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presentation on habitat improvement. The EWEB representative to the council discussed the utility’s <br />revised approach to protecting water quality in the watershed. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark asked City Manager Ruiz to find out whether community gardens could be established directly <br />next to Bond Park on undeveloped land owned by the City. <br /> <br />City Manager Ruiz recognized Mark Loigman of the Hult Center and Sergeant Darrell Schultz and the <br />Police Traffic Team for their work in making the Champions Parade possible. He also thanked Lane <br />Transit District for rerouting its buses to accommodate the parade. He thanked Building Official Stuart <br />Ramsing and his team in Building and Permit Services for their work in ensuring that the Matthew Knight <br />Arena was ready to open. <br /> <br /> <br />B. WORK SESSION: West Eugene EmX Update <br /> <br />The council was joined by members of the Lane Transit District (LTD) Board of Directors and LTD <br />General Manager Mark Pangborn, LTD Planning and Development Manager Tom Schwetz, and West <br />Eugene EmX Project Manager John Evans, who were present to provide information about the project <br />and answer council questions. <br /> <br />Mr. Schwetz and Mr. Evans shared a PowerPoint presentation entitled West Eugene EmX Extension <br />Update. The presentation highlighted the policy direction that drove the project, the recommendations of <br />LTD advisory committees and community organizations, mitigation concepts being considered for the <br />route, key performance measures, anticipated capital and operating costs, travel time comparisons, <br />ridership projections, and the local preferred alternative selection process. <br /> <br />Speaking to the recommendations of the advisory committees and community groups, Mr. Poling, a <br />th <br />member of the LTD EmX Steering Committee, reported that he supported forwarding the West 11/West <br />th <br />13 alternative as well as the Transportation System Management (TSM) alternative. He was unable to <br />support the committee’s final action since the committee did not forward TSM as well. <br /> <br />Mr. Pangborn highlighted the information in the presentation that indicated that because of $8.3 million in <br />federal funding for bus replacements, LTD should be able to maintain its current service level and add <br />EmX without incurring deficits or requiring service reductions. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy suggested that the presentation lacked mention of State and local goals related to carbon <br />emission reductions. She anticipated that carbon levels would “move dramatically” with the institution of <br />EmX. Mr. Schwetz responded that LTD had done some analysis of that issue and more would occur <br />through the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) of that. He acknowledged that current methodologies <br />to determine corridor-level greenhouse gas emission savings were not well-developed, but LTD had <br />research that suggested that transit was a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions both at the corridor <br />and regional level. He cited reductions in vehicle miles traveled and transit passenger loads as indicators <br />of savings. <br /> <br />Mr. Kortge emphasized Mr. Pangborn’s point about the extra money that LTD received for buses. That <br />funding removed some operating costs and affected the estimates for EmX. He said that the estimates had <br />changed because of such factors. <br /> <br />Mr. Dubick emphasized that reducing VMT, congestion, and greenhouse gas emissions were of <br />importance to the board, and the board perceived EmX as a way to achieve those goals. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 24, 2010 Page 4 <br /> Joint Work Session with Lane Transit District Board of Directors <br /> <br />