~ regarding whether the Planning Commission process would have to be repeated if his proposed committee decided on Centennial Boulevard, Mr. Klein said the council could simply move forward with the renaming process. Councilor Bettman noted that councilors Poling and Solomon had both referred to informal conversations with their constituents regarding the issue and questioned whether, in a quasi- judicial matter, consideration was supposed to be limited to the testimony on the record. Mr. Klein confirmed that in a quasi-judicial matter, the council could only consider testimony on the record which was closed at the end of the last public hearing. Councilor Bettman stressed that the council needed to consider only the material on the record and not on informal comments to councilors. MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 9, 2003 Page 9 Regular Session