Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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council to do everything it could to help NCS continue to do the wonderful work it did. rd Michelle Rose , 425 South 3 Street, Cottage Grove, said her two children had gone to NCS but one son had gone back to public school and wished he had stayed at NCS. As a downtown business manager, she thought the students added a great deal to downtown. The school’s class room was all of Eugene, and it made sense to keep it downtown given the proximity of resources such as Lane Transit District, the library, and parks. Her daughter loved the school and felt comfortable at a school for the first time. She said if the school was no longer available, she would home school her daughter. She suggested if students did not feel comfortable at their school, they would no longer attend. th Tanna Konemann , 1357 West 8 Avenue, an NCS teacher, spoke of the friendly and caring atmosphere at NCS created by relationships between teachers and students. She was disheartened by the idea of no longer caring for the students. Kimberly Gladen , 361 West Broadway, said she saw the students everyday and they were good kids setting a good example that she wanted to see downtown. They were making downtown a better place and learning to be good citizens. She thought the location at 858 Pearl Street was ideal for many reasons. She said there were many negative things happening with children downtown and did not want the good example set by NCS students to go away. As a member of the downtown safety task force, she understood that the school was to be in place and regretted that did not appear to be the case. She believed it would be devastating to downtown and the community if the school were no longer downtown. She asked the council to facilitate the negotiations. th Eleanor Lang , 775 West 11 Avenue, a teacher at NCS, suggested a livable vibrant downtown included a school such as NCS. She believed keeping NCS downtown gave Eugene a positive presence of youth. It benefited the students from proximity to transportation, the library, and other local businesses who need clients. Downtown also reinforced her classroom lessons about sustainability, civics, and urban planning. She questioned what message the City was sending the students. th Jared Woods , 775 West 11 Avenue, spoke of the lessons he learned as a result of his involvement to NCS. He said the school meant a lot to its students and teachers and they wanted to stay downtown. NCS networked with other community organizations. NCS students received a constant education as a result of the school’s location downtown. He suggested that keeping NCS downtown was key to a vibrant downtown. He said students and staff supported many downtown businesses. Susann Bradley , 84729 McBeth Road, a teacher at Eugene Glass School, a satellite organization of NCS, expressed pride in the school and said she was proud of the NCS students. She said students went to Greenhill for its last community service project and later rallied downtown in support of the school even after all the hard work they had done that day. She asked the council to help keep NCS downtown. Kevin Prociw , 3777 Kendra Street, distributed information for the council regarding the timeline for the renaming of Beltline. He complained that the public did not have sufficient time to weigh in on the subject and the council took only 30 seconds to act. He called for an explanation and asked that the council rescind its approval in favor of a more public process. Mark Callahan , 3621 Mahlon Avenue, wanted to know why the council voted in support of the renaming of Beltline. He termed the renaming an unnecessary expense and objected to the expenditure of tax dollars. He maintained that the council’s constituents would rather have potholes filled than have the State rename Beltline. He wanted immediate action by the council to rescind its former approval of the name change. MINUTES—City Council April 14, 2010 Page 3