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of transparency and public input when they had presented to the City Council several weeks earlier. He alleged that LTD “bristled” and “accused” him and his partner of inflammatory rhetoric for writing a letter to the editor. He asserted that he and his partner had the facts. He averred that the project had a “conjunction with the West Eugene Collaborative (WEC) plan” that would affect major portions of businesses, neighborhoods, natural environments, traffic patterns and lifestyles. He asked if it was not time for the council to be more involved and “a lot more informed.” Pauline Hutson , 1025 Taylor Street, opined that the LTD work plan presented to the City Council was “pure sales pitch.” She averred that they were the “little people” in the situation. She said they did not have money to put on presentations and public relations events. She felt they had no one else to turn to; the th councilors were their representatives. She thought that if the council chose the 7 Avenue route it would prevent a route being built along the Amazon Creek. She knew a woman who worked as a housekeeper for a living. She asserted that because this person’s bus route had been eliminated, she was now commuting two hours per day. Helen Reed , 3260 Storey Boulevard, stated that she had moved into her house the previous spring. She had been shocked by the amount of the assessment. She felt it was unfair and excessive. She had joined Bill Eddie and others in the neighborhood to gather signatures of remonstrance against the assessment. She noted that of all of the people she had spoken with, only one had supported the assessment. She said everyone she spoke with wanted the road improvements. She added that the people who had worked on the project felt especially strongly about moving forward with the improvements. Jeffrey S. Librett , 920 Crest Drive, also wanted to remonstrate. He favored having the work done, but the assessment seemed unreasonably and outrageously high to him. He averred that it was unaffordable. He related that he had an academic salary that was fixed. He noted that academics in the northwest made less than anyone else in academics in the nation and academics in the humanities made even less than that. He and his wife had put all of their money into the house, in buying it and renovating it. He said when they had bought it five years earlier, they had been told that they would not be charged more than $10,000 for potential assessments and that amount would be payable over a number of years. He stated that he would not have bought the house had he known what the assessment was going to be. He noted that he had two small children. He considered the assessments to be especially unfair, given that many people used the streets. He averred that the assessment policy was an outmoded law. Toby Gamberoni , 691 Crest Drive, Ward 2, wondered if they could not find a solution that would “harmonize the different interests” in the Crest Drive/Storey Boulevard/Friendly Street area. He believed the assessment policy could be shifted so that the assessments could fall on a wider range of residents. He reiterated that many people use the road, noting that the elementary school caused a great deal of traffic. He averred that making the few responsible for the many was not appropriate. He felt that the assessments should be shifted more toward equality and looking out for the “weakest on the team” who might not be able to pay. Zachary Vishanoff , Ward 3, provided a taser report he had written to “provide counterpoint.” He wanted the City to get tasers that included cameras because this would provide a better opportunity to determine if tasers were deployed reasonably. He noted his preference to have the tasers “gone altogether.” He read aloud some information regarding the “taser cam.” He added that Pete Kerns was a “good person to be a police chief.” He commended Acting Chief Kerns’ ability to communicate with the public. He opined that with what was going on currently, it was not “time to change the guard.” He added that he also liked Police Captain Steve Swenson for the same reason. He asked that his packet of materials be forwarded to the Civilian Review Board and the Human Rights Commission. MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 26, 2009 Page 2 Regular Meeting