Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

Home Browse Search

close to pedestrians with the awareness there was no one to stop them. There was also a bad garbage problem on West Broadway. She reported that the crowd that hung out at 55 West Broadway left huge amounts of trash on the street and when asked to pick it up refused to do so. Ms. Gladen spoke of an incident where an individual had disturbed the food cart vendors on the Parks Block and said it took 15 minutes for the police to arrive. The vendors lost their customers for that afternoon. A vendor had mentioned to her that some youth were following an older lady and spitting her. She said no one should th experience that. She observed that there was blood on the sidewalk at the 10 Avenue entrance of the Actors Cabaret, which was reported to the City but nothing was done. Ms. Gladen found that unacceptable. th Charles Hibberd , 5555 West 11 Avenue, business owner, congratulated the City for eliminating the parking meters downtown. th Mr. Hibberd was opposed to EmX on West 11 Avenue. He believed bus service could be provided much th more efficiently. He said that most of the time buses that ran on West 11 Avenue were empty, and he recommended LTD run larger buses during peak hours for greater fuel savings. He did not think that carbon emissions would be reduced as a result of EmX because of the vehicles being used. While he understood EmX between the communities of Eugene and Springfield, Mr. Hibberd did not think it was th needed on West 11 Avenue. The businesses on the road were not often used by bus users. He pointed out that LTD had budget problems now, and he questioned who would pay for the necessary infrastructure to support EmX. He asked if the City was going to pay, or were business owners going to pay. He pointed out that business owners already paid a payroll tax for the bus and none of his employees rode the bus. He encouraged the council to oppose the route, saying there were other alternatives. He said federal money referred to by LTD also taxpayer money. th Bob Machione , 288 West 6 Avenue, asked the council to consider small businesses when considering the West Eugene EmX route. He opposed EmX, saying it appeared to be based on faulty numbers. He said that LTD claimed that Our Money Our Transit was putting out false information but LTD was putting out vague misinformation. Two years ago LTD told him that it carried 6,000 people a day. When he questioned that number on the basis that LTD did not have sufficient seats to carry that many people, he was told it was actually 6,000 boardings a day, and that people were counted both when they got on and when they got off. A ride to work and a ride back home were counted as four boardings. LTD indicated it had 1.8 million boardings on the Springfield-Eugene EmX route. That number divided by four equaled 450,000 boardings for that line, which was LTD’s busiest route by far. Extrapolating those numbers to actual passengers indicated that the route was carrying 1,000 to 1,200 people daily on average. He suggested the cost for the route was a lot to carry that number of people. He said the total cost of the system when built out would be $1.5 billion in today’s dollars. Wendy Butler-Boyesen , 1265 City View, supported the West Eugene EmX extension because she thought it was important for the community to provide accessibility in transportation for both business and people. She cited MAX in Gresham as an example of transit development that she considered had been a “golden th opportunity” for business. She said buses serving West 11 Avenue had been reduced and the remaining buses had standing room only at times. All the accessible spaces were taken. She said her disabled husband could ride the EmX buses more easily than typical buses. Ms. Butler-Boyesen asserted that EmX cost 30 th percent less per boarding than regular buses. She acknowledged business on West 11 Avenue would be disrupted by route construction but she did not think the construction would necessary kill businesses. She said that she continued to consume after going carless. MINUTES—City Council October 11, 2010 Page 2 Regular Meeting