CC Minutes -10/24/01 Work Session

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Mr. Meisner noted that two of the most active neighborhood organizations, the Westside Neighbors and Jefferson Neighbors were merging, and almost all the scenarios divided that area. He suggested that staff consider the merger in drawing ward boundaries. Mr. Pap~ agreed with Mr. Meisner regarding the elimination of scenarios at this time. He thought the testimony the council received was hardly a mandate to do so. He shared Mr. Meisner's concerns about the River Road/Santa Clara area. He preferred that the area be covered by one ward, but if two were needed he agreed Santa Clara had a greater affinity for wards 5 and 6. He concurred with Mr. Meisner regarding the River Road area but noted the presence of industrial and commercial uses along Beltline west of the river, which could probably be included in either area and the resulting scenario would still work. Mr. Pap~ asked staff to prepare a scenario similar to the Indigo scenario with wards 4 and 5 being horizontal on the map Ms. Nathanson said many Bethel residents would like to be represented by one council member rather than two or even three. She pointed out, however, that there was not just a single councilor to represent the entire south hills, which had unique concerns and interests as well. While she sympathized with such a goal, she was unsure it could be accomplished. Ms. Nathanson said that Mr. Croteau had indicated to her that it was probably not feasible to place Bethel in one ward as the population was too large. It would likely take two, and perhaps even three wards, to cover the Bethel area. Ms. Nathanson suggested that boundaries in the Bethel area be based on things that made sense to residents, such as travel patterns or middle schools one identified with. Ms. Bettman thought it would be difficult to avoid having at least two or three neighborhoods in each ward, and she did not want to single out one ward. Ms. Bettman was concerned that downtown be contiguous with the surrounding neighborhoods. She said that downtown was dependent on the surrounding neighborhoods and residents, and the reverse was also true. She would only be interested in supporting a scenario that kept downtown contiguous with those neighborhoods. Ms. Bettman requested information about the nature of the League of Women Voters' recommendation regarding redistricting: Was the recommendation voted on by the entire membership, or was it done by a policy or executive committee not involving the membership? Mr. Croteau indicated he would ask Janet Calvert, President of the league, to respond to Ms. Bettman's question. Ms. Taylor preferred to eliminate the Orange scenario at this point. She liked the Violet scenario with some slight changes. Ms. Taylor had the same question as Ms. Bettman regarding the recommendations of the League of Women Voters. Mr. Kelly, seconded by Ms. Bettman, moved to direct staff to concentrate its future efforts on the Violet and Indigo scenarios. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 24, 2001 Page 10 Work Session