CC Minutes - 04/28/99 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Lee said that many of the issues facing youth, such as drugs and violence, involved peer pressure. He said that such pressure could be enormous, and sometimes people experiment with drugs to get recognition from their peers. He asked how the community could create an environment where people could get positive attention. Mr. Lee also asked the students how they felt about gun control. Ms. Thompson said that gun control might not be able to prevent such tragedies completely but it could make a difference by keeping guns out of the hands of people who should not have them. She said that those using guns should be made aware of their responsibility and the sanctions against violent behavior. Ms. Cuddeback said that gun control would not make the situation worse. Anything that would keep even one unstable person from having a gun would be good. She said that ASAP was an attempt to get middle school students thinking about their values before they go to high school. Ms. Nathanson noted the council's limited purview over school and youth issues while stressing its collaborative efforts with the school district and other agencies on youth issues. She said that while she recognized the council's limited authority, she felt what the students were telling the council was so important she wondered what the council could do to help the students communicate those ideas. Following a similar presentation from the youth leaders, she had suggested that the council send a letter to the 4J School Board communicating what it had heard and asked if that occurred. She wanted to do the same thing now. Mr. Torrey responded that he wrote back to the students regarding specific issues and took his notes to a meeting with the school superintendents of Bethel and 4J. He liked the idea of sending a letter to the school board, and asked Council Coordinator Margaret Wilkenfeld to review the meeting minutes, encapsulate the student comments, and send them to the superintendent of schools, the president of school board, and the school board members. Mr. Papd thanked the youth leaders for their presentations and said all were well-spoken individuals. Mr. Fart said he would like to publicize the letter to the school boards as much as possible. He said that kids were not heard enough. Adults classified kids in groups and were hostile to them and their activities. Mr. Fart said that on occasion kids ostracize other kids and isolate them when they are different. He asked the youth leaders how kids could be brought to be more tolerant and all youth included in the group. Ms. Martin responded that the International High School program curriculum could be brought to younger audiences so they could develop a better understanding of different cultures. That understanding could help to increase students' tolerance and understanding of others in their own culture. Mr. Torrey encouraged Ms. Thompson to meet with her principal to discuss her concerns about faculty-student relationships. Addressing Ms. Cuddeback, Mr. Torrey suggested that the City's grant writer could help secure funding for a program for senior high students to mentor eighth graders transitioning into high school. He encouraged Ms. Cuddeback to think about such a program and how it could be made into a citywide program that was a role model for the remainder of the state. Ms. Cuddeback believed that eigth grade was too late for such a program. She suggested such programs could start as early as fourth grade. Mr. Torrey asked her to think about it and give him a call. C. Work Session: Neighborhood Services Redesign Options Planning and Development Department Director Paul Farmer introduced the topic. He said that he had recently attended the National Planning Conference in Seattle, and people around the country were very interested in what was going on in the Northwest, leading to a record-high attendance. A post-conference was MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 28, 1999 Page 6 5:30 p.m.