CCMinutes - 07/26/04 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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He opined that most cities had shut themselves off from their rivers and Eugene had yet to cut itself off from all of the unique qualities of flora and fauna the river provided for the community. Tony McCown, 1960 Potter Street, introduced himself as the president-elect of the student body at Lane Community College (LCC). He spoke in support of housing standards for renters. He outlined some of the arguments brought up by the Rental Owners Association and the counter-arguments presented by Eugene Citizens for Housing Standards, as follows: 1) The tenant can terminate tenancy or move - a threat to move was unlikely to cause a landlord to make the repair. 2) The tenant can sue the landlord for a court order - a tenant cannot sue in small claims court and would be required to hire an attorney. Most renters cannot afford an attorney. 3) The tenant can do repairs and deduct them from the rent - this forces a tenant to come up with the money for repairs up front. 4) The tenant can withhold rent - this puts the renter at risk of eviction and most evictions were for withholding rent. Mr. McCown looked forward to working with the City Council on this issue. Carmen Urbina, 788 Blackfoot Avenue, called the collocation of victims' services an exciting proposal, given that it would create partnerships with the Eugene Police Department (EPD) and victim services such as Womenspace and Sexual Assault Support Services (SASS). She had participated many times in taking victims of both domestic violence and sexual assault from agency to agency to try and get their needs addressed. She thought this collaboration could provide victims with one place that would provide effective and compassionate services for them. She applauded the community and its leadership for considering such collocation in a Community Safety Building. Craig Opperman, 72-B Centennial Loop, Executive Director of Looking Glass, shared his excitement regarding Police Chief Bob Lehner's vision of community policing and police partnership. He felt collocation of service programs in a police facility represented a true opportunity. He related his experience with the Children's Receiving Center, a program he helped design. He said the center had been part of a campus which included law enforcement, child protective services, a shelter, a health center, and more. He stressed that the collocation of services had truly benefited the children. He was happy to see this kind of collaboration being discussed in Eugene. Elaine Walters, 210 West 37th Avenue, spoke in support of collocation of victim services providers in the Public Safety Center. She explained she was the interim director of Kids First Safe Alternative Centers, an agency that hoped to be a primary partner in the collaboration. She said Kids First provided supervision for visits between children and non-custodial parents when domestic violence had happened. She shared that, though she had only worked in this capacity for several months, she had already witnessed numerous phone calls from potentially violent people. Having the center in proximity to the Police Department would truly benefit it as it would allow some people to connect appropriately with their children without being able to act out violently. She stated that the domestic violence service providers worked together, but having a centralized location would improve the victims' ability to access services. Charles Biggs, 540 Antelope Way, related that the Cal Young Neighborhood Association had recently held an emergency meeting of its executive board because residents were concerned about safety. He said an area was being developed but only had one access road. He stated that there was a pending development that could provide them with a second access road. He hoped he could come to a future City Council meeting and ask for help and support in finding a solution that would not only benefit the developer, but the citizens at large.