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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 10/31/11 Work SessionMINUTES Eugene City Council McNutt Room —City Hall 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon October 31, 2011 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: George Brown, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling (via speakerphone), Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka, Pat Farr. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Betty Taylor, Chris Pryor. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the October 31, 2011, special meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. A. WORK SESSION: Occupy Eugene City Manager Jon Ruiz was present via speakerphone. Assistant City Manager Sarah Medary provided the council with an update, reminding councilors that they voted on October 24 to grant Occupy Eugene an exemption to the City's overnight camping ordinance so participants could camp in Alton Baker Park. Subsequently, Occupy Eugene had moved to property owned by the University of Oregon (UO). Staff had anticipated that Occupy Eugene would move to another camping site over the weekend; however, that had not occurred. She said the group was negotiating with the UO on next steps. Because Occupy Eugene had left Alton Baker Park, Assistant City Manager Medary recommended the council rescind the exemption it had previously granted. Mr. Brown, seconded Mr. Poling, moved to rescind the council's October 24 motion on Occupy Eugene's location. Responding to a question from Ms. Ortiz, Assistant City Manager Medary said those who remained in Alton Baker Park knew it was still legal to camp there for the time being. Chief Kerns said Eugene Police Department (EPD) officers regularly visited the remaining Alton Baker Park campers since Occupy Eugene moved to let them know they would not be allowed to camp there if the council rescinded the exemption. If the council took that action, the EPD would alert the Alton Baker Park campers and let them know the department would take enforcement action if they did not leave in a day or two. He said the Occupy Eugene protestors had indicated to him they did not consider the campers at Alton Baker Park to be part of the protest, although the campers there considered themselves to be a splinter group of the protest. The campers at Alton Baker Park had been encouraged by the police and Occupy Eugene protestors to join the protest at the Millrace site. Responding to a follow -up question from Ms. Ortiz, Chief Kerns confirmed that the Millrace site was owned by the State and controlled by the University of Oregon (UO). MINUTES— Eugene City Council October 31, 2011 Page 1 Special Meeting Ms. Ortiz asked what the UO planned to do. Assistant City Manager Medary said the UO was working with Occupy Eugene on a transition date for the group to leave the Millrace, and she understood Occupy Eugene would vote later that day on a new location. Ms. Ortiz did not want the UO to ask the City to take heavy- handed enforcement against the protestors. Mayor Piercy recalled the council received an e-mail message that indicated there would be flexibility about the transition date. Mr. Farr asked how the City could count on the splinter group camping in Alton Baker Park to do what it said it would. Assistant City Manager Medary believed the campers would move on when they understood it was no longer legal to be in the park. Mr. Farr commended the excellent work of the Police Department. Mr. Farr noted that the meeting was a special meeting of the council that he had heard characterized as a surprise meeting but he questioned if anyone was actually surprised the meeting was happening. He predicted the council would continue to meet about the issue, and said his previous vote of opposition to the exemption was based on his suspicion that the council would have to meet repeatedly to react to Occupy Eugene's decisions. Responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka, Chief Kerns characterized the EPD's discussions with Occupy Eugene as civil and collaborative, although parties to the discussions did not always agree on a solution. Mr. Zelenka thanked the EPD and thanked Chief Kerns for his leadership. His experience with Occupy Eugene was that the participants were peaceful and respectful of the process. He thought they were doing a good job. He characterized Occupy Eugene as a messy, evolving, unique consensus experiment in democracy that he thought deserved a unique ongoing response from the council as the movement changed and evolved. He took the word of representatives of Occupy Eugene people that the campers remaining in Alton Baker Park were not part of the demonstration and asked "who would know better than them ?" While Mr. Zelenka was sympathetic to the plight of the homeless and thought more needed to be done for them, he was unprepared to discuss revisions to the City's homeless camping ordinance at this time. He supported the motion and hoped that Occupy Eugene remained where it was or relocated to Jefferson- Washington Park. Responding to a question from Mr. Brown, Chief Kerns said the only public safety complaints he heard in regard to Occupy Eugene concerned behavior problems related to drug and alcohol use and theft in the Alton Baker Park camp location. In regard to the Millrace location, he had heard that some protestors had entered buildings without permission and there were dogs at large, although officers had generally encountered dogs on leashes. Mr. Brown confirmed with Chief Kerns that Occupy Eugene had caused no property damage or rioting. It was Mr. Brown's experience that the Occupy Eugene protestors very respectful of the community. He said the City made exceptions to its laws all the time, citing the moratorium on the number of chickens one could keep and people drinking in public before UO football games as examples. He acknowledged the council might have to meet again on the topic but he did not care. He believed Occupy Eugene was highlighting a national emergency and he supported any move to City property the group wished to make if it did not cause unforeseen problems. He believed that Occupy Eugene would continue to operate as a peaceful event. MINUTES— Eugene City Council October 31, 2011 Page 2 Special Meeting Mr. Clark expressed support for the motion but suggested that holding emergency council meetings to decide just exactly how the council was going to capitulate to Occupy Eugene was farcical at best. He wanted the council to treat everyone equally and suggested that many citizens did not believe that was the case for Occupy Eugene. Mr. Poling agreed with the remarks of Mr. Clark. He said his review of national events reaffirmed his previous concerns about the eventual outcome of the Occupy Eugene protests. He believed Mr. Brown was sending a dangerous message by suggesting he would support Occupy Eugene moving to any City - owned property. He said the longer the City allowed Occupy Eugene to continue, the more likely it was to find itself on the same path as communities like Oakland, San Francisco, and Portland, which had to forcibly evict "Occupy" protesters from publicly owned spaces. He said Occupy Eugene was wearing out its welcome. He believed the group had got its message out. Mr. Poling advocated for equal and fair enforcement of City ordinances. He understood that as a result of the "Occupy" movement, organizations across the United States were filing suit against cities now allowing "Occupy" encampments to operate without permit to recover the fees they had to pay to hold special events in public spaces. He suggested the same thing could happen in Eugene. Mr. Poling said he would support the motion but would not support a motion to allow Occupy Eugene to camp on any other City -owned property. Mayor Piercy commended the Occupy Eugene protestors as respectful and civil individuals who cared deeply about national and local issues. She had attended the Harlow Neighborhood Association meeting and heard those in attendance applaud the EPD for its work with Occupy Eugene and had felt pride in the department. She said the community had a homeless issue before Occupy Eugene. Because of the group's concerns about inequities at the national and local level, Occupy Eugene participants had tried to open their hearts and time to the plight of the homeless and had been sensitive about working with youth and people with mental health issues. She suggested that Occupy Eugene had helped the community focus on the problem of the homeless, who had been there all along but whose presence was highlighted by the protest. She anticipated further community discussion would occur as a result. Mr. Farr noted the community's long history of work to address the problems of homelessness as well as his request that the Council Committee on Homelessness and Youth be reconvened. He thought that Eugene was prepared to respond to the homeless problem in a prepared manner. Mr. Farr expressed concern about the costs of Occupy Eugene on the City organization, noting 13 paid staff was present in the audience. He believed that was of concern to taxpayers, particularly at a time when other priorities went unfunded. Mr. Farr recalled that Chief Kerns estimated the City's costs the previous week at $20,000. He did not think Eugene had the resources to spend money to respond to Occupy Eugene each time it chose to move. Mr. Farr also pointed out the camping could affect wildlife living along the Millrace. He did not think the situation was tenable. He would support the motion but would not support future exemptions. Mr. Farr determined from City Attorney Glenn Klein that the City's camping ordinance applied to all public property inside the city limits, but it was not clear that the City had the authority to create and apply such regulations to property owned by the State or federal governments. In response to a follow -up question from Mr. Farr, Mr. Klein confirmed that another part of the code spoke to camping on private property. Ms. Ortiz was not aware of what other cities were doing in regard to the Occupy movement. However, she said as long as Occupy Eugene was willing to talk to the City, the City should talk to Occupy Eugene. MINUTES— Eugene City Council October 31, 2011 Page 3 Special Meeting Ms. Ortiz maintained that Eugene was a "model city" that did things in an innovative way, and its approach to Occupy Eugene was an example of that. She hoped communications did not break down between Occupy Eugene and the City. She thought it important that the organization kept its doors open to the organization in the same way it did for other organizations, even when she did not agree with their messages. Her constituency expected such a policy. Ms. Ortiz was cognizant of the costs being incurred, but was also cognizant of the lawsuits that would result if the City had to turn to an entity such as the National Guard to end the protest. She preferred to spend her tax dollars spent on working toward the common good with Occupy Eugene than to try to stop its efforts. She suggested that Occupy Eugene was elevating community consciousness about homelessness. It was her expectation that the City would continue to work with Occupy Eugene. Mr. Clark said he did riot have to agree with a group's position to feel strongly that they had a right to their position. He was proud to be resident of a state that took its First Amendment protections seriously. However, he distinguished between holding a protest, which he strongly supported, and camping in a public space. One did not have to camp to protest. Speaking to descriptions of Occupy Eugene as a "peaceful" protest, Mr. Clark objected. He said it was not peaceful to take over a space and to not allow someone else to use it. He believed it was an act of aggression and asked people to stop describing the protest as such. He said such an act was no more peaceful than his occupation of the mayor's office and refusal to leave would be. Mr. Clark expressed appreciation for the response of City staff to the protest. He thought staff had responded wisely. He was concerned about some of the council decisions that had been made to capitulate to a situation that he did not consider a peaceful protest. Mayor Piercy suggested that there was a disagreement of opinion between those who perceived Occupy Eugene as very cooperative and peaceful and those who did not. She said the same was true for the equal enforcement issue. She pointed out the City had an ordinance governing camping, but it contained waivers, and the exemption was legal. The motion passed unanimously, 6:0. Mayor Piercy adjourned the meeting at 1:38 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ,8,kA lw� Beth Forrest City Recorder (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES— Eugene City Council October 31, 2011 Page 4 Special Meeting