PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 10, 2019
5 residents of SE Keizer:
KeizerFEST isn’t welcome
File
Celebrate with Mom
at KFD breakfast
The Keizer Volunteer Firefi ghters Association will hold its
annual Mother’s Day Breakfast from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Sun-
day, May 12 at the Keizer Fire Station 661 Chemawa Road NE.
The menu will include pancakes, eggs, and ham. Attendees
will also be served milk, coffee and orange juice.
The cost for this years breakfast is $6 for adults and $3 for
children under the age of 12. All proceeds from the event will
go to programs and events sponsored by the Keizer Volunteer
Firefi ghters Association.
It’s not often a declaration during pu-
bic testimony shocks the members of the
Keizer City Council, but members of the
Southeast Keizer Neighborhood Associ-
ation (SEKNA) pulled out a doozy on
Monday, May 6.
Joe Tillman, SEKNA’s messenger and a
volunteer in city committees, read a brief
statement that left no room for interpre-
tation: “Due to the blatant disregard of
the concerns of residents and business-
es, KeizerFEST is no longer welcome in
the neighborhood. We really thought this
would be a wonderful thing and it has
been less than so.”
Tillman told the council that a vote
was taken at the last meeting of SEKNA
and it was unanimously decided to de-
liver the message to the council. When
asked how many members of SEKNA
attended the last meeting, Tillman said
four, until he was corrected by a member
of the audience that there were actually
fi ve members in attendance the night the
vote was taken.
Sherrie Gottfried, an employee of The
Grass Hut II, was the audience member
who offered the correction. The Grass
Hut has had longstanding disputes with
the Keizer Chamber of Commerce, the
organizer of KeizerFEST, over the closure
of roads leading to their business during
the annual event. KeizerFEST headquar-
ters are located at the Keizer Lions Club
property which sits cater-corner to Grass
Hut II.
At an April meeting of the Keizer City
Council, Gottfried presented informa-
tion to the council about lost business
and concerns over disability parking. She
said that the given reasons for closing the
street, for safety and ADA parking, did
not comport with what happened in the
space. Closing the street led to accidents
and near-misses and there were never
any signs put in place to delineate where
handicapped parking was available.
Moreover, Gottfried’s documents
show Grass Hut II lost about a third of its
regular foot traffi c during KeizerFEST
weekend and about 20 percent of its ex-
pected revenue.
KeizerFEST organizers plan to reduce
the size of the closure this year and that
appeared to alleviate some of Gottfried’s
concerns until the SEKNA vote was pre-
sented to the council.
Council members appeared stunned
by the announcement that KeizerFEST
wasn’t welcome, but Councilor Marlene
Parsons leapt to the defense of the Keizer
Chamber and chided SEKNA for repre-
senting the vote as having more weight
than the fi ve people who attended its
most recent meeting.
“The Chamber has worked with busi-
nesses to get a positive result. I think what
needs to happen is a conversation with
all 37,000 residents of Keizer. I think that
needs to happen with the citizens and
you guys in the forefront of that,” Parsons
said.
“I know that they are working hard
to please everybody and every neighbor,”
added Mayor Cathy Clark.
Council takes fi rst steps toward charter review
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The Keizer City Coun-
cil took the fi rst steps toward
forming a city charter review
committee at its meeting
Monday, May 6.
The council wants the
committee to take a fresh look
at the city charter with one
goal being the removal of an-
ti-LGBTQIA language that
has been in place since 1993.
The council determined
that the committee will be
comprised of seven members,
two of whom will be appoint-
ed city councilors and the re-
maining fi ve will be registered
Keizer voters. The council still
has to adopt a resolution that
formally creates the commit-
tee, but those interested in vol-
unteering will apply through
the city’s Volunteer Coordinat-
ing Committee.
“We have a tremendous
wealth of expertise in our
community and the oppor-
tunity to bring them in for a
short-term project,” said May-
or Cathy Clark.
Councilor Roland Herrera,
one of the most ardent sup-
porters of removing Section
44, the anti-LGBTQIA sec-
tion, said he would like to see
a focus put on diversity as the
committee is formed.
“We had one group look at
the charter after this language
was added and they recom-
mended no changes,” Herrera
said.
While the revising or re-
moval of Section 44, is a pri-
ority, the task force is expect-
ed to look at other potential
changes that would bring the
city charter in line with others
in the state. Voters will have to
approve any proposed changes,
but the city can place a mea-
sure on the ballot at a reduced
cost in 2020.
Section 44, which was ap-
proved by Keizer voters in
1993, prohibits the city from:
extending minority status to
individuals based on sexu-
al orientation and expending
funds that “promote homo-
sexuality or express approval of
homosexual behavior.” Voters
approved the measure with a
55 percent majority.
The Oregon Legislature
has already passed a measure
making all such local provi-
sions unenforceable, but then
returned to the issue in 2017
with a statute putting any lo-
cal government that tried to
enforce on the hook for court
challenges. Despite the neuter-
ing, the language has remained
in the city’s founding docu-
ment for 25 years.
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