Emily Semple is a member of the City Council in Eugene, Oregon. She is working with seven other councilors proposing bills, holding votes, and passing laws to help govern Eugene. The City of Eugene is taking actions to improve downtown. One of the steps is to increase the safety of downtown.

In the last year there was a Eugene library employee who was injured walking her dog downtown. Her dog was attacked and killed by another dog. Semple voted on the Downtown Dog Pilot Ordinance #20577. It passed. This ordinance bans all dogs from sections of downtown Eugene, with the exception of service animals, people that live or work in the area of the ban, and dogs in cars. “The Ordinance was based on a similar ban on 13th street near the University of Oregon bookstore.” Semple said, “The ban was created because there were groups of people who weren’t students and were there… and it was a good place to get drugs.” Over the last twenty years there has been an increasing homeless population in Eugene, people have asked her why they can’t just ban panhandling. “Oregon has a freedom of speech law that is stricter than the federal law,” Semple said. “We can’t, we’d be sued it would be a waste of money.” The Downtown Dog Pilot Ordinance lasting effects are fewer people with dogs on the corners of intersections downtown. Six months ago, Semple began her walk to downtown Eugene with her dog Sophie, a border collie and boxer mix, as the Saturday market was going on. As she reached the intersection she realized it was March 11, 2017 the first Saturday of the Downtown Dog Ordinance #20577. Her dog was now banned from sections of downtown Eugene. She turned around and walked an extra mile around the zone of the ban with her dog. “I really felt excluded,” Semple said. “It was Saturday you can hear and feel that there was stuff going on downtown, and I couldn’t go.” It was at this moment she realized the effect the ban has by excluding a group of people that own dogs and that a homeless person with a dog that provides protection, warmth, and emotional support does not have a place to leave their dog.

On November 1, 2017 the ordinance will sunset, meaning it ends unless the Eugene City Council renews it. Semple plans for it to sunset, however, she is only one vote. It is rare for pilot ordinances to sunset; they usually get renewed or made permanent. For example, the dog ban near campus has been around for twenty years. If the residents of Eugene want this Ordinance to sunset they need to let their city officials know.