Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

Home Browse Search

He had learned that if the construction proceeded as planned and Lane Community College proceeded with its development proposal downtown, those efforts in conjunction with other downtown initiatives meant there would be about $80 million of new construction occurring downtown at the height of one of the worst recessions since the Depression. He thought that deserved more recognition, adding he was pretty happy about it. Mr. Clark acknowledged he spoke only for himself when he addressed the council’s representatives to the Metropolitan Policy Committee (MPC), Mr. Zelenka and Ms. Ortiz. He said the Board of County Commissioners’ actions to significantly change the parameters of a road project that the citizens of Coburg and past County commissioners had worked on for so long, was awful and he feared it would cost the County and many people a number of jobs. He believed the action would cause significant harm to the County if the County commission was allowed to have its way. He hoped that Ms. Ortiz and Mr. Zelenka, as representatives of Eugene to the MPC, which would discuss the project later in the week, would vote against the changes. Mr. Zelenka said the MPC would meet on August 12 at the Bascom-Tykeson Room at the Eugene Library to discuss the subject mentioned by Mr. Clark. He believed that an agreement had been reached on how to proceed without doing too much harm to anybody. Mr. Zelenka also toured the Center Court development and commended its quality. He suggested the building be returned to its original name, the McMorran Building, since it would be returned to more of its initial appearance. He commended the quality of the spaces in the building and noted that some commercial space in it was still available for lease. Ms. Ortiz also thanked Sergeant Barrong and the volunteers who rode in the caravan with the council. She reported that the caravan visited a neighborhood in the River Road/Santa Clara area composed of apartments whose residents were trying to organize. She thought the residents benefited from the event, which representatives of two neighborhood organizations had also attended. Ms. Ortiz reported that she attended a recent town hall on the Lane County Fairgrounds held by the Board of County Commissioners to discuss what could happen with the fairgrounds. She encouraged people to get involved in the issue because those coming forward with proposals were not necessarily current users of the fairgrounds. Many in attendance had expressed a sense of disconnection from what was presented. Ms. Ortiz said the Trainsong Neighbors were happy to have the slurry seal surface on their street. Mr. Pryor noted the dedication of the new Sponsors’ facility on Highway 99, which provided services to parolees, a population which had been ignored for a long time. He said those services helped such individuals to integrate back into society. Mr. Pryor had been pleased to take the Center Court tour, saying it was a great building, many exciting things were going on, and he thought people would want to be there when it was complete. Mr. Pryor said there were exciting things happening downtown that had not happened for a long time. He said the pace of street repairs and renovations was unbelievable. He recalled that transportation had been a key issue for him when he was first elected to the council. Since that time, the council had worked very hard to make conditions better, and he thought the council should be proud of both the downtown improvements and the street improvements that were occurring. Mr. Poling reported he had also participated in the National Night Out caravan and enjoyed the experience. He also MINUTES—City Council Work Session August 9, 2010 Page 2