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

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because the University intended to use the parking there for the arena. He invited the council to explain to him why it had changed its mind. Mayor Piercy closed the Public Forum. In regard to the downtown issue raised by Mr. Torrey, she said that she had sent a message to the City’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) and the organization Clergy and Laity Concerned (CALC) about the potential of those entities doing public education about how unaccept- able such behavior was in Eugene. She had suggested the HRC and CALC could lead in that regard given their past roles. She had received a good response to her inquiries and was hopeful about future action. Mayor Piercy thought that prolonged action would be necessary to create change. She said she was willing to be part of the community that stood up for Ms. Snowden. Councilor Taylor likened the downtown exclusion ordinance to the county’s response to the events of September 11, 2001, which resulted in a war in Iraq rather than a solution to the actual problem. She thought the council needed to look for what was causing the problem and who was causing the problem rather than punishing large groups of people. She was also interested in the concerns shared by the residents of the Crest-Storey area. Councilor Taylor asked if the council could approve a street designation without input from the Planning Commission. City Manager Jon Ruiz referred Councilor Taylor’s question to City Attorney Glenn Klein. He recalled that another element of the discussion was a funding source for the improvements being contemplated; the neighborhood was not interested in having the streets designated as collectors, which would make the streets eligible for the use of systems development charges (SDCs). Staff continued to examine that issue. City Attorney Klein said that the street designation involved a plan amendment, which must first be processed by the City’s Planning Commission. City Manager Ruiz indicated he told the neighbors no Planning Commission process was needed in error. Responding to a follow-up question from Councilor Taylor, City Manager Ruiz said he would find out when the Planning Commission would consider the matter. Councilor Taylor hoped the process could commence soon, and noted the long process the neighbors had already gone through. Councilor Clark expressed appreciation to those who testified and, speaking to the comments of Councilor Taylor, said he worked downtown and the problems downtown were clear to him and others who worked downtown, and the proposed exclusion ordinance was a clear and specific attempt to respond to those problems. He invited further debate on the issue. He thanked the mayor for her communication with the HRC and said the commission, of which he was a member, had worked on the issue quite a while and he expected there was more work to come. He welcomed any citizens’ input and assistance. He invited Ms. Truax to contact him directly. Councilor Bettman suggested the City could expedite the Planning Commission process to make up for some of the inconvenience suffered by the Crest-Storey area residents. Councilor Bettman endorsed Ms. Truax’s idea and expressed appreciation to her for it and agreed that people could take turns sitting in front of the store to discourage bad behavior. She volunteered to sign up for a shift and said she would encourage others to do so as well. She encouraged Ms. Truax to contact the council. MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 28, 2008 Page 2 Meeting