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schools, which would not increase the number of groups by much. Mr. Tollenaar said that some <br />neighborhood organizations covered areas that were far too large for effectiveness. <br /> <br />Mr. Tollenaar said that while the City had done a good job of establishing criteria for recognizing <br />neighborhood groups, it had no criteria for maintaining that recognition over time. He suggested <br />that such criteria be devised to address issues such as attendance at meetings, turnover among <br />board members, and frequency of newsletter production and distribution. Failure to meet such <br />basic criteria would disqualify a neighborhood organization from receiving a matching grant or <br />from responding to referrals about land use applications. <br /> <br />Mr. Laue also supported the mission statement developed by the Neighborhood Leaders Council <br />Neighborhood Redesign Subcommittee. He suggested the third bullet be revised to read <br />Establishing two-way communication between citizens, the City, and neighborhoods. Mr. Laue <br />said that the neighborhood organizations were struggling and would continue to do so as long as <br />they were underfunded. He said that Eugene did not contribute enough to keep the programs <br />viable, and he termed it remarkable that participants managed to maintain the level of energy <br />they had over the years. Mr. Laue liked the idea of matching grants for neighborhoods and <br />neighbors. He said that those grants would address the many issues that were small in scope in <br />a larger sense but of vital importance to the smaller areas that were affected. He stressed the <br />importance of involving citizens in the organizations, but acknowledged the effort often led <br />participants to "burn out." The same people end up "carrying the ball" because they had no <br />support. <br /> <br />Mr. Laue agreed that in many cases current neighborhood boundaries are too large. People do <br />not have a sense of neighborhood in such situations. <br /> <br />Mr. Laue said that the City's ability to "get in front" of issues before they create neighborhood <br />controversy and before lines were drawn was critical. He said that neighborhood organizations <br />could assist in that by building community inside the neighborhood and give residents the feeling <br />they had access to their city government. He added that could not be done "on a shoestring and <br />a prayer." <br /> <br />Mr. Laue noted his concurrence with the remarks made by Ms. Taylor and Mr. Tollenaar in regard <br />to newsletters. He said that part of the issue was the amount of time it took to assemble a <br />newsletter. He believed more people would be willing to undertake such an effort with support <br />from the City. <br /> <br />Mr. Laue said there were times when the neighborhood organizations become political, but that <br />did not mean the council should not be looking for the contributions they could make toward <br />community building. He said residents have a sense of ownership of the place they live, and the <br />council should focus its attention on those people. <br /> <br />Mr. Laue said that he supported the shift in emphasis identified by staff under the theme <br />Neighborhood Improvement. <br /> <br />Mr. Lee said that each neighborhood was very different and it was impossible to take a "cookie- <br />cutter" approach to the program redesign. He supported the NLC Neighborhood Redesign <br />Subcommittee's draft mission statement. Regarding Mr. Laue's remarks about the political <br />nature of some organizations, Mr. Lee pointed out that people get involved in neighborhood <br /> <br />MINUTES-Eugene City Council November 25, 1998 Page 7 <br /> 11:30 a.m. <br /> <br /> <br />