CC Minutes - 07/18/05 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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Becky Riley , 202 Hawthorne Street, encouraged the City Council to stand firm when deliberating over tax breaks. She did not support giving tax breaks to corporations. She found it difficult to believe that an enterprise zone was the best way to support the local economy and promote business growth. She wondered if tax breaks were truly necessary and whether they outweighed the community benefits to be reaped. She thought the cost was too high to the environment, public schools, roads, public welfare and safety. She questioned whether such tax breaks were necessary to attract and retain quality jobs in the area. She averred that voter-approved limits on property taxation and declining corporate tax rates helped to push State services and infrastructure into deep funding crises. She noted that the Oregon Center for Public Policy indicated that in the upcoming budget cycle, corporations operating in Oregon would pay 71 percent less in state corporate income taxes as a share of the economy than they did in the late 1970s. She underscored that working families and small businesses were paying a larger share of state income taxes than a generation ago. She felt it was difficult to understand why additional tax breaks would be a priority in the face of such a shift. She said that, at the very least, the council should stand firm behind the rules it had adopted, including limiting tax breaks to the industries that build or expand on former industrial sites and limiting the size of tax breaks per job created. Specifically, she thought given that jobs created was one of the key goals of the enterprise zone concept and that the limit made sense as an important way to ensure accountability. She urged the council not to abandon the community standards because they provided rational limits on the subsidies that were being offered. She asked that the council abandon the enterprise zone should the Lane County Commissioners refuse to accept the conditions. Should this be the case, she asked that the council redirect its energies to finding other strategies to attract new businesses. She preferred that new strategies not be dependent on “offering open-ended public subsidies.” Jozef Siekel-Zdzienicki , 1025 Taylor Street, submitted written testimony from his partner on another subject, primarily focused on the possibility of the construction of a Whole Foods Grocery in the downtown area. Mr. Zdzienicki said he participated on the steering committee for CAFHN, comprised of professionals and others who were trying to set standards to maintain a “bungalow-type” neighborhood while promoting multiple use in parts of the special zone in that area. He felt that the commercial aspect between Chambers Street and Garfield Street had not been emphasized by consultants and the Planning Department. He opined that it was the place to intensify density as housing could be built in the upstairs of these commercial buildings. He proposed that the neighborhood be maintained as it was with one-and-a-half story houses. He thought the other commercial areas with “tin sheds” and vacant lots were ripe for development. th Lauri Segel , 1210 East 29 Place, echoed Ms. Riley’s comments regarding the enterprise zone. She urged the council to consider everything Ms. Riley said regarding the zone and community standards. Lisa Arkin , 29136 Gimpl Hill Road, supported the council’s original agreement on community standards for the enterprise zone. She expressed appreciation for the work of the Mayor and councilors to reach consensus, or near consensus, on a “very controversial issue.” She believed that by respecting those efforts, the council demonstrated good faith to one another and to the members of the community. She averred that when public tax subsidies are awarded, the public should be able to expect accountability and standards that move the community toward a realization of its values such as smart growth, economic justice, worker and environmental protections. She said it was reasonable to expect such guarantees. In conclusion, she noted that she had been appointed to the Mayor’s Sustainable Business Initiative (SBI) Task Force. It was her assumption that the task force would be working on development of community standards for sustainable economic development. MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 18, 2005 Page 7 Regular Session