Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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contacted about the work of the collaborative and were not even aware of it, but it developed a plan to redevelop the entire area and possibly displace businesses. He asked why no contact was made, and suggested the process was backward. He said if those businesses were to be displaced, where were they supposed to go? Where were the car-oriented businesses going to be? Where did the City want furniture stores, body repair shops, and home improvement centers? That issue had not been raised, and yet the City was discussing rezoning in its vision. thth Charles Hibberd , 5555 West 11 Avenue, a business owner on West 11 Avenue, said governments were pleading poverty but now LTD wanted to spend $100 million on the West EmX system. He said there was th no residential population living within walking distance of West 11 Avenue. All other development was industrial. He said that people argued that the system was necessary for the future of children, but he saw no future for his children if government was going to spend money unnecessarily. Mr. Hibberd said that that people expressed support at the forum for bus service but they were not willing to pay the price. Instead, business owners paid the price through employee taxes. People suggested that EmX was more convenient, but he questioned how that could be true if there were fewer stops and people had to walk farther to reach them. Mr. Hibberd pointed out that federal money was also taxpayer money. Theresa Bishow , 2911 Tennyson Avenue, Suite 400, representing Arlie & Company, spoke to a recent editorial in the The Register-Guard cautioning against purchase of Arlie-owned property near Lane Community College and suggesting that because of the company’s Chapter 11 reorganization, the City had leverage to ask a lower acting price. She said that was not true; once the company filed for bankruptcy, it could only sell land with the approval of a federal judge. Ms. Bishow said that City staff prepared a letter of intent to purchase 315 acres at a discounted price, and parties affected by the bankruptcy and general public were given the right to tour the property and object to the sale. No objections were filed to sale in the 30-day comment period. She said the price of the land was already fifty percent below the appraised value and she said lowering the price would trigger another comment period and she believed the banks would object to a lower price. Ms. Bishow agreed with the editorial’s conclusion that the agreement was the City’s best hope of receiving the promised $600,000 donation from Arlie & Company. Speaking to the City’s naming guidelines, Ms. Bishow pointed out the guidelines gave staff the ability to refer such decisions to the council, which is the course it choose. The decision met the intent of the guidelines. Nick Garcia , 3725 Kincaid Street, a University of Oregon student, supported EmX extension. He thought it was critical for Eugene to invest heavily in public transit to remain a thriving community. He did not think that Eugene could meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets without the EmX system. Mr. Garcia agreed with concerns about operating costs and suggested that the City impose a gas tax increase or a vehicle miles traveled tax to both decrease the incentive to drive and increase the incentive for people to take transit. Speaking to points raised against EmX, Mr. Garcia agreed that traffic in the form of people moving through an area was good, and he believed the EmX system would serve that function. He asked for “hard data” about fears that the system would kill businesses, and averred that data from other communities would show they were good for business. Speaking to arguments that Eugene already had good public transportation, he suggested the fact that at least 80 percent of people drove for most of their trips demonstrated that Eugene did not have good public transportation. Mr. Garcia averred that if Eugene had good public transportation, the majority of the population would use it. He did not think the status quo was the fiscally responsible option and noted the external costs related to the automobile. MINUTES—City Council October 25, 2010 Page 4 Regular Meeting