CC MInutes - 08/10/09 Regular Meeting

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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 August 10, 2009 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Chris Pryor, George Brown, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. 1. CEREMONIAL MATTERS Proclamation: Eugene Firefighters Appreciation Week - Mayor Piercy read a proclamation declaring the week of August 23 to August 29, 2009, Eugene Firefighters Appreciation Week. She acknowledged that firefighters Bob Ritchey and Nathan Kunasek were present to receive a copy of the proclamation. The firefighters received a round of applause. City Manager Jon Ruiz noted that Captain Randall Groves was out of town and would have liked to have been present. He passed along Captain Groves’ heartfelt thanks to the firefighters. He commended the firefighters for their work, both in fire fighting and for fund raising efforts on behalf of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. 2. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. Albert Brahimaj , 958 Lawrence, #1, owner of two businesses in the downtown area, stated that his hot dog cart was being affected by “homeless street kids” begging for change. He said the young people would become hostile when people refused to give them money and because of this people did not want to get their money out to buy food from his business. He averred that he had worked too hard to get where he was and to have what he had to let “these little hooligans” affect his business. He said if they hung out in front of his store he had the recourse of calling the police, but he could not call the police when they were hanging out in front of his stand. He related that he had been assaulted on the previous Friday. He had called the police and the police had arrested three young people. He noted his intention to press charges. He said the three had been released from jail on the previous day. He observed that he was a pretty big guy and if he was getting beat up, what would happen to a “little old lady” in that situation. th Samantha Chirillo , 157 East 27 Avenue, #3, thanked the council for moving forward with the Police Auditor ordinance revisions. She surmised that those who had attended the committee meetings seemed satisfied with the results. She asked the council to continue supporting the roles of the Police Auditor and the Civilian Review Board (CRB). She noted that she had witnessed the tasering incident of May, 2008, and had recently participated in the investigation. It had become apparent to her that the Police Auditor and CRB played an important role in overseeing those kinds of investigations and giving feedback to the council on them. She was concerned that the City was not suspending its use of tasers until they revised “how the MINUTES—Eugene City Council August 10, 2009 Page 1 Regular Meeting