CC Minutes - 06/28/10 Work Session

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MINUTES City Council Council Chamber — Eugene City Hall 777 Pearl Street — Eugene, Oregon June 28, 2010 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Mike Clark, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, Chris Pryor, Alan Zelenka, George Brown, members. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the regular meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. 1. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. Amy Reid, 1993 Onyx Street, University of Oregon American English Institute, introduced several students sponsored by the United States State Department who were attending a professional development program at the institute. She reported most of the students were from developing countries or countries in transition and they would continue their studies at other universities across the United States after they left Eugene. The students present represented the countries of Chad, Tunisia, Columbia, Morocco, South Korea, Turkmenistan, Costa Rica, and Algeria. Mayor Piercy welcomed the students and expressed pleasure that they were studying in Eugene. Pauline Hutson, 1025 Taylor Street, submitted written testimony regarding her concerns about the proposed routing for the west Eugene extension of the EmX system. Ms. Hutson called for more emphasis on alternatives that employed West 6 th /7 th avenues and West 7 th Place. They would provide easy connections to fast growing parts of the community. She believed West 11 and 13 avenues were less desirable due to the many obstacles that currently existed to their use and anticipated that the route would have a lower ridership base. She offered her preferred route, which would avoid West l l and 13 avenues and instead send the EmX vehicle east down Oak Street and north on 6 Avenue, returning on 7 th Avenue and travel down Pearl Street to 10"' Avenue, where it would turn north to access the Lane Transit District (LTD) Station. That routing would serve downtown and would pass near the train station. Zachary Vishanoff, Ward 3, alerted the public to a hearing regarding a zone change for a City -owned parcel near the Riverfront Research Park and University of Oregon urban farm on July 28 at the Sloat Room in The Atrium Building. He wanted the mayor to announce the hearing, its location, and the fact the eventual decision could be appealed. He asked to be informed about any change in the hearing location. Tom Kamis, 94 West Broadway, thanked the council for the improvemerrts downtown. He commended the work of Officer Terry Fitzpatrick, saying it was having an effect. He believed the boxes near the LTD Station had been effective and they did not affect anyone's constitutional rights. The small fences on the planters were successful in eliminating the large crowds that had congregated on the corners. Downtown was cleaner. Mr. Kamis continued to be concerned about Josh Kiem's property at 55 West Broadway. He MINUTES— Eugene City Council June 28, 2010 Page 1 Regular Meeting