CC Minutes - 07/28/08 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Regular Meeting Council Chamber—Eugene City Hall 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon July 28, 2008 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Chris Pryor, Bonny Bettman, Betty Taylor, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, Jennifer Solomon, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. 1. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. Susan M. Truax said although she had patronized downtown businesses for many years, was involved as a volunteer with the Eugene Celebration, and spent considerable time downtown, when she read the recent article in The Register-Guard about the experience of Betty Snowden, she realized she did not know what was going on downtown. She called the treatment of Ms. Snowden unacceptable. She wanted to participate in a solution and was ready to act, including sitting down in front of Ms. Snowden’s business to demonstrate support. She asked the council to give her direction. Kathy Saranpa , representing the Crest Drive Community Advisory Group, noted the council’s passage of a motion calling for the Planning Commission to investigate the potential of reclassifying the street and said she had since learned from City Manager Jon Ruiz and Public Works Director Kurt Corey that the council could take that action without input from the commission. She asked the council to take that action. Jim Torrey , 3393 Arlington Avenue, spoke in support of the exclusion ordinance as a means to respond to the racial harassment experienced by resident Betty Snowden and others. He thanked councilors Ortiz and Clark for raising the issue. He acknowledged that the proposed ordinance might not be perfect but suggested to do anything less was not acceptable. He believed that the offense of failure to appear was not an acceptable approach. He noted the recent successful Olympic Trials and said the volunteer committee, which he had chaired, had worked long and hard to determine how each visitor to Eugene felt welcome. He asked the council to consider the impact the article about Ms. Snowden’s experiences in The Register-Guard would have had on visitors had it appeared during the event. He did not think that the City could fail to deal with the situation. He called on the council to take responsibility and deal with the issue or it would send a message he did not believe the citizens supported. He said that “Justice delayed was justice denied.” Zach Vishanoff , a resident living on Patterson Street, questioned what prompted the council to change the closing date for public comment for the University of Oregon’s arena project. He asked “what’s the rush” and why the University could not wait until September. He raised the issue of a new dormitory proposed to be built one block south of the existing arena, which would impact housing. He believed that too many development projects were going forward at the same time. Mr. Vishanoff also noted a proposal to build a new laboratory in the Riverfront Research Park and suggested that would have an impact on the arena MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 28, 2008 Page 1 Meeting