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City puts police facilities on ballot.


Byline: Edward Russo The Register-Guard

The Eugene City Council on Monday night narrowly took the plunge The term Plunge has multiple meanings:
  • Plunge (American football), a play in American football
  • Plunge (Band), a band
  • The Plunge, a closed historic swim center in Richmond California
  • Plungė, a city in Lithuania.
 into what have been unfriendly waters: asking voters to raise their property taxes for a police station-related bond measure.

Councilors voted 4-3 to put a $6.79 million bond issue on the Nov. 2 ballot. The money would be used to help build part of a proposed police station along East Eighth Avenue, between Pearl and High streets, across from City Hall.

The city has enough money to pay for a police station, but with the bond issue officials could add 15,000 square feet to house victim and social service agencies in the same building as the police department. The bond would also help pay for expansion and improvements of the downtown park blocks, and sidewalk A Microsoft service that was launched in 1997 to provide online arts and entertainment guides on the Web for major cities worldwide. In 1999, Microsoft sold Sidewalk to Ticketmaster, which continued to provide guides, ticketing and other information to the MSN network.  and street improvements along Eighth Avenue, from Willamette Street to the proposed Wayne Morse Wayne Lyman Morse (October 20, 1900 – July 22, 1974) was a United States Senator from Oregon from 1945 until 1969. In 1953, he made a filibuster for 22 hours and 26 minutes protesting the Tidelands Oil legislation, which at the time was the longest one-person filibuster in  Federal Courthouse area.

Altogether, the police station with victim services offices and the public improvements would cost an estimated $35.9 million.

The narrow council majority and Mayor Jim Torrey supported the $6.79 million bond measure, which would raise property taxes on homes assessed at $154,100 (the city's average) about $10 annually during the 20-year life of the bond.

Councilor coun·cil·or also coun·cil·lor  
n.
A member of a council, as one convened to advise a governor. See Usage Note at council.



coun
 Nancy Nathanson said that putting victim services agencies in the same building as the police is a "progressive and creative idea," and far different than the ill-fated police station bond measures of four years ago.

Other proponents said the cost, which equals 8 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, is more affordable to residents, compared with the police station bond issues that voters twice rejected in 2000. Then, residents defeated bond measures of $36.6 million and $25 million, respectively.

Since then, however, circumstances CIRCUMSTANCES, evidence. The particulars which accompany a fact.
     2. The facts proved are either possible or impossible, ordinary and probable, or extraordinary and improbable, recent or ancient; they may have happened near us, or afar off; they are public or
 surrounding the bond issue have changed.

The 2000 police station bond issues, for example, included money to buy land for a downtown fire station. Officials wanted to get the police and fire departments out of 40-year-old City Hall, which does not meet building codes for earthquake safety.

Two years after the defeat of those measures, voters passed a scaled-down $8.68 million bond for a fire station, now under construction at 13th Avenue and Willamette Street, plus a fire training facility at West Second Avenue and Chambers Street Chambers Street is a street in Edinburgh, Scotland, at south of the Old Town. The street is named after William Chambers of Glenormiston, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh who was the main proponent of the 1867 Edinburgh Improvement Act, which gave permission for the street's .

Also in 2000, the city had little money squirreled away to help pay for a police station. Now it has access to about $29 million; hence the much smaller request of $6.79 million from taxpayers.

Even if voters reject the bond issue, Police Chief Robert Lehner and City Manager Dennis Taylor

For other people named Dennis Taylor, see Dennis Taylor (disambiguation).
Dennis Taylor ( Denis), born January 19 1949 in Coalisland, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, is a retired snooker player, and current BBC snooker commentator.
 expect to ask the council for approval to go ahead and build the police station anyway.

Councilor Bonny Bonny (bŏn`ē), town, SE Nigeria, in the Niger River delta, on the Bight of Biafra. In the 18th and 19th cent., Bonny was the center of a powerful trading state, and in the 19th cent. it became the leading site for slave exportation in W Africa.  Bettman opposed the bond issue, saying that it was unwise to spend the city's $29 million nest egg Nest Egg

A special sum of money saved or invested for one specific future purpose.

Notes:
Examples of the purposes for which nest eggs are usually intended include retirement, education, and even entertainment (vacations and cruises).
, which would be better used to help finance a complete replacement of City Hall, including police headquarters.

Voting to put the measure before voters were Nathanson and Councilors Gary Pape, George Poling and Scott Meisner.

Opposed were Bettman, Betty Taylor and David Kelly This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.
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.

The $29 million comes from several sources, including $11.4 million in building reserves and $16.2 million from telecommunication telecommunication

Communication between parties at a distance from one another. Modern telecommunication systems—capable of transmitting telephone, fax, data, radio, or television signals—can transmit large volumes of information over long distances.
 providers.

Of the latter, $10.2 million comes from such firms as Qwest, which is appealing the city's right to assess certain charges in exchange for using the city's rights of way.

Qwest and other firms have lost various rounds of their lawsuits, but the argument has been appealed to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. City attorneys expect to prevail, but if Qwest wins, the money would have to be refunded.

In that case, Assistant City Manager Jim Carlson told the councilors, they would have to fill the gap in order to build the police station.
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Title Annotation:Government; The council's proposed bond levy would help put victim services in a new station
Publication:The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
Date:Jul 27, 2004
Words:632
Previous Article:Springfield pushing Glenwood renewal.
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