CC Minutes - 09/14/09 Regular Meeting

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coalition with NCS in order to move into the building. He thought they would be able to pay for improvements and they would provide a long-term presence there. He stated that the location would allow their students easy access to all of the satellite campuses because students used Lane Transit District (LTD) buses and the bicycle paths for transportation. Joyce Holmes Benjamin , 1375 Olive Street, Apt. 502, stated that she was an attorney. She noted that she lived at the Tate Building and was one of the developers along with Jean Tate. She was very interested in the NCS because she was interested in education. She related that she had spent 22 years of her life on different boards of education, including the State Board of Education, and she had spent 11 years working for the Department of Education in Salem. She had sat in on NCS classes and thought they were doing an excellent job with the children. She understood the school needed a home and believed the Pearl Street building was a good fit and would solve the problem the City had in needing to make good use of the building. She said they had submitted a proposal to the City Manager. She urged the council to commit to an interest in the proposal. th Sally Snyder , 1134 West 8 Avenue, stated that she was a child and family therapist and her daughter was a senior at NCS. She related that her daughter had started at South Eugene High School and it had not worked for her, but the NCS had been “a great fit.” She said her daughter had flourished there and would graduate after the current semester and begin classes at LCC in the spring. She urged the council to help the NCS remain downtown. She related that in addition to access to transit and the bicycle path, being in the downtown area provided easy access to the library and to art galleries. She added that parents also spent more time downtown because of having to transport their children. She echoed the sentiment that the NCS would be a good match for the building. Pauline Hutson , 1025 Taylor Street, accused Councilor Pryor of making remarks at a work session on August 12 that she perceived to discredit Residents for Responsible Rapid Transit (3RT). She quoted Councilor Pryor as having said that some people were spreading “misinformation and scary stories” about the proposed west Eugene EmX corridor project. She had taken umbrage at this remark. She averred that 3RT did not lie or make up stories and anyone was welcome to go through their files. She asserted that the councilor had been “lying and making up stories.” She found this to be unpleasant and upsetting and asked that it stop. Herschel Henderly , 1493 Queens Way, spoke in support of keeping the NCS in the downtown area. He asserted that the NCS was important to the school system. He related the story of his son, who had difficulty focusing in class and distracted other students. His son had transferred to NCS and he lauded the benefits it had provided for him. He averred that the NCS teachers did a great job of handling a diverse group of young people. He stated that his son had graduated the previous spring. He felt that the NCS provided a safety valve for the school districts because kids who were disruptive in class caused no one to learn. Lisa Anderson , 1230 Arthur Street, said a neighbor had told her about the draft plan to put a bus line through her neighborhood. She had spoken with her neighbors and none of them had heard about it. She asserted that LTD had not notified anyone in her neighborhood. She had attended an LTD meeting to ask about a specific section of the draft proposal for a route along the Amazon Canal and LTD staff did not know anything. She related that staff had informed her that they would hold a meeting with the neighborhood in September and she was displeased that they had not done so yet. She had asked staff repeatedly when the plan would be ready to present in a meeting and no one every seemed to know. She was concerned that they would run a bus down a section of the bicycle path which she believed would be costly to the taxpayers, harmful to wildlife, would require eminent domain, would take out low- income housing, and would disrupt a peaceful neighborhood. Darren Reiley , 129-A North Polk Street, Executive Director of Peace Village, stated that he had worked as an educator for 12 years. He had been working with Peace Village for eight years. He explained that Peace Village offered non-violence education through summer camps and for the past five years Peace Village had contracted with the Churchill Alternative High School and NCS to offer non-violence training to teenagers. He averred that they did MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 14, 2009 Page 2 Regular Meeting