CC Minutes - 11/24/03 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Conte encouraged the council to mm its efforts toward helping McKenzie-Willamette Triad put together a feasible property acquisition, asserting this would provide the City with great benefit. He submitted his testimony in writing. Emily Graham-Berks, 850 West 25th Avenue, said she was an Americorps volunteer with the HIV Alliance and worked in the Injection Drug Use Outreach Program. She stated that, as a volunteer, she started a program called SANA Sisters, a program that visited different locations in the City and cleaned up needles. The group recently went to Monroe Park and found and disposed of 25 needles. Ms. Graham-Berks related that many of her clients had struggled due to Oregon Health Plan cuts and the closing of methadone clinics. She stated that, for many clients, the only social service they could access was the needle exchange. She commented that she and her coworkers were at a loss as to what to tell clients regarding accessing the basic services they needed. She estimated there were 10,000 intravenous drug users in Lane County and said the SANA needle exchange served 7,000 of them. She reported that they had exchanged 430,000 needles during 2002. Ms. Graham-Berks stressed that the needle exchange educated clients, offered them options, and strived to empower clients to make safer and healthier choices. Because the volunteer group was meeting clients on the streets, it served as a front line defense for the public health of the entire county. She added that many clients want to get into a detox program, but had nowhere to go for one. Ms. Graham-Berks stated that she had participated in the Walk-A-Mile program which paired her with Councilor Bettman. She thanked Councilor Bettman for her interest in the Needle Exchange program. Jesse Springer, 1612 Lincoln Street, presented the Mayor and the City Council with a book of his political cartoons and thanked them for providing inspiration. Terry Connolly, 1401 Willamette Street, speaking on behalf of the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, said he wished to follow up on an item from the work session that had to do with the meeting with the Lane County Board of Commissioners on road financing. He conveyed the chamber's feeling that this was an important first step for Lane County, Eugene, and other cities in the County and would demonstrate leadership in coming up with solutions to the street maintenance needs of our communities. He expressed hope that both jurisdictions would enter into the meeting with a spirit of cooperation and a genuine willingness to find a solution. He commented that this could create the groundwork by which something could come forward. The chamber wanted to support a solution for this problem utilizing a formula that could involve existing or new sources of revenue. However, he related that the chamber would prefer the utilization of existing revenue. The chamber also preferred a cost-effective solution that would deal with the problem aggressively and would be monitored through measurable benchmarks so that the City could demonstrate to the public that the street maintenance was occurring and the money was not being spent on excessive administrative costs or excessive engineering in lieu of maintenance. He said the chamber would be making the same comments to the County. Bruce Miller, PO Box 5098, Eugene, encouraged councilors to attend University of Oregon Student Senate meetings. Mr. Miller shared a book called Profiles in Change and urged those present to read it. He asserted that, among other things, it outlined the circumstances by which a computer company chose to MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 24, 2003 Page 2 Regular Meeting