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Mr. Meisner emphasized the importance of acting on the comments received and implementing <br />the plan. He believed the 1984 plan failed because the City never did anything with it. He said he <br />would be looking carefully at the Broadway reopening issue in context of the other processes. <br /> <br />Mr. Fart said the downtown was not working well and some seemed to have acquiesced to that. <br />For those living in west Eugene, there was little to come downtown for, and the City had to <br />overcome that and make downtown an attractive place for people to visit. He thought the study <br />took the City a long way in that direction and expressed appreciation for Mr. Farmer's assistance <br />in realizing the vision. He said the council must consider the input it received in context of the <br />benefit those offering the testimony would receive. He thought those who stood the most to lose <br />or win should be talked to first. He said that the neighborhoods adjacent to downtown were <br />important, but if they were not using downtown that should be weighed against those using <br />downtown. Mr. Fart concluded by saying that people should be asked to give input where they <br />are, rather than where the City is. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey wanted West Broadway opened and wanted the entire vision to work. Some items <br />were a higher priority for him than others, such as the federal courthouse. He said that Eugene <br />did not have a lock on the courthouse, and he thought it would be a mistake if the council did not <br />put a priority on the Chiquita site acquisition. He thought the council was familiar with the <br />positions and representative of the citizens on the topics involved. Mayor Torrey wanted to hear <br />about the fiscal impacts of downtown and the effect of downtown on rents as compared to <br />previous years. He also wanted information about public safety downtown. He agreed with Ms. <br />Taylor that downtown was everyone's neighborhood. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey thought the West Broadway area was a priority because of the loss of Symantec. <br />He emphasized the importance of redeveloping the train station and changing one-way streets to <br />become two-way streets. He stressed the need for the council to set priorities. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey was prepared to go to the voters in May to ask them if they wanted to open West <br />Broadway. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor said the council already decided it wanted to rehabilitate the train station. She liked <br />Ms. Bettman's idea of having a council public forum. She thought there should be time between <br />the workshops and the forum to give people time to think and read about the topic. She said that <br />did not mean the council could not do the things it already decided made sense. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor agreed with Mr. Rayor about the controversial elements of the plan and the need for a <br />public process. She said the council should be clear it cost money to open the street. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson acknowledged the contribution of members of the Council Ad hoc Committee on <br />Greater Downtown Visioning present at the meeting: Russ Brink, David Hinkley, and Ray Wolfe. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson said that downtown was everyone's neighborhood or should be. For that reason <br />she thought downtown was special and the emphasis the council placed on it should be different. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson asked if the City could consider a process similar to that used by the federal <br />government in taking comments on the courthouse. It involved an official recorder and staff but <br />not a full council meeting. Time was made available for people to attend and offer testimony. <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 22, 2001 Page 3 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />