Thread by @MelanieforBend

Bend City Council is about to start its 8/19 meeting. Live tweets here! On deck: Human Rights Commission discussion, transpo bond vote, transportation system plan vote, and more. View the video link and agenda link here: bendoregon.gov/government/cit…

SO glad the Blazers game was last night, fam.

We start with a statement from Eric King, referring to "events locally this past week," saying it's important to think about how we listen, engage, and create change. Now moving into the discussion about recommendations from the DEI Task Force to form a Human Rights Commission.

I am not going to tweet each and every part of this presentation, but I'll try to hit highlights. There has been a LOT of work to get to tonight. Here's the presentation slides from Allyship in Action you can review: bend.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php…

After AiA presents, City Staff will show Council some existing models of a Human Rights Commission in Oregon, specifically in Eugene and Beaverton. Then a discussion from Council on how to move forward. Here's the presentation with the comparison: bend.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php…

Note that AiA interviewed 6 out of 7 Councilors as part of this project in support of the Council's DEI goals. Councilor Moseley declined to be involved in this process or to attend a training that the other Councilors attended. Here's the full list of their hard work:

Here are the themes and findings after all that work. We have to listen to this feedback.

A short term DEI task force of local BIPOC residents was formed and they worked *hard* (I saw it when watching their public meetings) to bring these needs and priorities forward. Council needs to honor that work and those voices tonight by adopting their recommendations.

To sum up the recommendations tonight:
- Form a Human Rights and Equity Commission
- Remove barriers to all committee service at the City
- Provide stipends to Commission members who need it
- Create a diverse and representative Commission
- Provide appropriate staff support

*Toddler delivery alert: she brought me chocolate pudding :D*

The Mayor is having some tech trouble tonight, so Councilor Abernethy may be leading some of the conversations of Council. Here's the gist of what the City attorneys are presenting the Council next.

I would like to see our Commission provided staff support and a budget, and be comprised of a larger group of members (11-13) with liasons as in the Beaverton example.

I want a model that allows our Commission to provide an internal mediation and dialogue program as Beaverton and Eugene do. I would like our Commission to have access to restorative justice tools rather than being a body that only refers people to make complaints elsewhere.

Now on to questions: Councilor Piper clarifies would this Commission have investigative powers? Staff attorney doesn't believe that's what the recommendation is and says no the Commission as envisioned would not be able to force anyone to participate in mediation, etc.

Councilor Moseley asks if other cities provided what kind of complaints came up through their commissions, and how many? Staff says they did not see that any commission handled very many actual complaints in their work, so wasn't a burden on the commission/city.

Moseley wonders what restorative justice is. Says he found one that refers to repairing the wrongdoing of a crime, like a fine to the victim.

LeeAnn from Allyship in Action says restorative justice is grounded in what the person harmed needs to feel whole. Voluntary process.

Moseley asks about a housing discrimination example. AiA replies that part of the Commission's role could be to connect people to resources and systems that are typically hard to navigate for BIPOC and other marginalized communities, such as reporting discrimination.

King now asks the Council to engage in discussion on how they want to move forward. Next step would be to create city code that would formally create the Commission.

Councilor Abernethy says he's excited about this opportunity and strongly supports creating a permanent HRC.

Councilor Campbell says she's excited to move forward with this, even if we're late to the table. Wants to make sure we don't overlook the disability community or women as underrepresented communities.

Also asks about the DEI survey that went out to staff. King: Report in Sept.

Abernethy asks about the recommendation of stipends for Commission members and whether that could be extended to all City committes. King says he thinks this is a good item for a newly formed Human Rights Commission to take up.

Councilor Piper says he's grateful the City started back in the fall with this work so they can move forward now and "focus on the changing needs of this community." Says this process has been an incredible education for him. He looks forward to moving forward with the HRC.

Councilor Moseley says he wants the possibility that the Commission would be used as an intimidate or harass people by filing false complaints addressed. Doesn't want a hostile environment for employers or landlords. Acknowledges most committees have wealthy west siders on them.

Shoot I just lost a couple tweets by accidentally closing the tab. King spoke for a bit about wanting the Council to approve community engagement/listening sessions around recent events and police reform. Says he's seeing the community want to be engaged in their local govt.

Councilor Livingston supports community engagement/listening sessions. He's concerned w/providing stipend to one committee and not another, thinks it should be a broader discussion. Asks what about geographic diversity on the Commission? Wants that representation.

BTW: Don't worry Bend, if you replace Councilor Livingston with me, a lady who grew up in King's Forest and lives in the SE corner of our City, you'll still have that East Side voice! 💫

Discussion now about how to keep the HRC from being abused, Moseley asks about keeping some records out of the public record. AiA just spoke to how they had conversations around keeping the HRC from being abused. Staff says this could be addressed in eventual bylaws of the Comm.

Councilor Goodman-Campbell says it's a gift to have this amount of feedback and a detailed report. Wants to make sure the final motion presented to Council is developed in conjunction with DEI Task Force members to make sure the intent is properly captured.

Mayor Russell says she wasn't really sure what their next steps would be when passing the overall goal that led to this work. Talks about committees and how much the community wants to be engaged.

Sorry I was distracted during that speech by the Mayor because of Councilor Goodman-Campbell's fly earrings!??!

Now we move into a presentation on the feasibility of long term managed camps for our houseless neighbors in Bend. Presentation is here: bend.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php…

The Legislature recently passed HB 4212 to make it easier to approve housing shelters in cities. Key info:

I hope to see the City using this new law ASAP to get additional shelter space built in Bend. I would like to see a permanent warming shelter, for a start. It's sorely needed.

Councilor Campbell asks about the veteran's tiny home village being built by COVO and whether it would qualify for this new law. Barrier would be building permit compliance. Staff says the COVO project could hopefully get into compliance.

Sorry missed a little discussion there. They wrapped up in support of extending the deadline for partners to apply for shelters under this new law. The meeting then wrapped and Council meeting proper will start at 7 PM!

Reminder you can call in to Council tonight using this number and code:

Per the agenda: Callers will have two minutes each and are asked to monitor their time. Toll-Free: 1-855-282-6330 Access code: 146 828 2994##

Btw community group Embrace Bend is hosting a stream right now on Facebook that has local community members speaking and is rallying folks to give public comment tonight. Production value is amazing. Link: facebook.com/embracebendpag…

Meeting is starting up again now. Jokes about the west side of the river being the "left" side. 😂

Nope, yall.

We're everywhere in Bend 😎

After pledge of allegiance, a few good of the order items, including approval of some CARES act funding by Council.

The Mayor will be speaking next. Presumably on the events that occurred in Bend last Friday.

Mayor is now giving her statement. Her video is small. We are watching Councilor Abernethy eat in the big video.

Ok now they are changing it to gallery view.

Unfortunate.

Everything following this is a summary unless quotes.

Mayor says she takes her responsibility to keep the community safe seriously and personally.

"As Bend's Mayor I will always stand by peaceful protestors and advocate for their 1st amendment rights."

Mayor speaks to the situation being intense and fast moving. Other Councilors were there. Says she called ICE/DHS and they had no interest in finding a peaceful resolution. Would not give info to the Mayor.

Recounts details of timeline as she was involved.

Now speaking about being at protest when Krantz gave his statement that the federal agents were coming. Says she is grateful for the people remaining peaceful. Understands our immigration system is flawed, says father of her daughters has a green card.

"Many have asked what could have been done differently" says she is asking herself that question, it's a question "for our entire community."

Re: what is BCC working on? Community engagement sessions, police oversight committee, HRC as discussed earlier

(We on the City video stream are still watching Councilor Abernethy eat while the Mayor gives this speech.)

Mayor says she's asked BPD to clarify their policies around interaction with ICE, and has asked for a more detailed afteraction report. Police response FAQ has been posted

Mayor says in closing "I hope we all will recognize our community is facing huge changes in the face of COVID-19" and "the unweaving of our normal lives" which has complicated how we interact and have community conversations. Calls for racial justice are taking place all over US.

Bend has grown to over 100k and this is a moment to recognize our community will continue to change, we need to keep dialogue open and respectful as this is "critical of the well being of our community." She has asked staff to respond to community members' questions.

Mayor says she will work to build trust with community and work with local legal community re: immigration.

"As a Mayor of this wonderful community of Bend, know that my top priority is the safety of all Bendites."

Mayor's speech ended with that line.

Councilor Goodman-Campbell now moves to direct staff to create the code that will create the Human Rights and Equity Commission that the Council discussed earlier during the work session. Livingston and Moseley vote NO.

Mayor says they have received over 300 emails to the [e-mail] this week.

Speaking to the phone commenters now: this is a fairly technical process, we will do our best, everyone has 2 minutes, keep your own time.

Now up: phone comment. There are 25 (!) people on the line. I will try to keep tally on how many on each subject.

Comments were on:
- Make Bend a sanctuary city 14
- support Human Rights Commission 10
- we need an investigation and reform at BPD 6
- Mayor should apologize for stmts 4
- Mayor should have been there 2
- Mayor should resign 3
- 1 man detained had conviction 1

Many speakers were people who were at the protest last Weds. All speakers but one spoke in support of our Latinx community. There were also a couple people speaking on the transportation system plan which is a later agenda item.

Now a five minute break.

This is some of the most powerful public comment I've heard yet. One of the commenters said she is an undocumented resident who could have been on that bus.

When will I remember that I have to charge my wireless headset ALL THE WAY up for these long meetings?

Answer: Never 😂

Being told by the Mayor now Bend Broadband is having citywide issues and some Councilors aren't able to get in the meeting. They are working to figure it out.

The mic is still on. I present to you:

Barb Campbell: Here I am!
Bill Moseley: Damn.
Campbell: Right back atcha, Moseley.
🤣

Now she's singing a song to "Mr Broadband" in the tune of "Mr Sandman" 🎵

Aaand now the stream is off!

Meeting is back on. The Council approves the consent agenda. We are now moving to the Transportation System Plan discussion. There may still be some public commenters waiting to talk about this item. The Planning Commission has recommended adoption with a couple small amendments.

On the stream we now have audio but no video.

Tonight has been a bit of ...well you know.

@CityofBend we can't see any video or slides. May be on purpose to help w/the bandwidth issue. Just FYI.

The summary of this agenda item is that it's the first step to final approval of our transportation system plan, which is a plan for the next 20 years and helped provide the project list for the transportation bond being discussed later tonight.

Discussion now is some changes recommended by the Planning Commission who reviewed this plan. They are recommending making a goal of "Reducing traffic related deaths and serious injuries to zero" and some tweaks to equity language. City Council will decide whether to accept.

These are changes that would reverse some of the changes made at the Steering Committee level review of the TSP, which were spearheaded by Councilor Moseley.

Another change would add language about reducing reliance on Hawthorne Station by establishing mobility hubs for transit. Planning Commission says they received significant feedback about Hawthorne Station from the public.

Citywide Transportation Advisory Committee members now speaking in support of the TSP and recounting the huge amount of work that went into it. Say this is a good foundation for planning the next two decades, can be adapted as circumstances change and we learn more in the future.

Public comment section now open. I believe most callers tonight are interested in commenting on Hawthorne Station.

First caller wants the TSP remanded and revised re: Hawthorne Station and funding for transit.

There doesn't appear to be a timer on this public comment period.

Second caller is from ODOT and he supports the TSP. Third caller is representing Hawthorne Ave Neighbors and nearby Town Center, doesn't think TSP is adequate. Next caller is also in agreement with the previous comment. There's now a timer up.

Councilor Goodman-Campbell makes the motion for first approval of the TSP with the changes recommended by Planning Commission.

Moseley moves to amend to make language about Hawthorne Station change from reducing reliance on it to relocating it.

Livingston supports this change.

Abernethy, who works with COIC, who oversees CET, says they are listening to these community concerns and they want to make change as fast as possible to mobility hub focused system.

Note: we heard from zero transit riders or Hawthorne Station users tonight.

Piper is not for changing this language, reducing reliance is okay, can't just flip the switch on this kind of change.

Abernethy speaks to some ways they are planning to make Hawthorne Station more safe.

Goodman-Campbell says she's ready to call the question.

Now hearing there are two more public commenters waiting who didn't get to comment earlier.

https://twitter.com/atmendez/status/1296307282188304384?s=20

@atmendez holding it down tonight.

Sorry I'm flagging a bit nearing hour 6 of this meeting.

Okay public hearing concludes and back to the motion and amendment. City Attny notes the change proposed by Moseley would put our plan out of sync with CET's Master Plan which is set to be approved in Sept.

Amendment fails 6-1.

Now discussing the main motion, Moseley moves to remove the goal of zero traffic deaths and serious injuries as suggested by the Planning Commission. Seconded by Livingston.

Here comes the sidewalks with ice on them argument. Thinks we can never achieve zero.

Goodman-Campbell says they do actually have a plan to reduce ice on sidewalks and make them more safe. Staff points out this goal is consistent with the policy language. The goal is aspirational. It's threaded in the TSP already.

Livingston says he doesn't want to relitigate this issue. He just seconded a motion to open this discussion.

Planning Commission wanted this change to make the policy and goal align. "objective of zero injuries and fatalities" and "reduce serious injuries and fatalities to zero"

I just can't see how those don't align? I'm lost in this discussion.

We should have a goal of zero traffic deaths and serious injuries in our transportation system. I don't know why this is difficult.

Now on to the transpo bond discussion! There will be some public comment here too. King giving the history of how they came up with the transpo bond package, which was on for the May election but was pulled by the Council in April. Tonight is the decision to put bond on in Nov.

There are five callers still on the line to comment. I admire their dedication. It's past 10 PM. @BendChamber is first, says they are in support of the bond. Second caller also supports the bond measure, he's a civil engineer in town. Third caller is OSU student who supports bond

She says that all the young voters she knows will support the bond, mentions how her generation is concerned for our climate's future. Central Oregon Association of Realtors also calling in to support. Employee of Council on Aging also supports the bond.

Mike Riley (who spoke earlier on the TSP) is also calling in to make a pitch from the coalition of supports of the transportation bond. Says it's "essential to managing Bend's growth." Agree with delaying the issuance of debt and tax impact until 2022.

Final caller is a longtime Bend resident and board member of the Environmental Center, and says they support the TSP and the transpo bond. Touches on the themes of good planning and addressing climate change through non-car modes of transportation.

Councilor Goodman-Campbell moves to refer the transportation bond to the November ballot. Abernethy seconds. Councilor Livingston says this has been a tough decision for him. Says we need the projects but thinks the timing isn't right. Doesn't see any downside to waiting.

Councilor Abernethy supports the bond going to the ballot now. Says not levying the tax for a year is the appropriate compromise. We need to start the planning now. Councilor Campbell wants this project list and says they can't bind a future Council to it. So need to move now.

Councilor Moseley says he agrees with Councilor Livingston.

Councilor Piper thinks it's imperative that we move forward with this. Feels the balance of projects is solid. Believes there will be a good outcome in November.

Councilor Goodman-Campbell acknowledges the economic uncertainty, but says voters in Bend have been asking for transportation improvements for a long time. It's time to put the question to voters.

Mayor Russell calls for a vote.

5-2, bond is on the November ballot.

Next the Council commits to creating a bond oversight committee of community members.

Who is on this committee is going to matter a lot!

There are a few more noncontroversial items left. I'm gonna take a stretch before we hopefully get a City Manager report.

We're on Councilor reports. Councilor Abernethy has nothing to report. Just noticed his shirt says "Old Salty Bastards." Is that a band?

Councilor Campbell says she has conversation with Mayor and Goodman-Campbell about having more opportunities for public comment.

Councilor Goodman-Campbell gives an update from the Community Building Subcommittee and how they heard about new home types like microhousing and tiny homes.

Councilor Livingston adds that they also discussed the plan for Old Bend Neighborhood parking district.

Councilor Moseley comments that he wants the Council to take fire danger in Juniper Ridge more seriously, cites concerns from neighbors about homeless people and open fires. "We can't allow people's homes to burn down while we have this problem."

Councilor Piper reports on Downtown Bend Business Association, who is hiring a cultural awareness and social diversity coordinator. Echoes Councilor Moseley's concerns about Juniper Ridge.

Mayor Russell also mentions fire danger and asks people to be careful.

City Manager report. King starts with mentioning the metrics needed to get schools open again. Says we are trending in the right direction. Mentions again the CARES act relief funds that have been spent by the City. Re: mask enforcement, no citations yet after 14 complaints.

King says a few people have argued with officers who came out to enforce. They plan to put up signs downtown pre-Labor Day weekend to remind people to wear a mask. Also have distributed about 1k masks in community.

King refers folks who commented tonight to a FAQ on the website. Says there is confusion around "welcoming city," "sanctuary city," etc and there are answers on the website. Here's the link: bendoregon.gov/government/dep…

King talks about the fire response and echoes it's a challenging situation in Juniper Ridge.

Mayor moves a committee appointment through and points out Councilor Livingston's birthday is tomorrow. 59 minutes away.

AND then we are DONE! Thanks for following along everyone.

@threadreaderapp unroll please