SUNA Meetings/Minutes
SUNA meetings:
The next SUNA Board Meeting will be on
Tuesday, September 7th, 7 pm, location TBD.
South University Neighborhood Association
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
July 7, 2010
Chair Carolyn Jacobs called the meeting to order at 7:00 at the home of Mike Russo. Present were Vice Chair Malcolm Wilson, Secretary Mimi McGrath Kato and Board Members, Bill Aspegren, Marsha Shankman, Pamela Miller, Mike Westervelt, and Mike Russo. UO representative Karen Hyatt was also present. Board members Jody Miller and Denise Sorom, Tim Shinabarger, Malcolm Wilson and Treasurer Janet Heinonen were absent.
Minutes Approval: May minutes were approved unanimously. The board will send any edits to Tim S by Monday and will approve online for June and in the future.
Treasurer’s Report: The SUNA treasury’s current balance is $1205.28.
Karen Hyatt, UO: Karen announced that the community welcome date is set for Tuesday, September 28th. It will be 2-3 times as big as last year, focusing on more participation from law enforcement, students, and neighbors. There will be a mayor’s town hall after the event. Carolyn will participate in the planning meeting July 19th at 2pm, so any ideas should be shared with Carolyn so she can bring them to the planning meeting.
The city is going ahead with the proposal made at the livability summit to develop a task force. There is an organizational meeting July 15th from 5-7pm. This will include West University, South University and Fairmount Neighborhoods.
Ed Rinne, the new Campus Police Captain, is in his new position and is already very active in neighborhood and livability issues. It would be good for us to invite him to a meeting in the near future.
Livability Committee: There was a suggestion for those who have contact information for homeowners to share it with other immediate neighbors so that a there is broader support in following up with party control.
Mike R has a neighbor who is a lawyer and would help us understand the legality of rental property ownership. We will invite him to a meeting in the future.
Transportation Committee: The parking proposal is moving through the city’s process. Currently Jeff Petry is working on establishing the new high density parking zone, which will be Zone H. Within this zone, parking permits will be much more expensive at $60 per month with a minimum three month permit allowance. This will be a two hour zone and the city plans to sell permits for approximately 75% of the available spaces. Also, starting in September, the city will be managing all parking rather than Diamond.
The next step regarding parking for SUNA is to enact the two hour zone throughout most areas of the South University Neighborhood. The city has plans to do a mailing to all neighbors to announce the change, and give a period for comment.
Another related issue is the yellow zones at the corners, which Tom Larson is considering. He has plans to take action over the next few months.
August Social: The August social will be held on Tuesday August 3rd between 6 and 9pm. Denise, Mimi and another neighbor, Tammy Young, are organizing it. It will coincide with the National Night Out. There will be a fire truck visit, face painting, kids’ games, etc. Prince Pucklers is donating the ice cream and the Eugene City Bakery is donating a variety of treats. Everyone is encouraged to bring a picnic or come after dinner. We are also working on arranging for City of Eugene tree climbing, a visit by the UO Duck, and other activities.
Mimi will follow up with Cindy to confirm budget and how to access funds, then will check in with Carolyn if additional funds are needed. Denise, Mimi and Tammy will recruit volunteers by email as needed in a week or so.
Eugene Pedestrian and Bike Master Plan/Neighborhood Walkability and Bikability Assessment Toolkit: There is a survey that the board extensively discussed in tonight’s meeting. The group raised a number of issues, both general and specific, that were documented by Bill and Carolyn. Bill and Carolyn will summarize, complete and submit the survey by the due date, July 13th.
Carolyn also received an invitation for a neighborhood representative to participate in a discussion about the feasibility of a Share Car in the area. There will be an interview with this group soon, and Bill volunteered to do participate in the interview. Of note, Jeff Petry is considering allowances for share car parking in the new high density parking zone.
Fire Hydrant Update: The fire hydrant project is nearly complete. There are a few left to be painted, but all are assigned. Mimi plans to write and submit the final report by the end of July. The budget has already been submitted and reimbursed.
Adjournment: There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m. to meet again Aug 11, 2010.
Respectfully submitted,
Mimi McGrath Kato, Secretary
South University Neighborhood Association
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
June 4, 2010
Attendees: Board Chairwoman Carolyn Jacobs, Vice Chairman Malcolm Wilson, board members Bill Aspegren, Denise Sorem, Michael Russo, Tim Shinabarger; University Livability Committee member Ken Kato; SUNA resident Al Couper; University of Oregon representative Karen Hyatt; Eugene Police Lieutenant Sam Kamkar. Treasurer Janet Heinonen and board members Jody Miller, Mimi McGrath Kato, Marsha Shankman, Pamela Miller and Mike Westervelt were absent.
Board Chairwoman Carolyn Jacobs called the meeting to order at 7 p.m.
Treasurer’s Report: Prior to the meeting, Treasurer Janet Heinonen provided a treasurer’s report via email: The SUNA treasury’s current balance is $1,205.28.
Livability Issues: Malcolm Wilson requested clarification from Eugene Police Lieutenant Sam Kamkar on how the neighborhood association can help make the police department’s work more effective for officers to respond to loud parties, disturbances and such events in the neighborhood. Malcolm asked about the status of a potential task team first proposed by city police leaders, and asked whether SUNA can work with the city to change ordinances such as the noise ordinance.
Office Kamkar said the police force would like to get out of the realm of responding to parties on weekends because it is a drain on staffing resources. He said on Friday and Saturday night shifts, one-third of his officers are dedicated to responding to parties in the West University Neighborhood. He said he would prefer the officers be available to respond to other types of complaints.
Regarding a task team, Office Kamkar said Police Chief Kerns recommended a 10-step model similar to the program the Eugene Police Department (EPD) is working on downtown. He said they are working on a long-term strategic plan. In the meantime, the question is what to do now.
Regarding ordinance changes, Officer Kamkar said laws now in place may be adequate. He said EPD has been fairly successful in getting convictions for Minor-in-Possession charges and such but there are times when it loses cases. When it responds to noise complaints, EPD needs a willing complainant, someone willing to go to court to testify. The officer’s word is not sufficient, he said; it takes two officers, or an audio, or a video. It’s vital to have somebody willing to come in. He said the person who calls EPD needs to be able to say they are a person of normal sensitivity; they have to be able to establish that in court. They also need to be able to pinpoint the source of noise for certain, and they need to have time to come to court when subpoenaed.
Referring to a case that some in attendance had discussed previously, Officer Kamkar said the person wanted to press charges. When the officer showed up, things were quiet. When it went to court, police testimony was not helpful. He said EPD would like to show up promptly but sometimes can’t due to staffing limitations.
Mike Russo asked Officer Kamkar when a neighbor files a complaint, when do the people against whom the complaint is filed find out who complained.
Officer Kamkar said they know when they get to court. He said he’s never seen anyone retaliate against a complainant. He said if somebody does that, it could constitute the crime of tampering with a witness, which is a felony.
Officer Kamkar said a noise violation gets filed as a violation. The person charged with the violation has the option to pay a fine or to say they’d like to go to trial, in which case the officer has to show up. He said often the people charged in the complaint will plead not guilty and wait to see if the officer shows up in court; then when the officer shows up in court, typically they change their plea.
Malcolm said it is obvious the most effective thing to prevent parties getting out of control is convictions, and when neighbors know a party is going to start, it would be useful to be able to coordinate with officers for their response. He said when neighbors call police, sometimes they get effective, timely response, but sometimes not because police staffing is tight.
Officer Kamkar said EPD responds to between 800 and 900 incidents from Friday to Sunday. He said a log of party complaints would be multiple pages, but EPD can only respond to about 6 of them. He said those other people get away with it. He said in a perfect world of community policing, EPD would follow up and visit the party residence even after the fact, or send the residents a letter from the police chief saying police had been called.
Malcolm said he is involved in drafting such a letter from SUNA and the University of Oregon.
Officer Kamkar said it has to be more than a letter.
Al Couper said it was his impression that the Kreger case failed because it wasn’t handled properly and there was a lack of evidence. He said evidence that will convince the judge is crucial. He asked Officer Kamkar what he could tell the board about the kind of evidence needed and potential problems with inadmissable evidence.
Officer Kamkar said in most loud party cases are filed as a violation rather than as a misdemeanor, so the city prosecutor is not involved. The police officer acts in that role before the judge. Getting a conviction is up to that officer; they bear the burden of proof. For a violation, that’s preponderance of evidence, 51 percent. Most of these cases the officers win if they have a willing complainant who can pinpoint the noise source, number of people and similar factors.
Karen Hyatt asked if it is OK to check in with the officer to go over the facts before the court date. Officer Kamkar said there is nothing wrong with that.
Al asked if neighbors are more likely to get a favorable ruling with more than one complainant. Officer Kamkar said that is not the case. He said that typically EPD officers park at least half a block away from the party residence and walk up, so they can hear the level of noise themselves.
Al said with the Kreger incident the renters said they weren’t even there during the party. He asked who the citation is against. Officer Kamkar said it is filed against the person who is responsible for the party. Sometimes that is difficult to establish.
Malcolm asked what would happen if we had a regulation that the landlord is responsible for the party. Officer Kamkar said this had been discussed before and gotten strong resistance from landlords.
Karen Hyatt said there is now a Rental Property Owner Program in which landlords can sign up to have EPD apprise them whenever EPD responds to the landlord’s rental units.
Mike Russo said there is a trend in SUNA for parents to buy properties and their sons or daughters to reside there. He said it would be good to have parents notified of citations that occurred there. Officer Kamkar said the police log at City Hall lists all the citation addresses. He said that information is not on the city Web site or in the list the Register Guard has. He said we are dealing with a transient population and every year we have to retrain the population. That is draining. He said if he could ask for one thing it would be a bona fide campus police department, consistent with every other state in the nation. He said the UO Department of Public Safety is limited because they don’t have jurisdiction off campus.
Malcolm said the UO is very interested in jurisdiction off campus. He said it would make sense to change the student conduct code at the same time as a legislative change for DPS empowerment off campus.
Karen said the UO hired a new police captain specifically to work on property crime as well as neighborhood issues. She said there should be legislative change in 2011, that it is moving forward. Malcolm said change in the student conduct code is also moving forward.
Bill Aspegren asked if anything can be done to cut off the supply of alcohol. Officer Kamkar said drinking has become the norm. He said EPD does get a log from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission of who gets kegs.
Tim Shinabarger asked about the point Officer Kamkar made about the person who files a complaint of loud parties needing to be able to prove they are of normal sensitivity. Office Kamkar said complainants need to be able to testify that they are not overly sensitive to noise, that they are just like everybody else trying to get some sleep.
Malcolm said on a complaint, he said he was grading papers, and his grading papers was disturbed. His windows were shaking. He said to give a plausible account of the noise and what disturbed you. Keep a record.
Officer Kamkar said this weekend is the last one he has extra officers attached to the party patrol — two on bicycles, two in cars. He said their mission is primarily to make sure we don’t have a riot. He said EPD knows when the officers arrive by bicycle the students start tweeting their friends.
Officer Kamkar said West University Neighborhood is the hottest area of the city for property crimes such as car theft or car break-ins. He said many targets are students, and with students moving away, EPD is hoping crime rates go down and criminals shift their focus elsewhere.
Officer Kamkar said when police respond to a complaint about a party, the people partying think they are just interested in MIPs (Minor in Possession), but eh kind of people they are looking for are the harder core criminals, such as thieves or people guilty of sex crimes. He said criminals work their way into parties and case the residence for future burglary.
Ken Kato said EPD had publicized a push on preventing property crime at spring break. Officer Kamkar said that was successful but not in the university neighborhoods. He said students are of the age where they think they are invincible. They avoid the police. He said part of it is EPD’s fault because they have an adversarial relationship where the only time they see EPD they correlate with EPD busting student parties. He said students don’t realize EPD is also working to prevent car break-ins and burglaries.
Denise Sorem asked if EPD rates SUNA bad like it rates West University Neighborhood. She asked if EPD regard South University Neighborhood as in danger of losing its livability.
Officer Kamkar said he could not provide a solid answer. He said UO influence area typically ends at about 21st Avenue, and he hasn’t seen the progression coming all the way south.
Carolyn Jacobs said it’s every couple of months that houses that were inhabited by families are being sold to a parent of a student. She said beyond the discussion with EPD we need a debate on what we want this neighborhood to be.
Mike Russo said he continues working with the UO to encourage it to incentivize UO faculty to move closer to campus.
Karen Hyatt said the UO is doing its community welcoming again this year.
Malcolm extended his thanks, via Officer Kamkar, to the officers who respond to these calls. Officer Kamkar invited Malcolm to thank them at roll call. Malcolm responded that he will. Officer Kamkar thanked us and departed.
Move Out Event: Karen Hyatt said the event is Saturday June 5th. She said the goal is for students to have a place to bring your stuff to dispose it safely. The event was scheduled for the parking lot for PLC Hall.
Hayward Field Noise: Carolyn said during the recent OSAA track meet she could clearly hear the announcer from her house. Tim said he could hear it from his yard between 23rd and 24th Ave. Malcolm said there must be UO control of amplification. Karen said the NCAA track and field championships is next week. At the same time, 3,800 people are moving out of residence halls. Then, on Monday, June 14th, is commencement day, with 35,000 people on campus. She said Agate Street will be busy.
Summer Event: Carolyn said we haven’t planed one yet. She said there is going to be a movie night in August in University Park and maybe SUNA could piggyback on to it. Denise said she would look into it.
Envision Eugene: Bill said he and Pamela attended the last public workshop. City staff had information sheets on scenarios. He said people were supposed to write down on them how the scenarios would benefit livability, as well as writing down concerns. He said there wasn’t enough information about what those scenarios really meant and there wasn’t enough time to fill out the whole matrix, so he couldn’t turn anything in.
Bill said he has been attending a three-day consensus building workshop on Envision Eugene, along with about 55 other people including the mayor and some city councilors. He said not very many neighborhood association people are attending. He said staff made a presentation about the Eugene COmprehensive Land Assessment, and its conclusion that the city will grow by about 35,000 people within 20 years, with 15,000 new dwelling units needed. He said staff did a hypothetical exercise of what the city would have to do to fit the future growth all within the existing Urban Growth Boundary. He said for it to work, the residential density in Low Density Residential land would have to increase from a current average of 5.1 dwelling units per net acre to a future average of 12 dwelling units per net acre. He said commercial space would have to go from 40 employees per acre to 180 employees per acre. He said what they are really telling us is you can’t do it. You can’t put 10 pounds into a 5-pound bag.
Carolyn urged people to attend the June 23rd public workshop on Envision Eugene and urge city staff to not do anything that will hurt the neighborhoods.
The meeting adjourned at 9 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Tim Shinabarger
South University Neighborhood Association
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
May 5, 2010
Chair Carolyn Jacobs called the meeting to order at 7:00 in the Edison School Teacher’s Lounge. Present were Vice Chair Malcolm Wilson, Secretary Mimi McGrath Kato and Board Members Denise Sorom, Bill Aspegren, Marsha Shankman, Pamela Miller, Mike Westervelt, Tim Shinabarger and Mike Russo. UO representative Karen Hyatt was also present. Board members Jody Miller and Treasurer Janet Heinonen were absent.
Treasurer’s Report: The SUNA treasury’s current balance is $1205.28.
Karen Hyatt, UO: With the track season starting up again, the University would like feedback about noise from Hayward field loudspeakers. They have attempted to respond to complaints last year but would like to know if the speakers are still too loud.
Karen asked for updates on livability activity and board members gave updates. Noise is shifting with the seasons from music noise to loud voices from porches, etc.
Malcolm pointed out that ordinance has to be dealt with, as without a general law to back neighbors up there will not be significant results with respect to decreasing noise in the neighborhood.
Karen also reported that there has been progress on the joint letter from UO, the City and Neighborhoods – it is slow but moving. Currently the letter is making its way through the appropriate UO and City channels. The letter will be used in response to formal complaints being filed, and will acknowledge that a complaint was received. Landlords of any rental units will be cc’d.
Karen reported that UO Public Safety is paying a lot of attention to neighborhood livability issues. The recent court case is an example to learn from. The judge was sympathetic with the whole issue of 19th Street, but there simply was not enough evidence to weigh against the students. The two police officers related to this case agreed that the University needs to step in because both the police and the neighbors are limited in their ability to respond to these incidents.
Livability Committee: There have been a few issues, one in particular involving uncontrolled dogs. To update, the University has been more proactive and does have a number of ways in which they communicate to students how to be better neighbors when they move off campus. The brochures that are available and the student housing fair this year are examples of this.
Malcolm raised possibility of SUNA distributing a letter in the fall with information. The board will hold a focus group on this in the next month.
Transportation Committee: Carolyn urged everyone to participate in the Envision Eugene work.
Jeff Petry, City parking Manager, joined us to talk more about parking in SUNA. He presented and a map. His proposal is to figure out some boundaries and put everyone within that boundary on a 2 hour permit parking zone.
He also has an interesting idea for a family permit rate for the zone between 18th and 19th, where density and parking congestion are higher.
Jeff has also advocated for increased violation rates for yellow zones, blocking sidewalks, etc. There is a new parking enforcement supervisor who is changing the parking enforcement shifts, which will extend the period during which monitoring will occur. Starting early June, there will be 5 officers working 8-5 M-F and 4 officers who work split shifts working until 7 or 8 pm – to extend enforcement times. They are also planning to institute a license plate recognition system that allows them to identify a vehicle with a GPS location and time stamp.
Event parking in Fairmount is M-Sun 7-11pm 2 hour parking. They will be their own parking zone; they will no longer be Zone A. They will receive a set number of guest permits per household, allotted in advance.
In thinking about a South University parking plan, it will be important to be cautious of the unintended consequences that could arise from stricter parking enforcement: parking in front lawns, extending “parking areas by turning yard into parking strip with gravel or concrete, etc. UO and City are increasing meter rates to 1.50 an hour – this will have an impact on neighborhoods. There is also a proposal in the City Manager’s budget to increase permit rates to 40$ from 20$.
The board discussed Jeff’s proposal of instituting a broader 2 hour zone within the South University Neighborhood. There was some difference of opinion on the benefit of 2 hour parking zones. One key point of discussion was that 2 hour zoning could limit the availability of parking in front of some houses giving better access to the currently not permitted rental houses in the neighborhood. The key here becomes consistent enforcement of permitting and assignment of permits per household. Visitor permits can be provided for care or service providers on a 6 month or similar basis. As part of the agreement, households within SUNA could be issued a set number of visitor permits up front to alleviate the need to go get guest permits for each time there is a need.
Key questions to be decided: What are the boundaries? What will be the days and hours that a permit is required?
Jeff’s recommended boundary: between 19th and 22nd Avenues, possibly 23rd, and from Agate Street to but not including Hilyard St.
Jeff’s recommended times: M-Sat 7am – 6pm. There were some significant concerns from a number of board members about weekend restrictions. As a compromise, Malcolm suggested that there be a recommendation for M-F 7am – 6pm; with the above mentioned boundary.
Bill A. will write up a proposal of the boundary as listed above.
Spray Park Updates: Denise and Mimi met with city on 4/20 and learned that we will receive no funding. This means that our fundraising budget has doubled, and the management of the project will be on our shoulders. The plan at this point is to move forward with a small scale feasibility study and talk to 10 or so entities to determine priorities.
Fire Hydrant Updates: The fire hydrant painting project is moving forward. The plan is to paint on June 5th, with a rain delay planned for June 19th. There will be a kick-off event at Edison the morning of the painting and a fire truck will be there from 9:30 – 10:00am. Then around 10am everyone will head out to paint. There a number of volunteers who are not available on the 19th, so they will paint at other times. All hydrants will be scrubbed and primed before they are painted.
Kiosk Coordination: Mimi passed on information to be posted in the kiosks.
Adjournment: There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. to meet again June 3, 2010.
Respectfully submitted,
Mimi McGrath Kato, Secretary
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