Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Big John Cahill said the car camping program was full. It had 60 spaces and an eight-month waiting list. He said if Occupy Eugene ended the people now there would go back to the bushes and camp all around the community. There was nowhere else for them to go. He noted the upcoming fund raiser sponsored by the Coalition of Homeless People at the WOW Hall on December 21, which would include a reading of the names of the 111 homeless people who died in Eugene in 2011. Kristin Carpenter criticized the proposal as something intended to make the council feel more comfortable. It displaced people and distributed them in a way that did not remind the council of its failure to solve the problems of homelessness, poverty, and wage disparity. The council continued to perpetuate a system of structural violence that would continue to oppress the homeless. She termed the ordinance a disgrace and suggested the council wanted to end Occupy Eugene because it had made homelessness visible on a 24-hour basis. Jean Stacy agreed with Ms. Carpenter. She suggested the council was engaging in an age-old technique of dividing a population into small groups so it had no power because the homeless threatened the council by making it feel ashamed of itself. She maintained that the camp gave the homeless power and a voice. She felt the ordinance was hypocritical. Mark Rust expressed support for the proposed ordinance. He suggested the council consider adding provisions for additional tents instead of merely considering tents as a vehicle that counted toward the current number of spaces, which would build system capacity. Alley Valkyrie did not think that car camping was a solution to the problem. She felt safe at Occupy Eugene. She would not feel safe inside a tent at a parking lot. Ms. Valkyrie said that Occupy Eugene was a community where members kept each other safe. She did not think people understood the power of the community that was Occupy Eugene. She expressed concern about the future of those living at Occupy Eugene. There being no further requests to speak, Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing and solicited council comments. Ms. Ortiz said she did not think the City had failed to take care of its residents. The community’s human service agencies worked very hard; when facing budget cuts, they reduced the number of staff but not the number of clients they served. She agreed that when people came together they had a louder voice, but she believed the best way to realize change was to get involved with the organization one wanted to change. She cited her own experience as an example. Ms. Ortiz supported the ordinance as a step in the right direction. Mr. Clark perceived the ordinance as providing greater flexibility in the car camping program. He was happy to support it. In response to testimony, Mr. Clark recalled that Mr. Cahill had offered testimony at an earlier public hearing that spoke to the importance of creating a civil society and of people coming together to solve problems. He agreed with Mr. Cahill about that, although he acknowledged they might disagree on solutions. While the council’s earlier action eliminated the option of camping, he did not think it preclude people from coming together. Mayor Piercy did not think any councilor believed that expanding the car camping program would solve the community’s homeless issue. Expanding the program was merely one of many tools. She understood that Occupy Eugene participants had invested a great deal in community and she understood why the proposal seemed like a poor alternative to them. MINUTES—Eugene City Council December 20, 2011 Page 5 Emergency Meeting