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th Jozef Zdzienicki , 1025 Taylor Street, also wished to address the planned West 11 Avenue corridor study. He believed transparency was needed in this action. He related that a neighbor viewed a City Council th webcast in which the council decided to only pursue the West 11 Avenue corridor as its next route for the EmX transit system. He asserted that the neighborhood was not notified of this discussion and the sole meeting with LTD was initiated by the neighborhood. He averred that the 3RT group had still not been able to gain a clear picture of “what is truly going on” and he indicated that it received conflicting responses from City staff and from the LTD staff. This, he said, led to rampant speculation on the part of the neighbors. He said people wondered if the streets would be widened, trees cut down, bus routes eliminated, eminent domain imposed on some property, and so on. He stated that the charters and mandates of the City and of LTD dictated that neighborhood input would be sought and that state money would not come without a transparent process. James Seaberry , 1475 Green Acres Road, Space 162, read a letter of testimony from John Dotson into the record, copies of which were distributed to the Mayor and council. The letter asserted that the City of Eugene staff changed the way it reviewed annexation applications so that they were modified to include streets and rights-of-way. He alleged that each time the modification was applied to an application, staff was abridging the statutory definitions of affected territory in Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) 199.415(3). He noted that Lane County Local Government Boundary Commission member Christine Larson recom- mended that terms, definitions, and criteria be footnoted on notifications. He supported this request as he wanted to see the boundary commission include terms, definitions, and criteria applicable to the modified and affected territory, both those pertaining to the property, to the streets and rights-of-way. He asked that since a new modified affected territory was established by City staff, was it not the position of the boundary commission to set out the terms, definitions, and criteria of both. He referred to ORS 199.415(17) and asserted that it was not applicable because the streets and/or rights-of-way being requested for annexation were not simultaneously withdrawn as represented in the language of ORS 199.415(17). Rob Handy , 455-½ River Road, asked the council to clarify its policy and to stop street annexations in the River Road area at its Wednesday January 24, work session. He averred that the fundamental reason for doing it was that citizens had a right to give voice in matters of taxation. He observed that staff called street annexations reasonable and logical, with which he disagreed. He alleged that boundary commission meetings were long because River Road residents showed up in great numbers to testify against street annexation. He claimed River Road residents had “looks of horror and dismay on their faces” when staff talked about the reason and logic behind such annexations. He noted that an application to annex had been submitted by the “last working farm” on River Road and City staff recommended that Arbor and Rosewood streets be annexed as well. He asserted that this would create an “island annexation” for 462 county properties east of River Road and south of Beltline Highway. He predicted that this would change those residents’ fundamental rights. He agreed with the Santa Clara Community Organization advisory to the council, which recommended allowing everyone to work together to “do annexations.” He wanted to stop the current practice. Zachary Vishanoff , Patterson Street, commented that the BRT steering committee met at night in “another town.” He said it might be nice if people could come to the library to give testimony to the committee. Mr. Vishanoff asserted that the Walnut Node was becoming blighted and that; the University of Oregon had let the Williams Bakery site “start falling apart.” He predicted that the Franklin Boulevard area would still be a mess when the 2008 Olympic Trials occurred. He opined that the area had become less nodal. He asserted that the Planning Commission was “essentially helping solicit donations” for Phil Knight by planning “his temple” into the nodal plan. He called it a “corporate kind of tidal wave.” He averred that MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 22, 2007 Page 2 Regular Meeting