Mayor breaks tie vote, sends ‘unlawful transfer’ to public hearing

Presenter: Eugene’s mayor casts the tie-breaking vote to move forward with an ordinance called ‘unlawful transfer.’ Unless a car is legally parked, police would be empowered to fine car drivers or passengers up to $50 for passing food, money, or ‘any item of property’ from the car to a person on the street. During a work session Oct. 27,  Kaarin Knudson:

[00:00:21] Kaarin Knudson (Eugene, mayor): The vote is tied at 4-4, and the mayor will cast the deciding vote to move this forward to public hearing, and the motion passes with a vote of 5-4.

[00:00:31] Presenter: Four councilors voted ‘No.’

[00:00:36] Councilor Alan Zelenka: I don’t believe the data supports that this is dangerous. I also believe it’s unconstitutional. I think it unfairly targets homelessness under the guise of safety. It’s already handled by existing laws. 

[00:00:45] Councilor Eliza Kashinsky: Fatal crash reports are saying that the biggest causes are speeding, driving while intoxicated, and visibility—basically, more crashes happen at night. I don’t believe that this ordinance would be successful at making an impact on the number of serious injury or fatality crashes on our streets. 

[00:00:55] Councilor Jennifer Yeh: This is the second time this has come, at least when I’ve been on Council, but I decided to come upon this with a fresh look: Has something changed? Is there new information? Is there a new perspective? Is there something that wasn’t there last time when we made the decision, and we said ‘No,’ and there isn’t. The arguments are all very similar. They’re, I would say, exactly the same. I have not learned anything new. I have not received any new information.

[00:01:05] Councilor Lyndsie Leech: Earlier this year, it failed to go to public hearing and we said, ‘Yeah, come back with more information.’ And we didn’t really get more information other than, ‘We have a feeling that this will be helpful.’ I don’t necessarily believe that to be true.

[00:01:31] Presenter: Four councilors voted ‘Yes.’

[00:01:49] Councilor Mike Clark: What we’re talking about now is not coming to a conclusion about whether or not it’s a good idea. It’s one simple question: Should we ask the general public what they think?

[00:02:03] Councilor Greg Evans: I want to be clear for everyone. We’re not making a decision on this particular issue tonight. What we are doing is saying: ‘Let’s put this before the public for a public hearing to hear input from our residents.’

[00:02:22] Councilor Randy Groves: You know, again, I’ll go back to, this is about getting more information from the public. I don’t know about all of you. I do frequently hear about this. 

[00:02:30] Councilor Matt Keating: It’s my understanding that the public hearing would be the vehicle by which we would bring back more information and allow the public to weigh in. So this is a vote to advance that larger conversation, advance that fact-finding, advance the opportunity to learn from the public about where they stand on this particular issue.

[00:02:49] Presenter: The mayor advances an ordinance which would allow fines up to $50 for transferring items from a car to a person, unless the car is legally parked. Next up for the ‘unlawful transfer’ ordinance: a public hearing.