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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 08/06/01 Meeting MINUTES Eugene City Council Regular Meeting Council Chamber--Eugene City Ha11--777 Pearl Street August 6, 2001 8p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Betty Taylor, David Kelly, Nancy Nathanson, Scott Meisner, Gary Rayor, Gary Papa, Bonny Bettman. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Pat Farr. CITY COUNCIL MEETING Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting to order. 1.PUBLIC FORUM James Bailey, 1835 Heitzman Way, spoke in support of the construction of the West Eugene Parkway (WEP), and urged the council to allow it to be built. Ann Bailey, 1835 Heitzman Way, raised concern over growing traffic problems in the west Eugene area and expressed her strong support for the WEP. She urged the council to put the matter to a citizen vote. Ms. Bailey also expressed her support for a the proposed new hospital location on Crescent Drive. Jim Hale, 1715 Linnea Avenue, said that it would be irresponsible of the City Council to make a decision about the location of the proposed new hospital without having all the needed data to make an informed decision. He raised concern over the possible traffic impacts and costs of traffic mitigation if the hospital were allowed to be built on the Crescent site. Phyllis Loobey, 1937 Willamette Street, spoke as a representative of The Citizens to Keep a Hospital in the Heart of Eugene and as the Chair of the District 4J Strategic Facilities Planning Committee. She stressed that there could be a vibrant hospital in an urban environment. She related a trip to Portland and cited the example of the hospital located near Northwest 23rd and 24th avenues. Ms. Loobey said that the PeaceHealth issue was one of land use and not health care. She stressed the importance of maintaining the goals, standards, and principles of Eugene's land use policies and said that one of the strongest principles of land use was to conserve areas where public investment had already been made. She stressed that the suggested downtown locations MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 6, 2001 Page 1 Regular Meeting had the capacity and the infrastructure already built to accommodate a new hospital and its future expansions. Ms. Loobey said that 4J's Strategic Facilities Planning Committee would not finish its report to the district before September and neither she nor the district superintendent intended to preempt the committee's work. She said that it could be some time in October before the school board decided what it wanted to do with its undeveloped assets. Douglass Newton, 147 Cross Place, urged the council to reconsider recommendations made by the National Center for Safe Courts (NCSC), and discussed during the charter review process: municipal judges elected through the election process and the creation of an internal prosecutors office. Mr. Newton cited the City of Salem as an example of how elected municipal judges worked effectively for less than one third of the budget of Eugene's court. He added that Salem's court also worked with less than half the employees. Mr. Newton opined that the council had expanded the role of Eugene's municipal court beyond that of a traffic court and well beyond the professional and ethical qualifications of those hired to preside over it. He added that pettiness and incompetence were trademarks of Eugene City government and called for the council to restore integrity and accountability to that branch of City government. Nick Urhausen, 2858 Warren Street, expressed concern over the development policies used by the City of Eugene and opined that those with political connections were the people allowed to develop within the city. He opined that the City Council was acting on its own agenda to force PeaceHealth to move to Springfield because Sacred Head Hospital would not provide abortions. Judi Greig, 2043 Smith Oak Street, spoke as the Founding Secretary of Veteran's Industries of Oregon. She asked the council to waive the police fee for the Veteran's Day Parade in Eugene. Misha Seymour, 1313 Lincoln Street, questioned the policy of starting City Council meetings at 8 p.m. and opined that this was to discourage people from providing public input. He stressed the importance of providing better information to the public regarding public forums. Mr. Seymour also raised concern over the security presence at the Eugene Public Library which he opined was there to harass citizens away from a public building. Stacie Mount, 2840 Grand Cayman Drive, urged the council not to make a decision on the Peace Health issue at its Wednesday work session because it did not have full knowledge of the traffic impacts that such a development would bring to the area. She opined that putting the hospital at the Crescent Drive location would be unhealthy growth for the area and raised concerns over the possible condemnations of property the council would have to approve to allow the development. Dan Herbert, 1913 Potter Street, stressed the need to get more data before making any decision on the location of the proposed new hospital. He added that the council should be seeking substantial public involvement on the issue. He urged the council not to make a decision until all of the information was in. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 6, 2001 Page 2 Regular Meeting Laurie Segel, 1210 East 29th Place, opined that the public process was under attack. She said that the City Council was disregarding the public process by possibly making a premature decision at its Wednesday work session regarding the location of the proposed new hospital. She urged the council to wait on its decision until it had collected more information. Moshe Immerman, 1290 McLean Boulevard, urged the public to uphold its dignity and speak to the issues and not make verbal attacks on the councilors. Mr. Immerman stressed that response time for the proposed new hospital was the critical issue. He noted that the proposed location was across the river from most of the city and raised concern over public access to the hospital during a natural disaster, such as an earthquake. Mr. Immerman called attention to the fact that it did not need to be a PeaceHealth hospital that was built. He suggested inviting other hospitals to the city to view the downtown area and see the potential for development. He urged the council to remain steadfast in its desire for a downtown location for a new hospital. David Monk, 3720 Emerald Street, commented that it was a mistake to make a decision on the PeaceHealth issue without having all of the important information. He opined that Crescent Drive would not work for a major hospital facility because of the traffic congestion that it would create. He thought that Peace Health would be more reasonable about considering alternative locations if the council "called its bluff." Mayor Torrey called for council comments. Councilor Bettman said that she had toured west Eugene and believed that the area could do without the parkway since other measures were being taken. Councilor Bettman noted that, in 1991, PeaceHealth's Crescent site was intended to be a clinic with some office use. She added that, in 2000, there had been ads in the paper depicting how the hospital would expand at its present site. She went on to say that PeaceHealth had reaffirmed its plans to expand at its present site and had only changed its mind to put a major facility at Crescent since March 2001. She stressed that there was no guarantee that PeaceHealth would maintain a presence downtown. Councilor Bettman noted that the council started its regular sessions at 8 p.m. in order to schedule a work session that lasted from 5:30 p.m. to 7:50 p.m. and not to dissuade the public from coming to meetings. In response to a question from Councilor Pap~ regarding a waiver of the police fee for the Veteran's Day Parade, City Manager Johnson said that this was the normal fee. He added that the precedent for waiving it for one group would mean that other groups would make requests. He said that it was very difficult to handle those requests and therefore all requests were refused. Councilor Pap~ expressed his pleasure at the public input offered during the forum. He urged people to tell their friends to attend meetings and speak at the public forums. Addressing Mr. Newton, Councilor Kelly encouraged him to speak during the public input period during a Citizen Charter Review Committee meeting. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 6, 2001 Page 3 Regular Meeting Councilor Kelly thanked the forum speakers who spoke in favor of a downtown hospital site. He also thanked the Citizens for a Hospital in the Head of Eugene for their ad in the Register-Guard, which illustrated how it was possible to construct a downtown hospital that satisfied PeaceHealth's requested needs for expansion for the present and into the future. Councilor Taylor expressed her appreciation of those speakers who advocated a downtown hospital. ii. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Approval of Council Minutes: 1. July 9, 2001, Regular Meeting B. Approval of Tentative Working Agenda C. Resolution 4686: A Resolution Providing for the Issuance and Sale by the City of Eugene, Oregon, Acting by and Through the Eugene Water and Electric Board, of Revenue Bonds in an Amount Not to Exceed $60,000,000 to Provide Funds for Electric Power Supply Cost Contingencies, Declaring Official Intent to Reimburse Expenditures, Providing for Publication of Notice, and Related Matters. D. Initiation of Whiteaker Refinement Plan Amendment: Rezoning of Fire Station #2. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Kelly, moved to approve the items on the Consent Calendar. Councilor Rayor pulled item D. Roll call vote; the remaining items on the Consent Calendar were approved unanimously. In response to a question from Councilor Rayor regarding whether approval of Item D was, in fact, approval of staffs recommendation 1, City Manager Johnson confirmed that it was. Councilor Nathanson commented that the staff recommendation should have contained a zoning map of the site and adjacent lands. Roll call vote; Item D was approved unanimously. iii. PUBLIC HEARING AND POSSIBLE ACTION: An Ordinance Concerning the Downtown Mall; Amending Section 4.680 of the Eugene Code, 1971; Adding Section 4.874 to that Code; and Providing an Immediate Effective Date Lieutenant Ron Roberts of the Eugene Police Department updated the council on the current status of the ordinance. He said, as of July 31, the ordinance did not exist because it sunsetted. He said there were two options for the proposed ordinance: MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 6, 2001 Page 4 Regular Meeting A. Expand the ordinance boundaries from 8th Avenue to l0th Avenue and Oak Street to Lincoln Street. It also included the language changes that dealt with the notice of exclusion and the right to appeal being printed on the exclusion form itself. B. The original boundaries for the ordinance were proposed with the same language changes for the exclusion form. Lieutenant Roberts noted that both &aris included the emergency clause so the ordinances could be implemented immediately. In response to a question from Councilor Kelly regarding why the item had been postponed from the July 23 meeting, City Manager Johnson said the item had been rescheduled because staff did not believe there would be six votes to adopt the ordinance that evening. Mayor Torrey opened the public hearing. Carol Berg, 2113 Riverview Street, said that the proposed ordinance was a band aid solution that was counterproductive, inhumane, and unconstitutional. She suggested that the next time a police funding measure was up for a vote the money should be used to construct an activity center for the youth being harassed on the mall. She opined that the council would make enemies by passing the ordinance and suggested that the council try to make friends instead. She commented that the mall exclusion ordinance had started small and was now spreading "like a cancer." Ms. Berg related that there had been a recent kids forum on the downtown mall and noted that none of the downtown business owners had bothered to show up. She urged rejection of the ordinance. Rachelle E. Perkins, 838 West 4th Avenue, said that the proposed ordinance was unconstitutional and a violation of civil rights. She said she was appalled that the council was even considering the question of implementing the ordinance. She stressed that exclusion as a means of addressing public safety was a dishonest and manipulative way to discriminate and would not work. Ms. Perkins said that the real crime was the marginalization and demonization of people that society had predisposed to poverty, and the veiling of social unease under the category of crime to make scapegoating of those who made people uncomfortable easier. Ms. Perkins begged those present to understand the realities of poverty, class, racism, and social isolation. She said that social programs worked better than relying on "the punishment industry." Ms. Perkins questioned who the council thought it was to exclude anyone from anywhere when it had never seen through the eyes of the people it was proposing to exclude. She suggested that council members do some grass roots work with those people and become more educated on their issues. She urged the council to "totally eradicate" the exclusion ordinance. Misha Seymour, 1313 Lincoln Street, raised concern over the exclusion ordinance. He called it an apartheid policy. He commented that the downtown area was already unfriendly enough to pedestrians since all of the MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 6, 2001 Page 5 Regular Meeting benches had been removed so people could not sit down and rest. He stressed that sitting down on the mall was not a crime. Anthony Vanderford, 185 Linder Lane, spoke as a person who worked with high-risk youth. He urged the council not to push youth away by voting for the mall exclusion ordinance. He noted that youth already felt like they did not have any rights and that excluding them from areas of the city would not help matters. He suggested finding ways to include youth in the community processes and make them feel like the community supported them. Sheila Sheldon, 1415 South Bertelson Road, expressed concern over the women who had been left behind by society who would be affected by the exclusion ordinance. Mayor Torrey closed the public hearing. Councilor Bettman said that the mall and surrounding blocks was a unique area because it attracted youth and therefore attracted offenders and predators. She opined that the ordinance did not target youth and said that the predominant number of exclusions had been served to adults. Councilor Pap~ clarified that the expansion of the ordinance was what staff was recommending. Councilor Pap~ stressed that victims of crime had rights too and expressed his disappointment that so little was said about victim's rights and public responsibilities during the hearing. Councilor Nathanson opined that the ordinance did not target youth but those who victimized youth. Addressing Ms. Sheldon, Councilor Nathanson said that the council discussed women when it discussed various social programs for low-income people. Councilor Taylor said she did not support excluding anyone from anyplace. She said that people who committed crimes faced existing laws. She stressed that public places belonged to everyone. She expressed her desire to see a youth center downtown so that youth could be helped instead of being punished. Councilor Taylor stressed that the area needed more and different people and the City should not be excluding youth and underprivileged. She said that she would read the proposed motion but would not be voting for it. Councilor Meisner supported the staff recommendation of expanding the exclusion ordinance. He said that extension of the ordinance was justified by police evidence. He opined that the intent and the application of the exclusion ordinance was not targeted at youth and the poor. He said it was targeted at criminal behavior. He said that he was satisfied that the ordinance did not impede the right to due process. In response to a question from Councilor Rayor regarding the minimum offense required to trigger the ordinance, Lieutenant Roberts said that crimes such as criminal mischief and criminal trespass were what would trigger the ordinance. He said that the ordinance was triggered by offenses that someone could be arrested for. In response to a question from Councilor Rayor regarding whether an exclusion could ever be issued without accompanying criminal charges, Lieutenant Roberts confirmed that one could not. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 6, 2001 Page 6 Regular Meeting Councilor Rayor expressed his concern about ordinances of the type being discussed. He remarked on the difficulty of the situation where a few criminal individuals caused a whole group to lose some of their rights. Councilor Kelly said that there had been some justification for the ordinance when it was for the pedestrian blocks of Broadway on the downtown mall. He said that, although he had some question about it, he could reluctantly support a continuation of the original ordinance for the three blocks of Broadway and the associated alleys until Broadway was opened to traffic. He said that the expanded area had no justification of being unique to a pedestrian mall. He thought that there was no logic in the planned expanded area and would not support the planned expansion of the ordinance. City Manager Johnson said that the ordinance could be adopted that evening without the emergency clause, which would allow it to take effect in 30 days, or the council could postpone action until another meeting at which it would be possible to obtain the six votes necessary to implement the emergency clause and have the ordinance take effect immediately. In response to a question from Councilor Bettman regarding whether Councilor Kelly would consider an option that had an amended expansion, Councilor Kelly said his only interest was to maintain the ordinance on the pedestrian mall and not to expand it to streets that were open to traffic. In response to a question from Councilor Pap~ regarding whether the ordinance would cover the downtown Lane Transit District station, Lieutenant Roberts noted that LTD had its own exclusion policy and therefore was not a part of the mall exclusion ordinance. In response to a question from Councilor Nathanson regarding the consequences of enacting the ordinance without an emergency clause, Lieutenant Roberts said that people would commit crimes and continue to stay on the mall and re-offend. He said it was hard to predict how many would do that, but noted that it was a matter of concern. City Manager Johnson asked the council to consider Option A, Council Bill 4768, an ordinance concerning the downtown mall; amending Section 4.680 of the Eugene Code; 1971; adding Section 4.874 to that code; and providing an immediate effective date. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Kelly, moved that the bill, with unanimous consent of the council, be read a second time by council bill number only, and that enactment be considered at that time. Councilor Bettman, seconded by Councilor Kelly, moved to amend the ordinance by providing a sunset date of six months after Broadway from Charnelton to Oak was opened to vehicular traffic. Councilor Bettman said that the amendment would offer an opportunity to examine the effects of the ordinance when more legal data would be available. She commented that the ordinance was a band aid and that bigger strategies were needed to meet the challenges downtown. The amendment passed unanimously. The main motion passed unanimously. MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 6, 2001 Page 7 Regular Meeting City Manager Johnson asked the council to consider Council Bill 4768 by number only. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Kelly, moved that the bill be approved and given final passage. Councilor Rayor recognized that there was a civil rights issue involved with the ordinance. He remarked on the difficulty of making a decision on "how to get the bad apples out of the general population." He remarked that there had to be a better way than creating special exclusion districts wherever there was a problem. The motion passed 5:2, with councilors Taylor and Kelly voting in opposition. IV. ACTION: An Ordinance Concerning Alarm Systems; Renumbering and Amending Section 4.933 and Adding it to Section 3.005 of the Eugene Code, 1971; Amending and Renumbering Sections 4.935, 4.936, and 4.937 of the Eugene Code, 1971 to 3.105, 3.110, 3.115; Amending Sections 3.990, and 4.990 of that code; Repealing Section 4.934 of that Code; and Adding a New Section, 3.100, to the Eugene Code, 1971 In response to a question from Councilor Rayor regarding why the ordinance took effect on the second false alarm, Terry Smith of the Eugene Police Department said that the goal was a significant reduction in false alarms. He stressed that the ordinance needed to have an effect in a short amount of time or it would not achieve that significant reduction. He noted that the first fee (for the second false alarm), would be set fairly low but would constitute a firmer warning than a written notice. City Manager Johnson asked the council to consider Council Bill 4769, an ordinance concerning alarm systems; renumbering and amending Section 4.933 and adding it to Section 3.005 of the Eugene Code, 1971; amending and renumbering Sections 4.935, 4.936, and 4.937 of the Eugene Code, 1971 to 3.105, 3.110, 3.115; amending Sections 3.990, and 4.990 of that code; repealing section 4.934 of that code; and adding a new Section, 3.100, to the Eugene Code, 1971. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Kelly, moved that the bill, with unanimous consent of the council, be read a second time by council bill number only, and that enactment be considered at that time. The motion passed unanimously. City Manager Johnson asked the council to consider Council Bill 4769 by number only. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Kelly, moved that the bill be approved and given final passage. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 6, 2001 Page 8 Regular Meeting James R. Johnson City Manager (Recorded by Joe Sams) MINUTES--Eugene City Council August 6, 2001 Page 9 Regular Meeting