Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Ms. Solomon, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved to authorize the City Manager to sign an In- tergovernmental Agreement between the City of Eugene and the Urban Renewal Agency in substantial conformity with the outline of terms described in Attachment E. Ms. Bettman reminded all present about the source of urban renewal funds and maintained it was being redirected from essential services. She termed the amount being redirected to urban renewal throughout the state of Oregon “scandalous.” She said that the council was considering the funding “in a vacuum.” Mr. Kelly said that the council often spoke of the success of downtown Portland and wanting to emulate it. He pointed out that much of what had been accomplished in Portland was done through urban renewal districts. Ms. Bettman did not find the situations in Eugene and Portland were comparable; she asserted that Portland invested its urban renewal dollars in housing instead, which she found an appropriate use of the money. It created the demand for retail. That was not what the City was doing. In addition, she maintained that Portland developments had embedded parking and created their own parking. Portland also had design standards, which Eugene lacked. Ms. Bettman believed the circulating street car also contributed to the success of downtown Portland. Eugene was unable to get a similar project going. Ms. Bettman concluded that one could not state that urban renewal “created the renaissance in Portland” because it was not true. Ms. Taylor suggested that the council consider what urban renewal had done locally in terms of destroying downtown. She had long been opposed to urban renewal because it diverted money from schools and was too easy to use. The motion passed, 5:2; Ms. Taylor and Ms. Bettman voting no. B. ACTION: Resolution 4861 Adopting a Supplemental Budget; Making Appropriations for the City of Eugene for the Fiscal Year Beginning July 1, 2005, and ending June 30, 2006 Ms. Solomon, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved to adopt Resolution 4861 adopting a Supple- mental Budget; making appropriations for the City of Eugene for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2005, and ending June 30, 2006. Ms. Bettman asserted that there was a proposal to use the Brownfield Economic Development Initiative (BEDI) Grant and Section 108 loan funding for the project. She maintained that the source of that money was Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, which was supposed to be used to alleviate poverty and homelessness. She assured the council that when it discussed its council goal of alleviating homelessness, it would hear from staff there was no money to do so. At a time when CDBG funds were already expected to decline, staff intended to take money meant to create resources for homeless people and youth and divert it to build a parking garage. She found that unsupportable. Ms. Bettman said that the crux of the issue for her was that the City never had the money to do the things she believed would be good for the city or to fund solutions to chronic problems, such as homelessness and the need for youth services. However, “all of a sudden” the City had the money for this project. She said in order to fund the garage the council was taking money from the Library Fund, General Fund, and Stormwa- ter Fund, and was eliminating the reserves it had to create a riparian strip in downtown. Ms. Bettman predicted the council would face a backlash from the public which, for the next ten years, would vote down any bond measure the council put forward. MINUTES—Eugene City Council March 15, 2006 Page 6 Work Session