Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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spoken to one resident prior to coming to testify who was “enraged” by the treatment some people had received from police that had responded to a call to the Campbell Club. She felt that youth who were once peaceful were now feeling enraged. Duke Cantrelle , 304½ Adams Street, stated that he was a Eugenean who had lived in this community for 27 years. He had worked for the City for 25 years and had retired. He went to the Library in the morning and had arrived a little early. He sat in a chair in the café area and a young man came in and told him he had to get up and move. He said he was not asked for identification or anything of that sort. He related that he was going in for triple-bypass surgery in the coming week and he was a Buddhist. He commented that this was the reason he did not voice his opinion at the time. He felt he had been disrespected and he had been embarrassed by the treatment. He believed that as a citizen of Eugene the Library was his library like it was everyone’s library. He had taken umbrage that the man had made him move. He underscored that he was retired and read lots of books and went to the Library two or three times a week. He questioned whether the City was running the Library or was the café running theLibrary. He said the guy was “not even cool about it.” Hope Marston , 3110 University Street, believed that the committee process was a delay in implementation of the charter amendment. She thought the formation of a committee was an effort to try to create goodwill and, though this sounded good, it was “really creating a group of super-voters.” She reiterated that 65 percent of the voters had supported the charter amendment. She agreed with people who believed there had been an erosion of trust in the police department. She alleged that the police department had refused to accept oversight. She did not think there had been a process behind the decision “to bring tasers into the City.” She recalled the tasering incident that happened on May 30, calling it a “flagrant abuse of power.” She asserted that the police department had prevented the auditor from interviewing police officers. She felt the changes Councilor Bettman proposed were “really good implementation policies.” She declared that “power does not concede without real demand” and the committee would not place “much of a real demand” on the police department, “especially when you have it stacked… with so many people who were already part of the status quo.” She averred that the community needed to truly have a CRB and Police Auditor who had the ability to look into infractions and make decisions about them. Mike Quillin , 2735 Kismet Way, had read the article in the Register Guard about the “keg party” that had been disrupted by EPD officers when it got out of hand. He said the EPD had ultimately obtained a search warrant and had issued several citations for minors in possession. He questioned whether it had been necessary to bring out 12 officers in 10 squad cars to rein in a party. He also questioned whether the police were justified in breaking down doors “to issue what amounted to several citations.” He did not feel those questions could be answered because there was not enough information available. He wanted to use the story as a parable. He likened the charter amendment to gaining a warrant to investigate the practices of the EPD. He wanted to ask the police department if it would permit external review of their practices to promote transparency or should the citizens “break down the doors” to get the information they were entitled to. He urged the City Council to accept the responsibility that the voters had given them “by passing measure 20-146.” He wanted them to enact permanent and ongoing external review as soon as possible. Robert Clemens , 590 Tyler Street, Apartment 7, recalled that he had spoken at the last council meeting because the Mayor had said she would welcome any ideas from the community no matter what the source was. He had suggested a proposal to create a garden to grow free food at the Campbell Senior Center. He had not heard anything from any of the councilors or Mayor and wanted to hear from them during the rest of his three minutes. He said John Fisher was working with him on this. He indicated his willingness to work with a committee or with staff and underscored his feeling that such a garden could be developed with very little cost and would provide a great deal of good to the community. He stated that poor people like himself MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 24, 2008 Page 5 Regular Meeting