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Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes News: Happening Person: Alito Alessi POLICE COMMISSION SEEKS PUBLIC INPUT ON 'CIVILIAN OVERSIGHT' The Eugene Police Commission (PC) has had a tough time getting citizens to show up at forums on more mundane police policy issues, but the upcoming sessions on police complaints might stir a better response. The agenda includes discussion on "civilian oversight," which reform advocates see as an opportunity to push for a truly independent police review board.
The first forum in the series will be from 7 to 9 pm Thursday, Aug. 5 at the Eugene Public Library Bascom/Tykeson Room. The session will be facilitated by Marion Malcolm of Community Alliance of Lane County and Councilor Bonny Bettman, and will be co-sponsored by the ACLU, CALC and the Eugene Human Rights Commission. Additional sessions with different sponsors and facilitators will be scheduled after students return in the fall. Bettman says the top priority of the PC in 2005 is refining the complaint process, and the commission hopes to have a report to the council, police chief and city manager by September 2005. The commission is seeking additional funding for staffing and outreach for the project. Bettman says she hopes the sessions will provide "the broadest possible range of feedback" and will result in "more accountability" for the police department. The 12-member PC, appointed by the mayor and council, has been criticized in the past for being too "police-friendly" and not advocating for stronger reforms of EPD, despite widespread allegations of excessive force, discrimination and sexual abuse. Two former EPD officers were recently convicted of sex crimes committed while in uniform. Bettman says the commission has a mix of conservative and liberal members and has made progress in several areas, including media access during protests, SWAT policies, use of "spit hoods," recruitment protocols, and refinements to the MATRIX system. "Of course, anyone looking for complete police reform will not be satisfied with the incremental improvements the PC has been able to affect from working within the system," says Bettman. Whiteaker neighborhood leader Majeska Seese-Green says she's pleased to see "review of various civilian oversight models" listed on the flier advertising the Aug. 5 forum. "This is an opportunity to make comments in support of strong independent oversight," she says. "But if people don't know that is on topic, they are far less likely to take the opportunity." Seese-Green figures the low turnout at some past PC meetings is due to "skepticism about the independence of the commission, and thus the value of bothering to attend or comment. … Related to that is a feeling that it is utterly impossible to affect real change at the Eugene Police Department." Citizens who attend the sessions will be invited to talk about the complaint process and how it can be improved. One question being tossed out for comment is, "What, if anything, would prevent you from filing a complaint with the police department?" Comments can also be submitted by e-mail to jeannine.parisi@ci.eugene.or.us or mailed to the commission at 777 Pearl St. Room 106, Eugene 97401. — TJT
COUNTING DOWN UNTIL BUSH IS GONE
How much time does George W. Bush have left in office? Just check your button, says Matteo Luccio of Eugene. Luccio is a partner in a new company, Time Left LLC, offering fanciful 3-inch buttons with a display that counts down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds to the end of the Bush presidency — when the election polls close Nov. 2. The digital device will then reset itself and count down to the inauguration of our 44th president at noon Jan. 20, 2005 . This "Button for a New Era" can be worn or displayed on a desk. The button's brushed-metal artwork places the inscription "Countdown to the Day When Bush Goes Away" over an image of the inner workings of a pocket watch. Luccio is one of four partners around the country involved in the project. One of his partners is Fabio Meacci of Boston, an electronics engineer who came up with the countdown idea and found component manufacturers. Luccio takes credit for the button idea, and he will also process and ship orders nationwide out of Eugene. Single buttons can be purchased on-line at www.timeleft.us for $9.95, with discounts for multiple and bulk orders. Luccio says a dozen prototype buttons were hand-made in Boston by Meacci and enthusiastically received by delegates at the Democratic National Convention this week. The first manufacturing order will be 1,000 buttons. Time Left LLC has offices in Wyoming, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Eugene. — TJT
CITY PANELS LOOKING TO FILL VACANCIES The city of Eugene is seeking volunteer applicants for committees that advise the City Council, and for one intergovernmental committee. The recruitment period opened July 19 and continues through Sept. 24. The City Council will decide on appointments Oct. 25, and the appointments begin Nov. 1. The following groups have vacancies to fill: Budget Committee: two vacancies; Planning Commission: two vacancies; Human Rights Commission: five vacancies; Toxics Board: three vacancies (must meet specific criteria); Historic Review Board: four vacancies; Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority: one vacancy Interested persons must complete an application and for some bodies, a supplemental questionnaire is required. Application information is available at the City Manager's Office, Room 105, City Hall or visit www.ci.eugene.or.usFinalists may be interviewed by the City Council in early October. For additional information contact Mary Walston at 682-5406 or mary.f.walston@ci.eugene.or.us
CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS In last week's Music column by Vanessa Salvia regarding the local band Cabinessence, one of the band member's names was incorrect, due to an editor's error. The guitarist and vocalist's correct name is Jacob Arnold.
Eugene voters have twice rejected paying for a big new police station, the last time by nearly a two-to-one margin. But city officials still want the big new cop shop. They've secretly squirreled away a staggering $29 million by diverting money from city services to fund the unpopular project. With the $29 million in buried nuts, a sharply divided council decided Monday to ask voters in November for an additional $7 million to complete the $36 million police project. "I think the measure will lose," says David Kelly, one of three councilors who voted against the financing package.
There's a lot of things going against the police proposal. Voters may resent the city hoarding of taxpayer dollars for the cop shop, be disgusted with police after sex crimes by officers, think the building is too big and may look at the police station as a costly three-time loser. But supporters say the relatively small tax increase made possible by the city stash and the support of non-profits who police say they'll give space to in the new building could push the measure over the top. The conservative council majority and city staff act like the $29 million they've squirreled away is there's to do with as they see fit. But Councilor Betty Taylor says the council should get voter approval before spending the $29 million in internal money. "It's their money, not ours." The city piled up the $29 million from scrapping money from city services for the last four years ($11.4 million) and through years of phone and cable taxes and fees ($16.2 million). The city has another $750,000 diverted by the downtown urban renewal district plus $750,000 in accumulated interest on its cash hoard. Howard Bonnett, a former chairman of Eugene's citizen Budget Committee, says he's "surprised" at the size of the building reserve the city has diverted from city services. Bonnett says he wonders which citizen services the city had to cut or not fund to accumulate that much money. "What are they doing?" Even supposed "one-time" funding the city has acquired can "clearly" be amortized over many years to provide funding for ongoing services, Bonnett notes. "They're taking money away from providing services," Bonnett says. "I don't think they should be doing that."
TOP PRIORITY? A host of other city needs could use the millions the city has squirreled away. The city claims it has a $90 million backlog in street repairs that will explode to $250 million in the next decade if it is put off. Another city study found the city has more than $40 million in threatened natural areas that could be lost to development if not preserved as parkland. Other unmet needs include funding community policing, traffic calming, a homeless shelter, a new downtown swimming pool, and money to actually implement Eugene's adopted growth management and nodal development plans for a more livable, greener city. City library and school support property tax levies are also due to expire in coming years and face uncertain futures. Councilors Bonny Bettman and David Kelly say they want to use the $29 million to build a combined police station and new city hall a couple years from now. Bettman says that spending all the $29 million now will leave no internal money to leverage a bigger bond vote for a new City Hall later. "It's shortsighted," she says. "I do hope this measure fails at the ballot." Spending the $16 million in telecom funds on an unpopular police station could also prejudice a vote on whether to continue those taxes. Bonnett wonders whether the city shouldn't be saving the $29 million to pay off millions of dollars in lawsuits from the more than a dozen sex crime victims of officers Roger Magaña and Juan Lara. "It seems sort of shortsighted to build a police station instead of using that money for the problems the police have generated," Bonnett says. The Magaña and Lara scandals could cripple efforts to pass the bond measure. "Let's face it, there are some police department perceptions in the community," says Councilor Kelly. Mayor Jim Torrey admits the scandals had a "tremendously negative impact" on the public reputation of the EPD, but he argues the police still need a new building. At a time when the public is calling for more police oversight, the city shouldn't put the police away in a separate building, some argue. Councilor Bettman says the citizens want a combined police station and City Hall. Bonnett notes that even before Magaña and Lara, the police station failed repeatedly while youth, library, school and parks measures passed. "There's a reason why it hasn't been approved," he says. "They have a credibility problem." Councilor Taylor says putting the station on the ballot a third time will only solidify resistance. Already, she says, people in her generally pro-tax ward have told her, "You already did that two times."
THIRD TIME AROUND But supporters say the police station will pass on its third try. By using the squirreled $29 million for just the police station, the bond measure can be kept relatively small and more palatable to voters, council conservatives argue. The $6.8 million will increase property taxes for the average homeowner a total of about $200 over the next 20 years. Unlike previous police station measures, this package has also recruited campaigners by including $2.6 million for 15,000 square feet of space for domestic violence and youth service nonprofits to open offices in the police station. "A lot of us are willing to work for it," Kids First Director Elaine Walters told councilors. But it's unclear whether it will make sense for the struggling nonprofits to pay the fees the city may want for the space. The city plans to charge the groups about $13 a square foot for building operations and maintenance, according to city data. Private commercial offices near City Hall rent for as little as 60 cents a square foot, according to Duncan & Brown appraisers. Including nonprofits may also not work with voters. A county jail measure failed in 1998 despite 20 percent of the money going to social services. The old arguments that didn't convince voters twice before don't appear any more persuasive now. Backers say the police station is cramped and needs to double in size. But it's similar to per-officer space in Portland and Salem. There's even more room now for expansion after the police forensics and property units and downtown fire station have moved into new buildings. If the city moves to a precinct model to promote community policing, the city will also need far less space than previously estimated in a police headquarters. Eugene's new Police Chief Robert Lehner says a city Eugene's size should "seriously consider" moving to a precinct model. Supporters have also argued that the current police offices in City Hall aren't earthquake safe. But opponents point out the same risk applies to the rest of City Hall offices and other city buildings. The city also spent $4 million recently to move police workers out of the basement into a safe new forensics building. "There is no emergency anymore," Bettman says. Remodeling City Hall for earthquakes would cost between $500,000 and $4.3 million according to city studies. That's a lot less than the $405 per square foot the city wants to spend on a new cop shop. By comparison, one of the most luxurious mansions on the homebuilders "dream" tour this year costs only $175 per square foot. City staff say that even if voters reject the expensive police station, they'll recommend that the City Council build it anyway with squirreled internal money. Bettman says it wouldn't be a good idea to defy voters. A "no" vote in November "is people saying we don't want this package."
ALITO ALESSI
An all-state cross-country runner in New York, Alito Alessi came west to run for the Ducks in 1972. "But my personal politics had changed," he says. "I didn't want to compete." Instead, he studied community education — "exactly what I do now!" — and joined the Eugene Dance Collective at the WOW Hall. "I grew up in several inner cities," he notes. "I always danced." In 1979, he co-founded Joint Forces, a pioneering contact-improv dance company. Since 1985, he has performed and taught contemporary dance in Europe and the Americas. With three disabled members in his own family, Alessi became aware that he was dancing with an exclusive group of able-bodied, white, middle-class people. "I wanted to lead a dance class that wouldn't leave anybody out," he says. DanceAbility began in 1988 as a workshop for a Mobility International exchange group from Germany. "It was really fun," says Alessi, who was soon exporting his methods. "The focus is on mixed-ability groups." DanceAbility has since become an international movement. Following a month-long course for teachers in Eugene, Alessi is currently teaching at the Full Moon Dance Festival in Pyhäjärvi, Finland. — Paul Neevel
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