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an interdependent ecosystem that relied on easy automobile businesses. Mr. Hibberd said that traffic on the street was heavy but it moved without problem. Ian McNeely, 2288 Potter Street, supported a modest temporary tax dedicated to education. He maintained that the economy of the city and its identity depended on education. He could no longer use the local education system as a tool to recruit new faculty to the University of Oregon. He said his neighborhood association had expressed support for higher taxes to support education even though most members did not have children in the schools. Mr. McNeely said citizens who earned a paycheck had received a "windfall" as a result of President Obama's tax cuts, and he wanted the council to ask the citizens to impose a progressive tax on incomes over $50,000 to "earmark that windfall" to add back school days and reduce class sizes. He encouraged the council to "use the City's leverage" to ensure the money was spent on raising academic quality to ensure students were prepared to attend Oregon universities. Bob Macherione, 1994 Bronson Street, represented Our Money Our Transit. He distributed copies of a working paper that addressed issues related to the proposed West Eugene EmX route. His organization's concerns included the lack of proven need for West Eugene EmX. Mr. Macherione suggested the City had conflicting goals and it frequently lost sight of its primary goals. For example, he questioned how the 63 -foot buses operated by LTD fit with the goal of reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and how 105 -foot wide streets for mixed -use residential development accommodated the needs of pedestrians. He suggested the City "pick a goal and stick with it." He wanted the City to ask the question of whether LTD was meeting its mission and goal. He considered LTD's primary task was to provide basic bus service. He pointed out that West 11` Avenue had not been LTD's first choice for a third route. Mr. Macherione objected that LTD was stating there were two successful EmX routes when the second route had just started operations days before. He reported that the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce had rewritten its letter of support to be less supportive. Joy Marshall, 5166 Alpine Loop, represented Stand for Children. She distributed and reviewed her testimony in support of a new tax to support local school districts. She also distributed a letter from University of Oregon President Richard Lariviere in support of the tax. Brian Weaver, 1365 Grant Street, believed that LTD's alternative analysis for the West Eugene EmX route was based on assumptions and expectations that might not be realized. He recalled that LTD had installed 40 park and ride spaces at the Fred Meyer parking lot that were little used. He asked how the community could respect LTD's projections. He did not think that the West Eugene EmX route could be compared with the Franklin EmX route, which passed the University of Oregon and traveled on to Springfield. There was more ridership on that route and it did not infringe on property owners to the degree that the West 11` Avenue extension would. Mr. Weaver believed that LTD's credibility was at issue. Mr. Weaver said that Mayor Piercy had written an op -ed that discussed how the EmX system was based on a system in Bogota, Columbia, which was a community of 7 million people in South America. He did not think the communities were comparable. He asked the council not to rubber stamp LTD's plans. Christy Monson, 1616 East 27` Avenue, asked the council to support a dedicated revenue source for Eugene schools and cited examples of other communities that had passed municipal taxes to support the schools and some of the programs that were supported. She maintained that the community would stand behind the council if it referred a tax dedicated to education to the ballot. MINUTES— Eugene City Council January 11, 2010 Page 4 Regular Meeting