Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

Home Browse Search

Vickie Nelson , Ward 1, asked the council to let the DPSZ sunset. She asked where the people excluded from downtown went and suggested they went to someone’s backyard or lived on the river banks because they had to be somewhere. They were out of sight but people should still care. She questioned the constitutionality of the DPSZ and suggested it had not been challenged because the homeless lacked lawyers. Donna Riddle , a resident of Lane County, did not think the DPSZ worked because of what she saw when she visited downtown. She termed the zone un-American. She questioned where excluded people would go to use the bathroom if they could not use the bathrooms in downtown. She recommended the council let the zone sunset. She also recommended the City fund a day center and a homeless shelter. Irene Cardenas , Ward 1, opposed the DPSZ. She advocated for more harmonious interactions between the police and citizens. She spoke of the trauma of such exclusions. She also recommended that police provide homeless people with cards with information about where they could recreate, meditate, garden, eat, and camp. Randy Cain , Ward 1, believed the ordinance should take into the account the fact that some people were attracted to downtown by the steam heat system, privacy partitions, and public bathrooms. He asked that the DPSZ be allowed to expire. He did not want to pay to fight a lawsuit against the City. Bill Whalen , Ward 5, representing the Local Government Affairs Council of the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, expressed the council’s support for the DPSZ because of the current lack of jail capacity. He said the council believed the DPSZ was conducted thoughtfully and responsibly. He said the DPSZ had deterred downtown crime and led to deceased trespass, alcohol-related crimes, and property crimes. Joseph Newton , Ward 7, agreed with the remarks of Ms. Regan and Ms. Syrett. He maintained the DPSZ was counter-productive and useless and was directed against annoyances rather than real crimes, such as the assault he experienced at Kesey Square without a police response. Ruth Deumler , Ward 3, agreed with the remarks of previous speakers and urged the council to end the DPSZ. She advocated for more public bathrooms and for publicly funded lockers so homeless people could store their belongings during the day and did not have to carry them around. She also advocated for a wet bed facility and a full-time community center for youth. Alley Valkyrie , Ward 1, opposed the DPSZ because it punished people for a crime they had yet to be convicted of. She opposed excluding the homeless from downtown because that was where they lived and received assistance. She averred that exclusions “happened in secret” and that she had a right to know when a member of her community was excluded. . Walter Hunt , Ward 3, said he would not support the DPSZ if he believed it was used against Occupy Eugene and the homeless. Instead, he saw it used against really scary people doing really criminal things repeatedly, which led to their exclusion. He believed due process occurred because of a judge reviewed each exclusion order. Mr. Ward recommended that the council retain the DPSZ for the time being and that it direct the EPD to follow through on its review so it could convince the council that the zone worked. David Mort , Ward 5, supported the retention of the DPSZ. In the three years he had worked downtown he had seen a drastic improvement in downtown conditions, particularly at the corner of Olive Street and MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 21, 2012 Page 5 Regular Meeting