06/25/09 City Council Newsletter

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Everyone who participated in the March 7 summit is invited: neighborhood association representatives, City staff and boards, elected officials, and community organizations. All current neighborhood board members and key volunteers (family and friends, too) are welcome - whether or not they attended the summit - to share food and discussion at this informal drop-in event. Please RSVP by June 26 to Neighborhood Services Program Manager Michael Kinnison at 682-5009 or michael.j.kinnison@ci.eugene.or.us. Breakfast at the Bridges a Success The Transportation Planning team held its first Breakfast at the Bridges event this summer on Friday, June 19, from 7:00 - 9:30 a.m. at the Amazon Path at 24th Avenue. With help from GEARs and Collin’s Cycle Shop, the team provided free bike maps, bike bells, bike tune-ups, and information about the scheduled Amazon Path repairs this summer. Wandering Goat Coffee Company, Bagel Sphere, and Springfield Creamery donated free bagels and coffee. Breakfast at the Bridges will continue through the summer and will be held the third Friday of every month at different locations. Future dates and locations for 2009 are: ? July 17 - Greenway Bike Bridge from 7:00 - 9:30 a.m. ? August 21 - DeFazio Bike Bridge from 7:00 - 9:30 a.m. ? September 18 - Blue Heron Bike Bridge from 7:00 - 9:30 a.m. For more information, contact Sarah Thorpe at 682-5378 or www.eugene-or.gov/transportation. Volunteers Clean Four Miles of Willamette River On Saturday, June 20, approximately 80 volunteers took part in the annual Willamette River Clean-Up. Volunteers collected over 20 yards of debris from the banks and islands of the Willamette River, stretching from Island Park in Springfield to the Beltline in Eugene. Items gathered included water-logged sleeping bags, tents, more than 70 hypodermic needles, a metal picnic table, cell phones, a digital camera and numerous bags of trash. Following the clean-up, REI hosted a volunteer recognition pizza feed to celebrate the effort. The City of Eugene Stream Team joined with REI, Willamalane, EWEB, City of Springfield, Oregon by Kayak and Keen to organize and support the event. For more information, contact Stream Team Coordinator Mike Bellmore at mike.bellmore@ci.eugene.or.us or 682-4850. Ribbon Trail Reconstruction to Begin in July This summer, thanks to funding received through the Oregon Youth Conservation Corps (OYCC), the City of Eugene Parks and Open Space Division (POS) will reconstruct the Ribbon Trail. The Ribbon Trail connects Hendricks Park to the Ridgeline Trail system, and has been used sporadically for decades. In the mid-1980s, a volunteer group built the first developed trail on privately-owned lands along a route that was used unofficially for many years. Over time, the route became unsafe and substantially unusable. In 2000, with funding from the 1998 POS Bond measure, POS purchased a 200’ x 2500’ public corridor for the purpose of providing a permanent trail connection to Hendricks Park from the south. In 2004, and 2005, POS, in consultation with a professional trail engineer, designed a new trail which would be safer, have a more accessible slope, and be less obtrusive to neighbors. Unfortunately, funds for trail construction were not available at that time. Recently, POS was awarded funding from the OYCC Oregon City staff walk the existing Ribbon Trail. Youth Employment Initiative. This grant opportunity was made available through the Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.The initiative was designed to provide employment opportunities for youth between the ages of 18 and 24 in the fields of natural EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 4 June 25, 2009