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<br />Mr. Zelenka, seconded by Mr. Clark, moved to accept the report and recommendations from <br />the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Committee to Finance Homelessness and Housing Programs. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor pointed out that accepting the report did not mean the council agreed with it. <br /> <br />Mr. Solomon asked what the next steps would be. Ms. Lampman said the report and recommendations would be <br />presented to the Springfield City Council and staff would work with Lane County on the scan. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark offered a friendly amendment to allow staff to proceed with cooperating with <br />Lane County on the scan of homeless issues. Mr. Zelenka accepted the friendly amendment <br />and added language to have staff follow up on the five recommendations in the Agenda Item <br />Summary. Mr. Clark accepted the added language. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. <br /> <br />Ms. Piercy hoped that part of the discussion would address the issue of laws that prevent people from sitting or lying <br />down in public. She clarified that the council’s discussion was not implying that homeless people necessarily engage <br />in criminal activities. She emphasized that the community was not prepared with an emergency shelter plan to take <br />care of people during severe weather incidents. <br /> <br />Ms. Ortiz, seconded by Mr. Zelenka, moved to work with community partners to address an <br />emergency plan for shelter. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. <br /> <br />C. WORK SESSION: <br /> Civic Stadium <br /> <br />Mr. Ruiz stated that the Ems had indicated that Civic Stadium no longer fit the needs and requirements of profes- <br />sional baseball and to bring the stadium up to those standards would cost between $10 and $15 million. He said the <br />Ems were in discussion with the University of Oregon about use of the University’s new baseball facility. He asked <br />for an indication of the council’s wishes with respect to Civic Stadium. He said the City was not in a position to <br />make an investment of that magnitude given its current budget situation, but could play a role in facilitating an <br />ongoing discussion of the reuse of Civic Stadium and the property on which it was located. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark said he had met with the Save Civic Stadium group and thanked them for their efforts. He said the <br />stadium was an asset to the community and the City should help find creative ways to save it, but those could not be <br />at the expense of the City or the 4J School District. He believed there was an opportunity for the City to partner with <br />other organizations to find another use for the stadium, such as a regional youth sports facility, but whatever use <br />occurred had to be at a minimum revenue neutral with a plan to create a revenue stream that would benefit the school <br />district as long as it continued to own the property. He did not want the district to have to choose between closing a <br />school and keeping a sports field open. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor was encouraged by the proposals coming forward, which were creative, flexible and visionary. He <br />recognized that declaring the property surplus and selling it was an effort by the financially strapped school district to <br />take advantage of an opportunity to improve its fiscal circumstances. He envisioned a partnership between the City <br />and school district to explore options and endorsing use of the property was a good start. He agreed with Mr. Ruiz <br />that the City was not in a financial position to acquire the property, renovate it or undertake a long-term maintenance <br />obligation. He was mindful that the property was donated to the school district for recreation and educational <br />purposes and efforts to save the stadium needed to take that into consideration. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 26, 2009 Page 5 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />