Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Ms. Taylor concurred with Occupy Eugene’s suggestion that the council postpone its decision to January 9 because she felt the proposal was too sudden for people to come up with a plan. She also pointed out the weather would be colder in January and questioned what would change between now and the deadline, which she did not support. She asked staff to define “transitional services.” City Manager Ruiz envisioned that the City would develop more near-term ways to help people who were camping move to legal shelters. He pointed to the staff recommendation to expand the camping ordinance to define tents as vehicles and to establish a temporary wet housing facility as examples of transitional services. In the meantime, the task force would develop other strategies. Ms. Taylor questioned whether there would be sufficient legal shelters. She supported the recommendation to expand the car camping program. Mr. Pryor commended Occupy Eugene for drawing attention to the plight of the homelessness. He did not want to return to a situation where the homeless went back into the bushes and under the bridges. However, he had been clear with representatives of Occupy Eugene that he did not support a permanent camp. He wanted to work with Occupy Eugene in a meaningful and effective way but did not think a permanent homeless camp was the solution. Mr. Pryor said that raised the question of the purpose of the extension and its results. He did not support an extension intended to provide time for a permanent camp location to be found. He did support an extension that allowed time for the homeless now living at the Occupy Eugene encampment to transition into more appropriate situations. Mayor Piercy observed that she was not hearing sufficient council support for a permanent camp. She interpreted that as meaning that extending the exemption to the camping ban did not mean an extension to create a process for a permanent camp but rather an extension to create time for a transition. Mr. Clark questioned Occupy Eugene’s willingness to leave Washington-Jefferson Park site. He pointed to Occupy Eugene’s Facebook site, where posters had demanded the City work with it to make substantive changes and threatened that if it did not, they would protest where and when they wanted for as long as they wanted. He believed if the council approved the exemption it would be “kicking the can” 45 days down the road days to another impasse. Mr. Clark believed the funding being spent on Occupy Eugene could be much better spent serving the larger community. He pointed out the council had not yet addressed the long-term costs of the police coverage required for Occupy Eugene. Mr. Farr did not think the subject of homelessness was a political issue. He believed it was a human condition issue that transcended politics. Speaking to the subject of media polls, Mr. Farr noted that a scientific poll had been conducted that indicated about 35 percent of Eugene residents approved the City’s expenditures on Occupy Eugene. Mr. Farr noted the community’s long history of work on the homeless, beginning in 1947. He believed that Eugene residents were keenly aware of the problem of homelessness and had done a lot about it. He referred the council and audience to a five-page chronology of the City’s work on homelessness that could be found on his Web site, Forum Lane. Mr. Farr questioned the nexus between the funding proposed and the service to be funded. He suggested that the funding come from the next year’s public safety and human services budgets rather than already funded capital programs. Mr. Brown believed the council had been asked to approve a straightforward, sensible, rational plan for transitioning the homeless now staying at the Occupy Eugene encampment. He did not know or care what the Occupy Eugene organizers would do. He was focused on the needs of the street youth and the homeless. He did not think the council needed to get into the topic of a permanent camp because the task MINUTES—Eugene City Council December 14, 2011 Page 4 Work Session