CC Minutes - 02/27/06 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

M I N U T E S Eugene City Council City Council Meeting Council Chamber—Eugene City Hall February 27, 2006 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Jennifer Solomon, Andrea Ortiz, David Kelly, Betty Taylor, Gary Papé, George Poling, Chris Pyror. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Bonny Bettman. City Council President Jennifer Solomon called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. She noted that Mayor Kitty Piercy and Councilor Bonny Bettman were in Washington, DC, as part of the United Front lobbying effort. 1. PUBLIC FORUM Councilor Solomon reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. Carol Berg Caldwell , 84474 Parkway, Pleasant Hill, lauded the work of Leadership, Adventure, Education, and Direction (LEAD), a non-profit organization for teenagers. She referred to an article in The Eugene Weekly about a recent fundraiser sponsored by LEAD to help build a downtown teen center. She averred that a community teen center dovetailed with two significant issues that Eugene faced: 1) improved public safety and 2) the revitalization of the downtown mall. Regarding public safety, she related that LEAD members hoped for a well-run, viable teen center so that young people will choose meaningful skill building, art, and community-oriented activities rather than drugs. She also felt that larger stores would look more favorably on a community that backed a responsible productive teen center and would be more likely to open outlets in the downtown area. She thought shoppers feared the young people who hang out downtown. She opined that the system and government often catered to business interests while turning a blind eye to those who “live on the edge.” She asked the council to consider, in its deliberations regarding mall development, securing a space for a teen center. She said it was in the best interest of all of the community. Tamara Torrence , 1845 Villard Street, asked the council to do whatever it could within its power to address the ruling on the City youth activities levy. She wanted to ensure funding for the young people of the city of Eugene at the same level it had been funded since the levy was first enacted. She underscored that 24,000 young people benefited from the levy, which funded music, physical education, sports, drama, counselors, librarians, and nurses. She said the program and people funded by the levy were “priceless to our children.” She reminded the council that since the passage of Ballot Measure 5, public schools in the state of Oregon had suffered. She related that Oregon has the second highest class sizes in the country and its school year is nearly three weeks shorter than the national average. She said employers demand an educated workforce and used a good public school system as a recruiting tool to attract employees. Her husband had been recruited to work at the University of Oregon in this manner. She felt employers could no MINUTES—Eugene City Council -- February 27, 2006 Page 1 City Council Meeting