CC Minutes - 03/12/07 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Regular Meeting Council Chamber—Eugene City Hall March 12, 2007 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Jennifer Solomon, Andrea Ortiz, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka, Chris Pryor, George Poling. Councilors Bonny Bettman and Betty Taylor participated via speakerphone. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the regular meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. 1. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the public forum. Paula Hutson , 1025 Taylor Street, member of the group Residents for Responsible Rapid Transit (3RT), th stated the group’s opposition to building a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor on West 11 Avenue. She shared the group’s concerns which included impacts an EmX route would have on traffic, parking, and the number of blocks one would have to walk to the EmX stop. She felt delivery trucks would be prevented from parking adjacent to their delivery destination. She also predicted that emergency vehicles would have difficulty maneuvering around the BRT routes. She said a 3RT member had begun participating in the West Eugene Stakeholders Group. th Charles Snyder , 990 West 12 Avenue, on behalf of 3RT, related that the group had been reviewing studies on BRT, looking at maps, and examining data regarding bus routes and ridership. He said the group had concluded that there was no need to worry about how the BRT would traverse the City until it was decided what its destination would be; the group had realized that where the EmX route would terminate in west Eugene was as yet unknown. He noted that the current EmX route connected the two city centers and that the next EmX route would connect downtown Springfield with the Gateway area. He observed that when current bus service to the west side was examined it was difficult to discern what destination an EmX route should have, because the existing destinations in that area were geographically dispersed. He believed it would better serve the City and the Lane Transit District to focus on selecting a site for another Lane Transit District (LTD) terminal. Michael Carrigan , 469 Blair Boulevard, representing the Take Back America Coalition, stated that the war in Iraq was a local issue as well as a national issue. He reported that Portland and Corvallis had already passed a resolution in opposition to the war. He said he would be turning in a petition opposing the war signed by more than 450 people. He stated that the resolution called for bringing home the troops now and ceasing to spend money on the war. He asserted that the United States needed to invest its human and financial resources in the future of its own children and not in the deaths of children in Iraq. He alleged that MINUTES—Eugene City Council March 12, 2007 Page 1 Regular Meeting