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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 10/14/02 Meeting MINUTES Eugene City Council Regular Meeting Council Chamber--Eugene City Hall October 14, 2002 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Betty Taylor, David Kelly, Nancy Nathanson, Gary Rayor, Gary Pap~, Bonny Bettman, Par Fart. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Scott Meisner CITY COUNCIL MEETING Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting to order. 1.CEREMONIAL MATTERS A. National Breast Cancer Awareness Month B. 40th Anniversary of Campbell Senior Center C. White Cane Awareness Month Mayor Torrey declared October 15th to be White Cane Awareness day and called for all citizens to observe the day by being more aware of people with visual impairments. Mayor Torrey proclaimed the month of October 2002 as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Rita Kingsbury, noted that the senior center was having its 40th anniversary. She expressed her pride in the history of the center and distributed books about the center to the members of the Council. II.PUBLIC FORUM Mike Gansen, 362 Highway 99 North, said he was being assessed unfairly on his property that bordered Bertelson Road. He noted that Bertelson Road was unimproved and there was no guarantee that it would ever be improved. He urged the council to reconsider the assessment issue. Roxy Cuellar, Homebuilders Association, noted that she had sent an e-mail regarding the association's contract with LCOG to count the available residential land available within the City limits. She said the results of the count would be available to the public. She stressed the importance of having an accurate count of the available land supply in the City. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 14, 2002 Page 1 Regular Meeting Dr. Teresa Calahan, 537 Honeysuckle Lane, spoke in support of a living wage for the City of Eugene. She said she had worked with an interfaith committee for the last seven months on getting a living wage passed. She urged the council to check out the facts for themselves. Gene Mooney, president of the Eugene Homeless Initiative, proposed that the City lease the homeless community a site for temporary use. He said the homeless community would pay the costs of sanitation and site maintenance and there would be no cost to the City. He noted that the organization was proposing its own liability insurance for the land so the City would not be liable for anything that happened. He said the entire community would benefit from the proposal and the members of the initiative would provide "sweat equity" to help pay for the lease and to clean up the area around its location. Mona Linstromberg, 87140 Territorial Road, Veneta, thanked the council for reconsidering its telecommunications ordinance. She raised concern over the construction of cell towers in the area. Martha Johnson, 110 East Hilliard Lane, thanked the council for reconsidering its telecommunications policies ordinance. She recommended an independent technical review into the code for cell towers. Charles Biggs, 540 Antelope Way, spoke regarding salmon preservation. He said there was no data that showed a need for improvement in the basin of the Willamette River near Eugene. He raised concern over spending funding when there was no demonstrable need. Donna Mathews, raised concern over actions taken by the City Council to strictly limit the length of council meetings and the decision to require a majority of the council to place an item on the agenda. She said this would expose the City to legal action based on violations of public meetings laws. Kevin Matthews, 120 West Broadway, spoke about concerns over land use code amendments. He said the city was more than 10 years out of compliance with its natural resource preservation. Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor Taylor, moved to extend the length of the meeting to accommodate the number of people who wished to speak for the public hearing on Agenda Item 4. Councilor Bettman, seconded by Councilor Fart, moved to amend the motion by reducing the speaking time of the public hearing to two minutes per person. Roll Call Vote: The motion passed 5:2 with Councilors Taylor and Kelly voting in opposition. Councilor Fart noted that the Council Committee on Homelessness and Youth would address the question of homelessness in the City. He urged Mr. Mooney to attend the meeting. Councilor Kelly said he had voted against the amendment to limit speaking time because people were usually told that they would have three minutes to speak on a public hearing issue. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 14, 2002 Page 2 Regular Meeting Councilor Pap~ said he appreciated the Homebuilders Association doing an assessment of the residential land supply with LCOG. Councilor Bettman thanked those who testified at the public forum. She said the land inventory study could not be done in a vacuum and urged the study to include the amount of residential property lost when residential property was rezoned into office use. She also expressed her strong disagreement with the rule that required a majority of councilors to place an item on the agenda. III.CONSENT CALENDAR A. Approval of City Council Minutes September 9, 2002 Work Session September 18, Work Session B. Approval of Tentative Working Agenda C. Approval of Resolution 4741 Authorizing the Transfer of Funds from the Reserve for Encumbrances to Departments and to Non-Departmental Accounts Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor Pap~, moved to approve the items on the consent calendar. Councilor Kelly noted that he had submitted minutes corrections via e-mail. Councilor Bettman noted that she had submitted corrections via e-mail. Roll Call Vote: The motion passed unanimously. IV. PUBLIC HEARING: An Ordinance Concerning Human Rights and Adding Sections 2.815, and 2.820, and Amending Sections 2.013, 2.265, 2.270, 2.280, 4.613, 4.615, 4.620, 4.625, 4.630, 4.635, and 4.645, of the Eugene Code, 1971 Councilor Kelly noted that he had received comments from the public regarding additional bathrooms for transgendered people. He confirmed with Mr. Rikhoff that it was not the expectation of the drafters of the code that new restrooms be installed. He also noted that there was a memo in the packet that called for explicit language in the code language stating that there was no requirement to construct or remodel existing restrooms. Mayor Torrey opened the public hearing. Sara Rich, spoke on behalf of the Human Rights Commission. She said the code changes would help insure that the Human Rights Support System would continue as a critical tool for addressing discrimination in the City of Eugene. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 14, 2002 Page 3 Regular Meeting Acknowledging Councilor Kelly's comments regarding restrooms, Ms. Rich said that no additional construction on restrooms would be necessary. She noted that more than 46 city, county, and state governments had passed legislation to extend protection to transgendered individuals. She thanked the City Council for considering the draft ordinance. Azra Khalidi, PO Box 50844, Eugene, raised concern that gay and lesbian people in the community were afraid of expressing themselves in a community setting. She stressed that the City needed to protect the rights of gay and lesbian people in the community. She urged the council to approve the revised code changes. Bill Northrop, 939 Laurelhurst Drive, mentioned that hospital visitor access should not be an issue for domestic partner registration. He noted there were ways to arrange for visitor access. He related a story of Jesus where he had said "Let those without sin throw the first stone". He stressed that Jesus had compassion for people but that did not change his morality. He said Jesus did not say go and live an alternative lifestyle. He said God did not need people to give up their morals to have compassion or validate homosexuality in order to fully support human rights. He suggested privatizing the domestic partner registry part of the code revision since that would not amount to a public validation that homosexuality was moral. Margot Schaffer, 1625 Wilson, stressed the importance of intelligent factual debate. She raised concern over fomenting bigotry. She said the concern raised by members of the community that gays and transgendered people were sexual predators was based on ignorance and bigotry. She said the vast majority of children who were molested were molested by adult heterosexual men who were known to them. Chris Edwards, 1048 Baxter Street, raised concern over the Register-Guard writing a favorable article about the human rights code revisions. He said that many thousands of people in the City were against the homosexual behaviors "behind the domestic partner registry" and they were not all fundamental Christians. He said homosexual behavior undermined the very core foundations of morality in the nation and changed the basic nature of the family. He said if the founding fathers were alive they would all be against the registry and would never tolerate it. He said the moral principals and precepts contained in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all civil constitutions and laws. He said all the miseries and evils that men suffered from came from them despising or neglecting the precepts of the Bible. He said God himself was opposed to this "wicked behavior." He said God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah mainly because of homosexual behavior. He said that any gay or lesbian who said that said they were born that way or that God approved of their behavior was a liar and a deceiver. He said the code revisions were not diversity, rights, or equality, but about asking the City of Eugene to publicly promote and approve perverted and destructive behavior. He went on to say that if the council passed the proposed code revisions it would bring the City of Eugene one step closer to God's judgement. Timothy Smith, 2664 Kincaid Street, spoke in support of the revised human rights code. He said a broad human rights ordinance could be seen as an indicator of quality of life in the community. He said a broad ordinance could attract businesses to the community who wished their employees to be able to live well in a tolerant community. Mr. Smith said the domestic partner registry would allow same sex couples to be visible in the community and raised concern that invisibility in the community implied hostility. He said a domestic partner registry in Eugene was long overdue. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 14, 2002 Page 4 Regular Meeting Kent Kullby, 2664 Kincaid, spoke in support of the code revisions. He stressed the importance of the domestic partner registry. He said the registry would forge a link between same sex couples in the community. He said there were 494 households in Eugene that were headed by same sex couples according to the 2000 census. He said domestic partnerships were one of the building blocks of a healthy society. He said an official document of domestic partnership was important when dealing with family matters that dealt with professionals. Dick Romm, 5120 Nectar Way, said that domestic partners should be able to "get it in writing." He said his main reason for his support was because it was the right thing to do. Bob Pierson, 5170 Fox Hollow Road, said he was against passing any more laws in general. He said new laws got the city hopelessly entangled in legal matters. He raised concern that the Human Rights Commission was trying to coerce its own morality on the businesses of the City. Stephanie Becket raised concern over the possible passage of the code revisions. She said she was opposed to the revised code amendments because of legal loopholes. She raised concern with transgendered people sharing public restrooms with children. Gordon Rea, 1081 FirAcres Drive, said marriage was an intimacy of body and soul. Addressing the issue of domestic partner registry, he urged the council not to suppress the truth in their hearts if it would not allow religion to affect the issue of domestic partnerships. Gretchen Miller, 1036 Adams, thanked the council for its time and effort on the proposed code revisions. She said there was no objection to -wording the code to specify that no new bathrooms would be required to be constructed. She noted that millions of people had been living under similar laws for years and there had been no issues. Regarding domestic partnerships, Ms. Miller said it would be a powerful statement and encouragement of long-term same-sex stable relationships that functioned just like a family. Alan Brown, 135 North Seneca Road, said the issue was a difficult one to address but stressed that we all had to live together in the community. He urged the council to pass the proposed code revisions. Roberta Canton, 1810 Minda Drive, addressed the issue of transgendered persons in bathrooms. She raised concern that any predator, not transgendered people, could come to Eugene and take advantage of the ordinance to prey on children. She questioned why any man would wish to stand in line to get into a women's restroom. Wayne Ricarte, 3919 Century Drive, urged the council to make decisions from the heart. He urged the council to carefully consider the boundaries of safety when making its decision on the proposed code revisions. He stressed that the revisions would make members of the community more vulnerable. Jennifer Self, 129 Treehill Loop, expressed her support for every aspect of the code revisions. She said the importance of the gender identiy code change was revealed when members of the audience laughed at the prospect of a man waiting in line to use the women's room. She stressed that it was not something that was funny but was something that was painful to those MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 14, 2002 Page 5 Regular Meeting individuals. She said the transgendered community was small but was a target of harassment for a lot of people. She said they deserved the same respect other people in the community enjoyed. She said the code revisions were not legalizing someone to go into a restroom and hurt anyone but were saying that discrimination over restrooms would not be tolerated. Jim Self, 87201 Reynolds Drive, expressed his intense pride in his daughter who had just spoken. He spoke in support of the changes/amendments in the human rights code. He said the domestic partnership registration would enable appropriate inheritance in times of death. He also expressed his specific support for the addition of ethnicity and gender identity. He said ignorance was not an excuse to go to a place of fear and discrimination in dealing with something that was a social fact. He said transgendered people deserved the same rights as anyone else in the community and expressed his sadness that the debate came down to the use of public restrooms. Jolene Siernsen, spoke in support of the proposed changes to the human rights code. She said the passage of the ordinance would provide an opportunity for same sex couples to demonstrate their commitment to each other. Lori Buckwalter, 2271 Southeast 37th Avenue, Director of "It's Time Oregon", said the proposal was not a special rights issue. She spoke in support of the ordinance. She said in the real world, transgendered people faced constant struggles to live their lives. She noted that she and her family had been repeated victims of hate crimes. She urged the council to consider transgendered rights and safety on the same basis as any other citizen. Elise Self, 87201 Reynolds Drive, expressed her support for the changes in the code. She raised concern that her lesbian daughter did not have the same rights and was not as safe as other people in the community. She said this was the fault of a society that did not educate its members, did not accept people who were different, feared people who were different and allowed a climate of disrespect to prevail. Ms. Self said family was two or more persons who shared resources, responsibility for decisions, values, goals, and had commitments to each other. She said these were values that the City of Eugene should encourage and said the domestic partner registry was a way for the City to acknowledge those relationships. Ms. Self said gay, lesbian, transgendered, and bi-sexual people were vital members of families and society. She stressed that they functioned in leadership and support roles in every level of public life. She said they deserved to live their lives with dignity. Vince Savelich Jr., 3657 Westleigh Street, expressed his opposition to the code revisions. He urged the council not to approve the revisions. Harriet Merrick, 1332 Oak Patch, said that the code revisions would benefit businesses in the community. She said the code revisions would provide an accepted framework and a straightforward method to identify domestic partners. She said this would be a positive step forward for the community. She stressed that the registry would have fees that would allow it to pay for itself. She urged passage of the code revisions. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 14, 2002 Page 6 Regular Meeting Steven Deutsch, 1784 Skyline Boulevard, said the code revisions would not affect himself personally but were an important step in making the memorandum of understanding signed by the City of Eugene real. He urged the adoption of the code revisions. Mr. Deutsch said the human rights code was not a values statement document making moral judgements about people and lifestyles. He said it was, in fact, a guideline for public and institutional behavior which would accord safety and fundamental human rights to all. Maureen Gabon, 1055 Charnelton, urged the council to throw out the whole ordinance. She said it would solve a lot of future problems for the individuals on the council. She suggested sending people interested in domestic partnerships to the City of Portland to get their registration. She raised strong concern that the proposed code language was redefining family. She read comments from previous public input that were printed in the newspaper. James Kahn, 1775 West 12th Avenue, related that he had been sexually assaulted by a male. He noted that the domestic partner registry also allowed heterosexual partnerships and called this an assault on marriage. Stephanie Carnahan, 328 West 20th, expressed her support for the proposed code changes. She said that equal protections under the law should not be made a matter of public opinion. She urged passage of the code revisions. Allen Gardner, 725 Country Club Road, spoke as a lawyer regarding legal matters raised by the code revisions. He said the proposed ordinance for domestic registry was beyond the authority of the City to grant. He said the ordinance would result in litigation in the future. Cheryl O'Neal, 24307 High Pass Road, spoke in support of the code revisions. She said she was a married person and wanted everyone to have that right. She said she did not want to be part of a privileged class that received more rights than others. She expressed her sadness that she was participating in a public hearing about why people should not have the right to love one another. She urged the council to make a statement that everyone belonged to the community. Ann Kneeland, 24760 High Pass Road, spoke in support of the proposed code changes. She commented that the testimony against the proposed code changes was proof that the revisions were urgently needed in the community. She stressed the importance of a community that promoted tolerance and diversity and stood against intolerance and bigotry. Ran Unger, 1770 Augusta, spoke in favor of the proposed changes. He said the thing that would strengthen marriage was people putting thought into a relationship before making a commitment and not prohibiting domestic partner registration. Billy Rajas, 377 West 8th Avenue, submitted written material into the record. He plugged the book he had written called "Homosexuality is a Mental Illness". He explained the titles of the written material he had submitted. Eileen Deadwiler expressed her opposition to the proposed code revisions. She raised concern over the use of public restrooms by transgendered people. She said same sex relationships offended her because, in her opinion, a family meant having a male/female relationship. She urged the council not to pass the proposed revisions. She stressed and reiterated that she was morally opposed to the code revisions. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 14, 2002 Page 7 Regular Meeting George Britain, 1415 Bertelson, said the revisions were not a religious thing or a equal rights thing but a "God thing." He said God created man and woman to procreate the world and that should be the end of the discussion. He said God plus one was always a majority. He said that anytime someone tried to bring immorality into a discussion God would make a judgement. He said the council would have to choose to claim god on the right hand or choose Satan and death on the left had. He said the community should claim God as the creator. Rennina Britian, 1415 Bertelson, questioned the reason why there was a public hearing being held when morality was defined six thousand years ago in the days of Adam and Eve. She said God's "official word on the subject": "Thou shalt not lie mankind as with womankind. It is an abomination and you will surely be put to death. Man plus Woman equals procreation but man plus man was an abomination" Ms. Britain questioned how the code revisions would promote human dignity. She said if same sex partners were left to themselves they would be extinct in less than one hundred years since they could not procreate. Dr. Brick Lantz spoke against the proposed revisions. He said his opposition was not out of hate or anger. He said the proposal was not the one for Eugene. He stressed that Eugene was unique. He said any proposal needed to address health, safety, necessity, and common sense. He said the domestic partner registry was a poor attempt to equate co-habitation with commitment made in marriage. He also said gender identity was not adequately addressed in the proposed code language. He submitted written material into the record including a petition, signed by over 1,000 people, that was against the domestic partner registry and the gender identity portions of the code. Mayor Torrey announced that there would be a work session on October 23 rather than October 16, and a decision on the proposed code revisions would be made on November 9. Mike Jaskilka, 1945 Coventry Way, said there was no evidence supporting the claims that the health, safety, and general welfare of transgendered citizens was threatened. He said the domestic registry was an attempt to make cohabitation the equivalent of marriage. He said his opposition was not based on hatred or fear but on the evidence that marriage was good for a community. He said the proposed changes would be detrimental to the community because of data showing that people who cohabited prior to marriage divorced more often, and that women in domestic partner relationships were abused more often. He went on to say that cohabitation did not foster the nurturing and protection of children. He said that married people were healthier, lived longer, and were more productive economically. Lisa Priaulx, expressed concern over the lack of information presented by the HRC for consideration by the council. She made a case that people could already visit each other in the hospital as long as they did not have a restraining order. Jim Saylor, 1746 Sweet Briar Lane, spoke as a concerned private citizen. He said significant others were already recognized as immediate family regardless of sexual orientation. He said he was not aware of any instance where a significant other was not allowed to visit. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 14, 2002 Page 8 Regular Meeting Bev Anderson, 2455 West 23rd Avenue, spoke against the proposed ordinances. She raised concern that an ordinance that went beyond the scope of the City went beyond its authority. She said it was not the purview of the City government to legislate beyond its borders. Albert Roy, 8 Coburg Road, said the opportunity for fraud was great since the proposed code language only addressed those transgendered people who were in transition. He said the proposed language was scary for business owners. He noted that the code allowed for discrimination in housing rental by gender since a woman did not have to rent to a male who would share the same bathroom. He questioned the difference between a public locker room/restroom and a personal one. He said the code language needed to address that point. He noted that he had made a personal contract with a person in transition who wanted to train at his school and suggested that his method would be better than enacting a new law. He urged rejection of the ordinance. Steve Bus, 4023 Wagoner Street, spoke in opposition to the revised code changes. He said the gender identity code change did not consider the safety of children. He questioned the effect the changes would have on public schools. Karla Moser, 695 West 21st Avenue, reiterated the concern over public safety mentioned by previous speakers. She said the proposal would shatter any safety that was felt by women and children in public restrooms. She said that safe accommodations would involve considerable expense to businesses and City tax payers. Melissa Hart, 753 West 5th Avenue, expressed her support for the domestic partner registry. She related how her mother had "come out" when she was nine years old and told how the California court system had sent her and her siblings to live with their abusive father. She said if her mother and her partner had a domestic partner registry available to them then she would have been able to live with her mother. She urged the council to adopt the proposed code language. Nancy Hansen, 4870 West Hillside Drive, expressed her admiration for the issues that the City Council had to handle. She noted that there were legal issues around gender identity in that when someone made a gender change they had to have had legally verified surgery. She raised concern over bathroom usage by anyone who did not have this type of verification. She raised concern that the proposed changes were coercive. Nick Urhausen, 2858 Warren, raised concern that the Human Rights Commission was making laws for the community and the City Council was rubber-stamping the proposal. He supported a domestic partner registry for gay people but opined that domestic partner registry for heterosexuals would only cause confusion to the public. Jerylynn Black, 1545 Flintridge Avenue, spoke on behalf of Emergence GITA in support of the code revisions. She said it was the right thing to do. Laura Phillips, 4870 Garnet, said she had facilitated a GOBTQ youth support group. She said the City could make a declaration of principal through its laws that the City would take a stand against acts of mistreatment. She said this would make a large difference to G©BTQ kids and parents. Dr. Teresa Calahan, 537 Honeysuckle Lane, said there was a safety issue that did needed to be addressed, which was the fact that transgendered were in far more danger from heterosexual MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 14, 2002 Page 9 Regular Meeting violence than children or women in bathrooms. She said this statistic came from the State Health Division's statistic from the youth risk behavior survey. Tobias Hill-Meyer, 637 East $9th Place, said that concerns about family should not be about gender of parents but about stability for youth. He stressed that his gay parents had been together for his entire lifetime and he was a good student and community member. Bob Gordon, 24241 Vaughn Road, Veneta, submitted 51 signatures against the proposed code changes. He expressed his outrage that gay and lesbian cohabitation could reach the level of heterosexual marriage. He said gay and lesbian relationships were against the natural law of the planet, let alone God. He remarked that animals did not have same sex relationships. He said same sex relationships could not procreate and were therefore not a benefit to society. Mr. Gordon commented that civilizations of the past that were no longer in existence had disintegrated when they accepted homosexual behavior. Holly LeMasurier, 2441 Harris Place, spoke in support of the proposed code revision language. She said she had served for nine months as an intern for the human rights program and had come to view it as more than an academic exercise. She expressed her gratitude at being able to participate in such a worthwhile and timely project. She said she had discovered that discrimination and harassment of transgendered people was pervasive and threatened the security and safety of those who were citizens of Eugene. She stressed that she was a strong straight ally of transgendered people in the community and was choosing to testify independently before the council because of the deeper understanding of transgendered challenges that she had achieved. Ms. LeMasurier said public concern that transgendered people were dangerous deviants waiting to prey on others in restrooms were indicative of stereotypes perpetuated by ignorance. She noted that children were 80 percent more likely to be abused by someone in their own family. She said that fear of transgendered people was severely misplaced and irrational. Mayor Torrey closed the public hearing. The meeting adjourned at 10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James R. Carlson City Manager pro rem (Recorded by Joe Sams) MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 14, 2002 Page 10 Regular Meeting