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no surrounding environment to help make businesses prosper. She perceived the improvement of downtown <br />as a partnership between the City and downtown property owners. She said if she was a property owner in <br />downtown charged a fee for having vacant space, she would find a marginal tenant just to fill the space. She <br />reiterated that was counter-productive to what the City wanted to do. Ms. Solomon said the City was on the <br />cusp of making a change, noting the recently issued Request for Qualifications for downtown and the <br />th <br />forward progress of the 10 Avenue and Charnelton Street development. <br /> <br />Ms. Ortiz believed the subject was worth discussing because of the frustration expressed by some people in <br />the community who believed there could be a different way for the City to do business with the people who <br />owned property in the downtown. For whatever reason, there were many vacancies downtown and they <br />became an attractive nuisance, and she was anecdotally informed that those businesses took more City <br />resources that occupied buildings. She had supported Ms. Taylor’s request for the work session because it <br />was frustrating to “hear these things in the circles that we go in” that business owners purposely leave <br />buildings vacant, or do business in such a way that people could not rely on them for the longevity of their <br />businesses. She did not know if she would support such a fee, but she thought the City needed to find a way <br />to offer the services downtown needed and that everyone who owned property downtown should pay for <br />those services. <br /> <br />Ms. Ortiz referred to the open hole on Willamette Street, and suggested it was a statement by the property <br />owner in question, who had done nothing about the hole for years. She said that there was considerable foot <br />traffic in the area and speculated that no good was occurring in the vicinity, so City resources were being <br />used. She said it was the responsibility of property owners to take care of their space. The City had no <br />resources to do so unless it charged them a fee. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor said he tried to envision the outcome of the council’s discussion and said if it was to encourage <br />development in the downtown and improve the appearance of downtown that was a good outcome. If it was <br />to generate revenue to help downtown, that was also a good outcome, although the AIS was not specific as <br />to what the potential support to downtown services would be. Mr. Pryor said the question he asked was <br />whether the ordinance would have that outcome. He suggested that in the short-term more tenants could be <br />brought to downtown, but the tenant might be worse than the empty building. Mr. Pryor said the question of <br />whether an unoccupied building was more attractive than an occupied building depended on who owned and <br />kept up the building. He noted the nexus pointed out by Mr. Klein in relationship to the current fee and <br />services and thought that a point for the council to keep in mind. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor preferred to take a carrot approach to downtown as opposed to a stick approach. He did not <br />think the City was ready for the stick, given that it was still working on the carrot. <br /> <br />Responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka, Mike Sullivan of Planning and Development said staff did not <br />have current vacancy rates in the two-block area between Willamette and Charnelton streets but it appeared <br />to have the most apparent vacancies, about 25 percent. Mr. Weinman added that he believed many of the <br />apparent vacancies were being used for other purposes, such as storage. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka asked staff to address the perception that property owners left the properties vacant deliberately <br />and refused to do improvements or sign long-term tenant leases. He said long-term vacancies that left <br />storefronts empty detracted from all the positive outcomes he desired for downtown. Whether the vacancies <br />existed on purpose or for lack of caring or lack of trying, Mr. Zelenka did not think they created an <br />atmosphere conducive to getting a better downtown. He also thought the City needed to force the owner of <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 28, 2007 Page 3 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />