CC Minutes - 05/14/07 Work Session

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B. WORK SESSION: City Council Goal – Enhance Understanding of Race Issues and Improve Race Relationships Action Plan Ms. Ortiz thanked the community for serving so many hours on the committee. It spoke to her of the committee members’ commitment to help the City evolve. Executive Director for Human Resource and Risk Services Lauren Chouinard echoed Ms. Ortiz’s opening comments. He also thanked the members of the “Race Team,” City Diversity Consultant Jason Mak, Human Rights Program Manager Greg Rikhoff, Assistant City Manager Jones, Police Technical Services Division Manager Lynn Reeves, and Library Assistant Francisco Gutierrez. He noted that he served on the team as well. Mr. Chouinard reviewed Attachment A: Council Priority Enhance Understanding of Race Issues and Improve Race Relationships Action Plan. Ms. Ortiz highlighted the Council Committee on Race (CCR) recommendation to create a community cultural center. She said there had been a “lot of energy around this.” She related that it would not only allow people to get to know each other’s cultures, it would provide a “home” for community groups. She pointed out, as an example, that the Chinese Lion Dancers do not currently have a place to store their costume pieces and could potentially use such a center. Ms. Ortiz said Attachment C: Community Committee on Race Recommendation contained the recom- mendations that the committee wished the council to take on. She said her main goal had been to work on a strategic plan; to get to the point at which the council looked at “everything systemically” throughout the City and how it fit into the recommendations from the CCR. Mayor Piercy joined the meeting by telephone at 5:58 p.m. Mr. Zelenka averred that the CCR had been a “great group of people.” He felt they really cared about making Eugene a place for all people to live and prosper together. He wanted to especially acknowledge Ms. Ortiz and Human Rights Commission Chair Carmen Urbina for their work on the process. He believed that they needed to do a lot of work in that area. He supported the action plan. Ms. Bettman expressed appreciation for the work the CCR had undertaken. She believed that the City had made targeted and focused progress on this goal. She wanted the racism study circles to be available for councilors. She was happy to see the item related to the legislative agenda because she thought the staff and the council had done a good job of taking strong positions on legislative issues having to do with race and, in particular, the immigration issue. Ms. Bettman believed that any contractors with whom the City did business should be required to uphold the standards the City upholds. Ms. Bettman supported educating youth about race awareness. She thought the City could help defray the costs of such an effort. MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 14, 2007 Page 4 Work Session