Laserfiche WebLink
Ms. Taylor was concerned for the businesses affected by the route, for the trees that would be removed <br />because of the route, and for the taxes involved regardless of the source. She suggested the potential the <br />State lottery dollars LTD hoped for could be redirected to education. She was also concerned about <br />operating costs of larger buses and questioned why LTD could not use more small buses. She did not <br />support the suggested motion. <br />Mayor Piercy observed that LTD looked at 58 different alignments for the West Eugene route. She <br />believed that all residents were concerned about jobs. She said that it cost LTD less to operate an EmX <br />bus than a regular bus, and the EmX vehicle accommodated more people. <br />Speaking to Mayor Piercy's latter point, Mr. Clark believed that operation of the EmX system would <br />become more, not less, expensive as time went on. <br />Mr. Clark reiterated his interest in postponing a decision. He believed additional time could allow the <br />City to bring more people together to create a plan with more agreement. <br />Ms. Ortiz believed that sufficient time had been spent on the project. She would not support any motion <br />to postpone action. She believed the council needed to let the community know where it stood on the <br />project. She did not know what more LTD could do. She believed that LTD staff had worked hard and <br />while LTD could have done some things differently, West Eugene had always been a component of a <br />comprehensive EmX system. <br />Mr. Brown believed there were several unfortunate things about the proposal, such as not giving the <br />Transportation System Management (TSM) option a chance to succeed and not involving business <br />owners and residents in the process from the beginning. He believed the suggested motion was <br />unnecessary. He believed the LTD board could live with additional uncertainty. <br />Mr. Pryor acknowledged the future was unknown, but if the council anticipated changes over the next 20 <br />years in West Eugene, it had to discuss what changes the City needed to make to accommodate them. He <br />could not envision a future without mass transit. The City Council also needed to think about fiscal <br />prudence and what actually would work. Since the council had eliminated the West Eugene Parkway as <br />an option, it must do something in West Eugene, and merely accommodating cars was not the best <br />solution. He wanted to keep the conversation going, and believed the first suggested motion <br />accommodated that desire. <br />Mr. Zelenka agreed with Mr. Pryor that the project was about the future. He envisioned dramatic changes <br />over the next 20 years and said the community needed to prepare for them. He spoke of the difficulty that <br />the community of San Jose, California, experienced when trying to install its light rail system because it <br />did not have the foresight to plan for the system earlier. <br />Mr. Zelenka believed that LTD had been responsive to the businesses along the proposed routes. He had <br />requested information about the proposed mitigations and found there were 70 instances in which LTD <br />had changed its plans in response to community concerns. <br />Mr. Farr concurred with the remarks of Mr. Pryor. He observed that the issue had created controversy in <br />his own household and no matter the council's decision, people would be dissatisfied. <br />Ms. Taylor, seconded by Mr. Brown, moved to support LTD's construction of EmX in <br />West Eugene and to direct the city manager to inform the LTD Board of Directors that <br />the council is opposed to the "no- build" option. <br />MINUTES— Eugene City Council March 9, 2011 Page 5 <br />Work Session <br />