CC Minutes - 09/22/03 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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awarded, the property had been fenced, site remediation was completed, and demolition would begin shortly. He estimated the site would be ready for new construction in 60 days. Mayor Torrey added his congratulations for a successful Eugene Celebration. He said he had written letters to both the director of the Eugene Celebration and the athletic director for the University of Oregon and urged them to schedule events on different weekends to avoid conflicts between the Celebration and home football games. Mayor Torrey stated that he had recently been contacted by people who were concerned that children were able to see people accessing web sites with adult content on library computers. He asked staff to provide him with information on what was being done to ensure that children were not exposed to that material. He asked Ms. Solomon whether she supported the courthouse project. She replied that she did support it. B. WORK SESSION: Annual Meeting with the Human Rights Commission James Dean, Chair of the Human Rights Commission (HRC), introduced members of the commission who were present: Marcy Middleton, Sheila Coats, Mary Martinez-Wenzl, Sara Rich, Neil Van Steenbergen, Dwight Souers, and Andrea Ortiz. Mr. Dean referred to the document Eugene Human Rights' Program Annual Report and 14Zorkp/an, which contained a report on activities for the period November 2001, to August 2003, and a proposed work plan for fiscal year (FY) 2004. He said members of the commission would highlight some of the HRC's accomplishments over the past 18 months. Ms. Coats stated that the HRC believed it was important that some effort be made to educate the community regarding the stereotypes oftransgendered people in a collaborative process with community organizations. Ms. Ortiz, who also was a member of the Police Commission, reported that the HRC is discussing with the Police Commission ways with which both bodies could assist the Eugene Police Department to affect cultural change within the department. Ms. Martinez-Wenzel said there were no current ;;grass roots" organizations tracking extreme hate activities in the Northwest. She said the HRC was working with law enforcement and community groups to eliminate hate crimes. She noted the Community Alliance of Lane County had recently revitalized its anti-bigotry program in response to a resurgence of hate literature in Eugene. Mr. Van Steenbergen indicated the Human Rights Support System (HRSS) was in its seventh year and had 25 advocates. He said there were over 200 cases in the report period and the program represented a success story in addressing issues of discrimination, harassment, and conflict. He said cases brought to the HRSS included discrimination or harassment in public accommodation, housing, employment, and complaints against the Police Department. He noted that advocates were often able to mediate police complaints and defuse the situation, which benefited the department and the community. He said that advocates were trained to work with monolingual, Spanish-speaking people in the municipal court system and a program was being developed in collaboration with the Domestic Violence Council to train advocates to work with survivors of domestic violence. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 22, 2003 Page 3 Work Session