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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 11/30/05 Work Session M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room—Eugene City Hall November 30, 2005 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: George Poling, Jennifer Solomon, Gary Papé, Betty Taylor, Andrea Ortiz, Chris Pryor, David Kelly, Bonny Bettman. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the November 30, 2005, work session of the Eugene City Council to order. Mayor Piercy welcomed the students from Kelly Middle School who were present to observe council proceedings. Mayor Piercy introduced Paul Carlson, regional coordinator of Pacific Northwest and Alaska United States Inter-Agency Council on Homelessness, who was in the City of Eugene for several days reviewing local efforts related to housing and homelessness. She read a proclamation in support of Mr. Carlson’s work into the record. Mr. P. Carlson thanked everyone. He said he enjoyed the tours of homeless providers. He stated that his agency was a small one charged with “knitting together” the efforts of all of the federal agencies. He noted that he was in Oregon with the Housing and Urban Development Department Community Planning Division Director for Oregon and Idaho, Doug Carlson. He related that he and Mr. D. Carlson met with Mayor Piercy to discuss some of the specific issues of developing a ten-year plan to end homelessness. He wanted to underscore that homelessness was ubiquitous throughout the country at unprecedented levels. He said many times progressive areas, such as the City of Eugene, did work toward ending homelessness leading to an impression among elected leaders that providing too many services for homeless people would draw them from other areas. He noted that many mayors and county commissioners shared this impression, a perception that was both real and perceived. He stated that among federal, state, and local governments, local government was a key partner to develop local movements to address homelessness. Mr. Papé arrived. Mr. P. Carlson reported that when he began this work, 12 communities were working on plans to end homelessness and now, three years later, over 200 were working on such plans. He stated that four or five plans had been completed in the past year and he hoped the rest would be completed in the coming year. He said he would meet with Governor Kulongoski’s staff to start crafting a way to plan at the State level that would help local agencies with this work. He thanked everyone for allowing him to speak and particularly the Mayor for her proclamation. He declared that efforts in the past had not been successful as evidenced by the unrelenting growth in the numbers of homeless people and attributed this to thinking too small. He averred that the nature of the 10-year planning requirement was not to satisfy a HUD requirement but to garner broad community will to do such planning work. MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 30, 2005 Page 1 Work Session A. WORK SESSION: Plan for Communities of Color Meeting Assistant City Manager Jim Carlson explained that City Manager Dennis Taylor was on his way to the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia. He said Mr. Taylor was on the advisory panel, made up of city managers from across the country, which advised the University there on its “exemplary program” on continuing education for city managers. Assistant City Manager Carlson stated that the work session sought to address two action priorities of the council, the issue of race and the issue of homelessness. He asked Executive Director of the Human Resource and Risk Services Department (HRRS) Lauren Chouinard to introduce the guests and lead the discussion on the first item. Mr. Chouinard stressed that this was a workshop and as such would be different from the usual work session as it provided an opportunity to hear from community representatives. He reviewed the work that had been done since 1989 when then-Mayor Jeff Miller began working with the communities of color. He stated that the present workshop was to prepare for a larger workshop with a larger group of representa- tives, tentatively scheduled for February, 2006. He said one action item in the priority for race was to connect more with the community to find out what they were feeling, what their issues were and how the council could help impact those issues as a body in the community. Mayor Piercy reiterated that this was an opportunity to listen to community representatives. Those present introduced themselves. Mr. Chouinard said the result that was hoped for from these community members’ input was a structure for the meeting planned for February and of the identification of topics to be discussed. He stated that staff would take this information and draft a purpose and basic agenda for the meeting to provide to the City Council for review and to the community members who were providing the input. Henry Luvert , representative of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and member of the African-American community, stated that one reason the discussions were few and far between was that people would be gathered to vent about the situation for people of color in Eugene and then no follow-up or work sessions would occur to address the issues that were raised. He felt the people who came to hear what community representatives had to say needed to be in touch with themselves before they could be in touch with him. Here they were trying to get the council to understand their feelings. He understood all of the feelings the representatives who were present experienced, so the question for him was why the City and its staff did not understand those feelings. He thought the result would be that staff would say “Gee, I did not know it was so bad,” but the same feelings had been expressed at the last meeting. He called it a redundant process. He averred that communities of color were looking for attitude change and this might involve workshops to help City staff understand more about themselves and their relationship with race and how coming from a point of privilege affects life. He noted that all of the people of color were on one side of the room and the councilors were all around the table. He said it always seemed to be that way. He thought one way to address this would be that the City could work with a lot of “our initiatives,” the NAACP’s mentoring programs, and Centro Latino Americano’s programs. Guadalupe Quinn , a representative of the Latino community who works with an organization on immigrant MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 30, 2005 Page 2 Work Session rights at the state and local level, called this meeting a great idea. She shared Mr. Luvert’s concern that over the last 25 years she had been to many meetings that provided members of the communities of color the opportunity to raise concerns and talk about how they felt about being members of the community, with little effect. She said this happened at the county level, but the information came back and nothing happened. She wondered if the same information would be gathered and what the value was in that if it was not going to be useful for either side of the table. She wanted the process to be strategic and she wanted everyone involved to be clear about the intent behind the process so that people felt their time was being used wisely and that their participation really mattered. She hoped some change would come of it. Tony Lum , representative of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities, commented that race was a complicated thing. He said even for himself it was complicated and within communities themselves it was complicated. He wanted to see a discussion in the February meeting of ideas on how the various races could benefit each other through celebration. He remarked that he could read enough about why everyone hated each other in The Register-Guard every morning. He wanted to see something different that could perhaps benefit the next council, the next mayor, and even the next children born. He felt that the community did not need to hear about race anymore. He declared that he had been hearing about race for 50 years, since he arrived in Eugene. He discussed his recent visit with his parents in Hawaii. He related that Hawaii was the largest mass of people that was farthest away from any other mass of people. He said each culture struggled internally with how to get along with each other. He stated that the governor of Hawaii tried to figure out how everyone could get along as a state, so that people were no longer black, red, or white communities. He averred that he was a part of the Eugene community and he wanted to be a Eugene community citizen. Carmen Urbina , representative of the Latino community and Human Rights Commissioner, read the vision and the goals of the City Council as set forth in June 2005. She commented that there was always the “hammer” approach where everyone was adversarial and the “kumbaya” approach that declared everyone the same, but she wanted to see the “matter of fact” approach, which was that the City of Eugene had an obligation to all of its residents to provide equal services and access to services in an equal manner. As she read the visions and the goals, she said she thought this was a great step and appreciated that the council was looking at two issues that were close to her heart, race relations and homelessness. She asked the City and its council to consider how the visions and goals applied to the community and how the community was perceived. She stated that the Latino community was diverse within itself and asked if the council and administrators were aware of that. She underscored that she was unable, as an individual, to represent the whole Latino community. She said even when looking at the systems in the hiring process, the community had been through some difficult years with race relations. She reminded the council of the Exit Files, a list of local people of color who left the community, and stressed that this was “reality for us.” She related that employees of color in the City felt isolated and afraid and wished to disappear, do their work and go. She averred that with this level of fear of the system, there had to be something wrong within the system itself that was encouraging this fear. She felt one thing that could not be “shied away from” was that the communities of color within this community were growing. She stated that the Latino community alone had grown by 112 percent. She asked what the City had done to hire people from the Latino community, and to provide bilingual and bicultural abilities at all levels of the staff. She felt it was wonderful to have this conversation but questioned how it would be put into action. She declared that this was a tremendous opportunity to do the right thing for all of the citizens of Eugene. Dwight Souers , spoke as a representative of the Native American community. He shared his admiration for the previous speakers. He said the Native American community would benefit as much as the City by having these discussions or workshops. He noted that the community included several smaller communities. MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 30, 2005 Page 3 Work Session He felt all would benefit from hearing each other at this level. He commented that sometimes people get along fine and sometimes they do not and discussions would help all to be heard. Ibrahim Hamide , representing the Arab-American community, remarked that each community was unique, as were its problems. He said any teacher would say that abused children act up in class and he observed that abused communities act up within the community. He agreed with Ms. Urbina that access to services should be equal and that all areas of the City should be inclusive and mindful of the subcultures that exist in the community. He thought sometimes one had to think outside the box and go beyond legislation. He said compassion would go a long way. He related that the Arab-American community felt disenfranchised, especially since the events of September 11, 2001. He felt his community was the “doormat” and the “kicking dog” for everyone and had, as a result, been “slinking along” and trying to escape notice. He averred that this did not make for a healthy community. He hoped the City would find the compassion to bring his community into the fold and support them. He said his community was also diverse and it would not always be realistic to expect a community to stand up, organize itself, and act as a strong and viable part of the bigger culture. He related that people were busy raising families and tackling what every other person was tackling in their lives. But, he added, his community was also reeling from the image of being an unwanted and undesirable group. He said his community needed to be coaxed and helped to get over their fear. The City needed to figure out how to reach the community if it really wanted participation from diverse groups. He declared that the City may need to learn something about the uniqueness of its inhabitants. George Russell , School Superintendent for the School District 4J and member of the African-American community, commended the City Council for taking on the task. He predicted that the council would find this issue to be a huge undertaking, fraught with complications. He reiterated that there was no such thing as a monolithic community of color. He felt it was important to understand that there were different views and perspectives within all communities. He thought all the necessary ingredients for success in this endeavor were contained in the action plan. He stated that the challenge lay in how it would be made meaningful. He observed that, based on past history, there was not a real trust that any dialogue or community conversations would end up being meaningful and result in substantive improvement. He reiterated that he could not represent the African-American community because it was large and diverse. He thought many of the strategies and the action plan were things that had been tried before. He stressed the importance of structuring the meetings in a way that people really believed they were going to have meaning and that productive things would come of them. He said it was about a larger sense of community and how Eugene could become a model for race relations, not only for the State but for the country. Carla Gary , member of the African-American community, felt that everyone preceding her had said all the right words. She thought the only thing she could add was that though the plan was fine, it was not the plan per se but what would be done with it that really mattered. She said part of this lay in how what needed to be done would be interpreted. She stated that unless everyone, including councilors, could be part of a training, the same material would appear the same way. She likened it to the Ruben illusion, which could be perceived as a profile or a candelabrum. She said she did not care which vision one saw, but she cared that everyone recognized that there was more than one way to look at it. She felt that unless one had the capacity to look at this through different eyes, the results of the process would be the same because the perceptions would remain the same. She said the training needed to happen and then the City needed to determine where the areas in which problems had been experienced were, how they had been resolved, and how they could have been resolved in a better way. She agreed that she could not represent an entire community; she was a part of it. She noted that she was also a part of the University of Oregon community and that community depended greatly on what happened in the City of Eugene. She stressed that this was not just about the City MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 30, 2005 Page 4 Work Session of Eugene and the City Council; it was about everyone who was in the city of Eugene and wanted to make it home. She felt this meant it was important to remember that this process was not just about a plan, but it was about how people planned to live their lives. She averred that everyone had “hard work and heavy lifting” to do and it might not be comfortable. She added that it had not been comfortable for many people for a very long time. She wanted to look at the plan and look at what happened and let history serve the process. She said there were reasons things did not go well. She asked if those things were documented, what would be better, and if there was accountability. She asked if there would be a measurable outcome and if this measurable outcome did not happen at a time certain, would there be ways to engage that conversation so that the process did not become “yet another misstep.” She underscored that this was hard work and everyone should be prepared for it. James Florendo , professor of Native American studies at Lane Community College and enrolled member of the Wasco Tribe and the Confederate Tribes of Warm Springs, echoed the comments of previous speakers. He said his “take” on the process was similar to that of Mr. Luvert, in that the community members were on one side of the room while the council was at the table. He thought it was wonderful that the council recognized that there was a changing demographic in the city of Eugene and that issues needed to be addressed, but he thought it would be good to mentor citizens of the color to sit at the table, too. He wanted the council to know that members of the communities of color were not just out there, they were members of the city government and citizens of this town, sharing similar aspirations with the rest of the community. He acknowledged the approaches to achieving the dreams might be different, but those differences could benefit the entire community. He averred that his understanding of government was that it sought to represent the people. He observed that his people were not at the table. He added that he would not necessarily expect them to be there, because the population was small, but he felt it would be nice to have someone of color at the table. He stressed that there had to be true representation in order to provide balance in the community. He noted that he had been part of this community for 30 years and thought the city had good and bad points. He did not know the councilors and was uncertain whether any of them could represent him. Ms. Quinn noted that she had served on the task force when it was convened by former Mayor Jeff Miller. She related that it had been the first time she had seen a gathering of people of color put together by a mayor of a city to develop some kind of plan. She also had worked on the Lane County Diversity Plan. She recalled that none of the people who worked on the plan had heard back from the County about where the plan was at and how it was doing. She felt the biggest problem in the community was that most people did not know what was going on in the communities of color and the issues that people of color faced. She asked if the council understood what it was like for the Latino and immigrant communities and whether they were aware of the struggles they faced every day in this community. She cited the school districts and how they were and were not serving Latino children as one example of issues the community faced that the council should be aware of. She reiterated that the Latino community had grown and changed. She felt it would be challenging to be “real” about a plan and to serve and provide and be there on behalf of communi- ties of color. Ms. Urbina thanked the City Council and Mayor Piercy for taking this on. She said it was a tremendous opportunity to leave a legacy of lasting positive change. She observed that all of the people present had put many hours into making changes. She noted that she had also participated in the Lane County Diversity Plan. She stated that people’s willingness to have this conversation again spoke to the urgent need to have this conversation honestly. She pointed out that the people around the table would change in four years and observed that the real challenge would be to create something sustainable from this as the City continued to change and grow. MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 30, 2005 Page 5 Work Session Mayor Piercy thanked the community members for attending and participating. She wished to underscore that she was not interested in giving platitudes. She wanted to take in the words of the council’s guests and spend some time digesting them. She felt the challenge was to move past the talk. She reiterated her gratitude for the time people took from their busy lives to come to the council work session and speak. Mr. Poling, seconded by Ms. Solomon, moved to direct staff to hire a facilitator experi- enced in diversity and race issues to facilitate a meeting between the council and representa- tives of the communities of color. Mayor Piercy stressed that this motion did not mean “just a meeting.” The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. B. WORK SESSION: City Council Priority Issue – Update on Homeless Strategy for Eugene Executive Director of the Library, Recreation, and Cultural Services Department (LRCS), Angel Jones, thanked the council for the opportunity to bring back the revised plan on the priority issue of homelessness. She also thanked the staff that served on the committee and the service providers and homelessness representatives. She felt proud to be part of a dedicated staff team working on this priority. She said the document before the council was a result of committee members’ creativity, energy, and passion. She also thanked the council for recognizing homelessness as a priority issue and directing staff to look at it. She opined that there was no better example of the role of government than to give voice to those most vulnerable citizens of the community. Mike Magee, LRCS Administrative Manager and staff lead on the issue, stated that the major changes to the plan lay in more specificity in the recommendations than those contained in the plan submitted to the council in July. He pointed out that the plan was Attachment A to the Agenda Item Summary, and the major changes had been pulled out and graphed in Attachment C. He said Attachment B was the timeline of things that had happened to date in the community and Attachment D encompassed the gaps that had been identified, knowing that they had not all been prioritized at this time. In response to a question from Mr. Kelly, Mr. Magee said “all or most of the major players” in the service provider community that tried to meet the needs of homeless singles, families, and youths had been contacted in the process, including Whitebird. Mr. Kelly said it was important to him to see a balance between serving and preventing homelessness. He thought good things had been done with people “at risk” in the past, but not as much was being done with people at risk of being homeless in the present. Mr. Kelly recalled that he asked for a memorandum at the meeting in July with details on exactly what the County had done in terms of the application to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) about the 10-year plan. He reiterated his request. Mr. Kelly observed that prioritizing the strategies to address homelessness would be challenging and asked who would be doing the prioritizing and how it would be done. Ms. Jones responded that the current group, which included all of the stakeholders and homeless community members, would conduct the prioritization MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 30, 2005 Page 6 Work Session and attempt to determine what the best use of limited resources would be in this endeavor. Mr. Kelly asked that the results and requisite resource attachments be brought back to the council in the form of updates and reviews. Ms. Jones affirmed that this was the plan and the intention was to provide quarterly updates. Mr. Pryor expressed his approval of where this plan was going. He observed that many communities tried and failed to address this issue. He felt homelessness had to be tracked on multiple levels as, like the communities of color, homeless people were not one monolithic entity. He noted that he had discussed this at a Human Services Commission meeting the previous day. He said there were basic services and there were prevention components, including intervention services, but there was a fourth component and this was the enforcement piece, in other words, the need to be able to help people even if they do not want it. He did not want to focus too much on one service to the exclusion of what may be essential and important services. He also did not want to be a “carrot and a stick,” but rather wanted to find a flexible and appropriate way to respond to all of the different issues. He hoped to collaborate with agencies that could provide that level of service. Mr. Papé asked if there was a clearinghouse for all of the services available for homeless people in Eugene included in the priorities. Mr. Magee said it was included on page 324 of the AIS. He noted that it was one thing that was identified by the continuum of care group. Mr. Papé remarked that it would not be possible to “do it all” all at once due to limitation of financial and human resources. He related that he received a letter regarding the homeless program in San Francisco. Mayor Piercy said Portland embarked on a model similar to the San Francisco program that was based on permanent housing solutions for people as opposed to stop-gap solutions. She underscored that Eugene was not alone as it had community and state partnerships to reach its goals. She noted that there were many people in this community who gave generously to try to help homeless people or prevent homelessness, but she was uncertain of whether people had a real idea of what homelessness was in Eugene, Oregon. She stressed that it would take work to paint a full picture of what that was and it had to do with jobs and many other factors that were out there. She said this issue was about the fabric of the community and not about some people who had fallen on hard times. It was about what kind of community people wanted to live in and how to ensure, within the community’s means, that most people were in their own homes and could provide for themselves. Ms. Bettman stated that social service providers did an incredible job with limited resources, but they needed more resources. She indicated she would consider a small utility tax or fee dedicated to homeless preven- tion. She emphasized that people need a roof over their heads when it is freezing outside. Ms. Ortiz expressed appreciation for the work that went into the plan. She liked the continuum of care model as it was much cheaper to keep someone in a house than it was to help them once they were homeless. Ms. Taylor did not believe that the Eugene Mission received enough appreciation. She related that according to the Mission they had never turned anyone away. She agreed that it was easier to keep people in their houses than to help them once homeless. She supported passing a living wage ordinance. She noted that health care was a financial drain for those who did not have insurance and often played a role in homelessness. She recalled meeting a mentally ill man who was homeless because the hospital had “turned him out.” She averred that there was a need for tax-supported shelters for such people. MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 30, 2005 Page 7 Work Session Ms. Solomon agreed that the Mission was a good provider and asked if they had been included in the stakeholders group. Mr. Magee confirmed that it was. Mr. Kelly commented that at a specific program level, the City Council was not able to prioritize services. Regarding specific resources, he noted that the council could not make budget decisions until the budget process had begun, but smaller items could be brought forth and addressed at the council level. Ms. Jones responded that items (15) through (19) from Attachment C: Action Planning Steps Summary could be those items addressed in this way. Mr. Kelly noted that the City of Portland introduced a plan called “Real Change, Not Spare Change” that provided vouchers for food and shelter for people to give panhandlers in lieu of money. He was interested in pursuing a similar program for Eugene. Ms. Bettman liked that idea. She noted that Safe & Sound was on the list for project development in the first 24 months of the plan, on Attachment C, and approved of this. She also supported development of the other projects that sought to help homeless youth, as well as programs to help people with domestic violence in their lives. She reiterated that her focus would be on putting a roof over peoples’ heads. Mr. Papé wanted to give recognition to the Housing Policy Board. He noted that its goal had been to put 100 subsidized homes into the housing inventory since 1990 when, in actuality, it helped to provide 1,526 subsidized housing units since then. He wondered if that goal should be changed, given that the stock of subsidized housing had not kept pace with the need for it. Urban Services Manager for the Community Development Division Richie Weinman replied that a change in the goal was worth considering but the challenge lay in the federal money that came in, as it helped dramatically to make that goal. Mr. Papé asked if providing homeless people with access to the library would cost a lot. Ms. Jones replied that it would not. In response to a follow-up question from Mr. Papé, Ms. Jones stated that the library could play a role in providing access to the internet, but the key would be to have access where the providers were so that homeless people had multiple options to be able to access information and other resource needs. She said access to the library would be provided in January 2006. Mr. Papé wondered if it would be possible to track library and internet use discreetly and report back to the council on the level of use. Ms. Jones responded that this was still under discussion but she hoped to have something to report. Mr. Poling thanked everyone for the hard work put into refining the action plan. Mr. Poling, seconded by Ms. Solomon, moved to approve the proposed “Help the Homeless in Eugene” priority issue action plan. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Assistant City Manager Carlson wished to mark the occasion as when the council approved the last of its eight priority action plans. He noted that it had taken ten months since the goal-setting section. He thanked the council. Mayor Piercy thanked staff for the presentation. She felt the council was making progress but the challenges to be faced in this issue and the preceding issue were large. MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 30, 2005 Page 8 Work Session Mayor Piercy adjourned the meeting at 1:23 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Dennis M. Taylor City Manager (Recorded by Ruth Atcherson) MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 30, 2005 Page 9 Work Session