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Mr. Fart said that discrimination is abhorrent and any discriminator should be brought to task. He <br />said he had been an employer and personnel director and was proud of his record of <br />nondiscrimination. He was also a member of the Human Rights Commission but was not present <br />at the meeting during which the issue was discussed. Mr. Fart asked how much discussion time <br />was spent on the item during the commission meeting. Mr. Johnson indicated about 15 minutes <br />were devoted to the item. Mr. Fart said that during that discussion no competing viewpoints were <br />considered, and he suggested that the commission be directed to reconsider the action. He <br />believed that the resolution was based on a political viewpoint and had no precedent. <br /> <br />Mr. Lee said the council could do a better job in addressing process and could only function well <br />as a body when councilors trusted each other. He said that councilors should communicate more. <br />He noted that Mr. Fart was the council's liaison to the Human Rights Commission and should <br />have some input into the scheduling question. <br /> <br />Mr. Lee said that the Hyundai issue was about more than just Hyundai. He spoke as a Korean <br />American citizen, and said that the Human Rights Commission could help the community better <br />understand cross-cultural issues such as those involved in the Hyundai issue. He said that there <br />were differences in the way companies from different countries behaved. Mr. Lee suggested that <br />if he was to judge his father from American values, he might call him a racist, but Oregon was on <br />the Pacific Rim and the world was getting smaller all the time. He suggested that writing a <br />resolution was the easy part; the hard part was understanding how to work together as a <br />community. He believed the resolution was well-intended but did not serve the public well. Mr. <br />Lee suggested that the council ask the Human Rights Commission to help the community better <br />understand the cross-cultural issues all citizens faced. He wanted to participate in that <br />discussion. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner said he was unwilling to put his "head in the sand" over the issue. He said that <br />discrimination was wrong, and this was not the first time the Human Rights Commission had <br />spoken out on the issue. Mr. Meisner said that in this case, the commission had directly <br />transmitted its resolution to the council for action. He added he would have relied on the council's <br />liaison to the commission but the resolution had come to the council independently, and it was to <br />have been accompanied by a letter from Mr. Farr expressing his opposition. <br /> <br /> Mr. Meisner moved, seconded by Mr. Kelly, to adopt the following resolution: <br /> <br /> Whereas: The City of Eugene has a strong, abiding commitment to civil rights <br /> and to eliminating illegal discrimination. <br /> <br /> Whereas: The City of Eugene was a sponsor of an enterprise zone through <br /> which corporations receive property tax waivers in exchange for creating <br /> jobs. <br /> <br /> Whereas: Hyundai Semiconductor of America has constructed a factory <br /> within the West Eugene Enterprise Zone and is receiving property tax <br /> waivers through the Enterprise Zone program. <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 13, 1999 Page 9 <br /> 5:30 p.m. <br /> <br /> <br />