05/21/09 - City Council Newsletter

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Jefferson Westside, and community garage sales in South University and Friendly neighborhoods. A monthly calendar of these events is available at http://www.eugene-or.gov/neighborhoods. The calendar is produced by Cindy Clarke in Neighborhood Services and makes it easier for residents to learn about events close to home. Cindy may be reached at 682-5272 or cindy.j.clarke@ci.eugene.or.us . City Seeks Input on Plan for Federal Housing and Development Funds The City of Eugene, in collaboration with the City of Springfield, Lane County Human Services Commission (HSC) and the Housing and Community Services Agency of Lane County (HACSA), has started the process to create a new plan for funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The purpose of the plan, also known as the Consolidated Plan, is to identify housing, homelessness, community and economic development needs and resources and create set of goals for the use of federal funds over the next five years (July 2010 – June 2015). The plan requires input from a number of public and private agencies as well as community residents. The Eugene-Springfield plan will collect this information in a variety of ways, including: ? Surveys of local non-profit agencies and community residents; ? Public meetings held in June and December; ? Stakeholder interviews with groups like the Accessibility Committee of the Eugene Human Rights Commission, school districts and residents of low-income housing; ? Consulting City advisory groups, and ? Public hearings. A brief online survey is posted on the Eugene and Springfield Library websites to collect public input on local housing and community needs. The survey is available on the Library’s website or at http://www.eugene- or.gov/hudconplan. An Open House will be held on Wednesday, June 3, in the Bascom-Tykeson Room of the Downtown Library from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m. Participants will have an opportunity to provide input that will guide future use of federal funds from HUD. The meeting is open to everyone and community leaders, elected officials, agency directors, key business leaders, advisory committee members, policy makers, and other residents are encouraged to attend. For more information, contact Stephanie Jennings, Planning and Development Department, at 682-5529 or stephanie.a.jennings@ci.eugene.or.us. 85 Area Businesses Reduced 33,000 Pounds of Carbon Dioxide Last Week The Business Commute Challenge is a fun and friendly, annual, week-long program through which employees of area businesses are encouraged to reduce their single-occupancy vehicle trips and transportation-related carbon emissions. Newly expanded for 2009, this program encouraged employees of participating businesses to commute to work using an alternative to driving alone. A record number of 85 businesses, with th 16,500 total employees, participated in the 9 Annual Commute Challenge, May 11 through 15. Participants’ efforts commuting by foot, bicycle, bus, car/vanpool or any combination of these methods yielded a reduction of more than 33,000 pounds of carbon dioxide for the week-long challenge! To date, the Business Commute Challenge has been primarily a Eugene event, but through a partnership with Commuter Solutions at Lane Transit District, this year the challenge was expanded to include the entire region. The expanded regional program was so successful that the Commute Challenge will now be managed by the regional Commuter Solutions staff. An awards Matt McRae and Sarah Medary of the City Manager’s Office rode to work on ceremony was held on Tuesday, May 19, for the a tandem bicycle. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 May 21, 2009