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As part of this effort, an interactive online Eugene Counts Dashboard will be deployed in the fall of 2010 to easily <br />and clearly share information about progress and performance. Performance data will be reported through an <br />accessible and easy-to-use online dashboard that will allow community members and decision-makers alike to <br />track the City’s performance, with relevant content to make the measures more meaningful and useful. <br />DOWNTOWN SAFETY INITIATIVE <br />Eugene’s downtown has been a high priority for the Mayor, City Council, the community and staff for several <br />years. Creating a community where all people feel safe, valued and welcome, has been the cornerstone of the <br />City Council’s Safe Community goal. Downtown safety has been a particular focus for the Council and the <br />community. <br />Community members have expressed a deep interest in seeing substantive change to downtown conditions. A <br />stronger downtown emerged as a driving force behind achieving four out of the five council goals in the Eugene <br />Counts process. Perceptions about downtown safety were closely intertwined with people’s desire for an <br />economically and culturally thriving downtown district, with many participants seeing downtown safety and <br />downtown revitalization as being profoundly interdependent. Downtown issues also were top of mind for <br />respondents to the annual community survey, second only to unemployment on this year’s list of most important <br />problems facing Eugene. Residents’ concern about downtown peaked this year, with seven out of ten <br />respondents saying they were dissatisfied with downtown’s current state. <br />In January of 2010, the City Council unanimously supported a 12 point Downtown Safety Initiative developed after <br />considerable input by the Downtown Safety Task Team and City staff. Together, the short- and long-term actions <br />will work to reduce crime in the downtown core, improve the feeling of safety, and make downtown a safe and <br />welcome environment for everyone. The City Council directed the City Manager to implement the short-term <br />actions and requested that funding recommendations for the longer term actions, with the exception of item 8 <br />below, be included in the FY11 Budget. The short-term actions include: <br />1. Better coordination with Downtown Eugene Inc’s red-capped guides, private security firms and parole and <br />probation officers; <br />2. Development of an ordinance or mechanism to address sale and consumption of fortified wine and malt <br />liquor; <br />3. Expand use of video cameras to prevent vandalism and other crimes, along with automating behavior <br />crime reporting; <br />4. Proposed modification of business improvement district fees to include more property; and <br />5. Review of the Downtown Public Safety Zone ordinance to assess effectiveness and consider <br />amendments. <br />The long-term strategies are essential components of any significant change to the downtown core issues and <br />include: <br />6. Creation of an “umbrella strategy” to develop and coordinate a clearing house for nonemergency <br />downtown issues and centralize public safety personnel; <br />7. The addition of jail beds; <br />8. Develop an overnight facility for alcohol/drug abusers; <br />9. The addition of 7 Police Officers, 1 Sergeant and 1 Community Service Officer to add to the existing two <br />officers to provide a strengthened downtown police team; <br />10. Downtown work crews to clean the downtown and provide employment opportunities, <br />11. Seasonal and more consistent lighting; and <br />12. Enhancement to the City’s CAHOOTS contract to provide additional services for people experiencing <br />mental health issues. <br />Other Information <br />Awards <br />The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) awarded a Certificate of <br />Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to the City of Eugene for its Comprehensive Annual Financial <br />Report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009. This was the 34th consecutive year that the City has achieved <br />this prestigious award. In order to be awarded a Certificate of Achievement, a government must publish an easily <br />