CC Minutes - 11/17/99 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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(Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and GLSEN (Gays, Lesbian and Straight Education Network). He noted that Ms. Self had been with the City for five years. Mr. Farr congratulated Ms. Self and thanked her for the work she does. Mr. Farr said that a letter from the Human Rights Commission regarding the 2000 Census and the importance of the census' accuracy would be distributed to vulnerable groups in the community who tended not to report their presence, address, nation, or origin for fear of being turned into the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He said that the census was a private survey not shared with other government agencies. Mr. Farr discussed the Public Works Department's dinner with representatives of the communities of color, saying that Human Rights Commissioner Chuck Dalton had expressed his belief that a great deal of progress had been made in the City organization in terms of diversity and outreach to minorities. Mr. Farr believed Eugene was making more progress in this area than other local jurisdictions. He noted that each City department had a diversity committee and a great deal of progress was being made as a result of their work. He said that the chairs of those committees would meet soon with the Human Rights Commission. Ms. Taylor congratulated staff on the recently published citywide newsletter, saying she was happy the neighborhood groups were listed prominently. She still would like to see neighborhood meetings listed in the newspapers and suggested that all City publications include neighborhood group meetings and their dates and times, as well as information about what those groups were doing. Ms. Taylor said that it should be clear to the public that citizens were also welcome at neighborhood group board meetings. Ms. Taylor said that she had sent the council an e-mail message requesting that the council adopt a resolution comparable to that adopted by Portland regarding the World Trade Organization (WTO). The resolution would ask that the WTO adopt nothing that would preclude a community from taking action to protect the environment, human rights, and labor. She asked for further discussion at the November 22 meeting. Ms. Taylor referred to a temporary surface permit issued for a portion of Onyx Street where many trees had been cut and fill had been deposited. She said that it was too late to undo what had occurred, but asked if future similar situations could be avoided if the 50 percent resident consent requirement was codified. Mr. Torrey introduced Yoshio Tsuchie, an intern from Shinji, Japan. He was from Pace University and would be at the City for four months. He encouraged the council to take time to discuss municipal government with Mr. Tsuchie. He welcomed Mr. Tsuchie to Eugene. Mr. Pap8 arrived at the meeting. Mr. Torrey said that he had been contacted by a Gilham School fifth grade school teacher asking him for ideas for community service for her students to heighten their sense of community responsibility. He had suggested to her that the students walk around the Gilham School area and deliver Year 2000 brochures to residents, and that had occurred. MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 17, 1999 Page 2 5:30 p.m.