Item A: Downtown Public Safety Zone

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ATTACHMENT B - Public Comments Received Kaitlyn Lange – Why was this tool selected, and don’t people just move to another neighborhood? Chief Kerns – One successful way to prevent people from repeatedly committing crimes is to incarcerate them once convicted. In our case, there isn’t sufficient jail bed capacity for that to be a successful strategy. As an example, the case that the Civilian Review Board reviewed this month, the offender has been arrested by the department over 400 times, and that’s not an unusual record. Incarceration isn’t a viable option. The Downtown Public Safety Zone gives this neighborhood a relief from their behavior, that cannot be found with incarceration. Yes, sometimes the result of an exclusion is that the person cited moves. This tool is part of a multi-component strategy to help the downtown become more vital and viable. There are neighborhoods where the illegal behavior won’t be as harmful. It’s hard to have a thriving business when customers are afraid to walk through the front door because of people sitting outside committing crimes outside. If they commit those same crimes in a park, it’s not going to cause the same problem. We don’t want illegal behavior anywhere, and we’re trying to give this unique neighborhood a relief, so the downtown can be economically successful and a good place for everyone in Eugene to visit. Kaitlyn Lange – I took a Race, Politics & Law class, and these types of zones are far more impacting to people of color, particularly African Americans as well as mentally ill or mentally challenged. This was the experience in Portland. I know you run the department a specific way, but I don’t want others to come in and use this exclusion inappropriately, as it has been used in Portland. Chief Kerns – A significant difference between our ordinance and Portland’s is that the officers not only cite, but they make the decision on the exclusion, so the police officer is judge and jury. In our process, only a judge can make that decision. You are probably correct that this ordinance disproportionately affects people who are mentally ill; the whole criminal justice system does that. Tamara Miller – I support the motion because of the lack of jail beds. I didn’t hear in the public forum or see in the statistics that this ordinance is being used in a way that is abusive. It is narrowly crafted and judiciously applied, and could be reviewed at any time in the future by the City Council. My hope is that this would be periodically reviewed, and the way it is used is consistent with what we’ve heard and seen. Tim Mueller – The reason this has a good response at the forum is because of the strength of the Mayor who states we need to monitor this, the strength of the police department that is monitoring this, and the realization that there not enough jail beds When there are adequate jail beds, perhaps this regulation this won’t be needed. We need to monitor this so we don’t let 15 years go by and then determine we’re disproportionately affecting people of color. I do think it would be good to review the advocacy program, and I think that rather than changing the title “advocate”, consideration should be given to change what the advocates are allowed to do. It is also important that we spend more money on mental health treatment, which is something this community needs to do. Kitty Piercy – The Planning Department and Police Department worked together to develop a multi-faceted plan to revitalize downtown. There is a whole range of things intended to replace Attachment B - Page 3