07/30/09 - City Council Newsletter

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registration is required. For more information or to pre-register, please call the Eugene Public Library at 682-5450 (press 2). Whiteaker Neighborhood River Festival Draws Record Crowd The Whiteaker Neighborhood River Festival drew a record- breaking 1,000 people, on Friday, July 24. The fifth annual event is one of the free community events hosted by Recreation Service’s Youth and Family Program each year. The River Festival featured Oregon’s largest ‘slip ‘n slide,’ kayak try-outs, a Fun For All Zone, live music by Samba Ja, library summer reading activities, circus acts and free food. Beginning at 7:30 p.m., the fun transitioned to nearby Sladden Park for a youth concert, featuring local ACT-SO youth, and a movie. For more information, call Aimee Goglia at 682-6358. Project to Enhance Amazon Creek Near Fox Hollow Road Begins This week, work will begin on a project to provide enhancements to the Amazon Channel near its intersection with Fox Hollow Road. The work done by the City of Eugene’s contractor, Delta Construction, will improve safety and enhance natural features. Work will occur between West Amazon Drive and East Amazon Drive in the channel and may create lane closures during some of this time. This work is designed to address serious erosion problems occurring near an outfall in Amazon Creek. Work will include realigning the piped flows more closely to the flow of the channel, stabilizing the stream banks in various ways and finally re-vegetating with native plants, shrubs and trees. While a few trees and several mature shrubs must be removed as part of the project, more than 100 trees, 500 shrubs, native grasses and forbs will be planted late in the year following construction activities. Jogging trails within the construction site will be closed for safety precautions. Work has already begun and could last through August. For more information, please contact Project Manager Terry Colvin at 682-5398. Research Demonstrates Increasing Bus Ridership Lane Transit District (LTD) is a key local partner in helping meet many City goals including reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing transportation options for the community. LTD’s group bus pass program is in its 21st year and going strong. Dozens of local employers and student groups provide passes to over 70,000 employees and students in the region, getting them where they need to go. More than 2,000 employee group bus pass holders recently shared information about their travel habits and how these habits have changed since receiving a group bus pass from their employer. Commuter Solutions, the region’s transportation options program housed at LTD, managed the survey. Research results show that there has been a tremendous increase in transit trips for both work and non-work trips since the 2002 Group Pass baseline employee transportation research was done: ? Fifty-nine (59) of the 75 Group Pass Program employers participated in the surveys, with over 2,000 employees responding. ? In 2008, 74 percent of program participants used their pass to ride the bus to work, compared to 58 percent in 2002, an increase of 16 percent. ? In 2008, 58 percent used their pass to ride the bus for trips other than work, compared to 45 percent in 2002, a 13 percent increase. ? In 2008, 48 percent of program participants used an alternative mode of transportation (other than driving to work alone), compared to 40 percent in 2002. Eight percent more people are using alternative transportion. ? One-fourth of the survey respondents use their bus pass to attend community events. The 2008 research is available in downloadable pdf formats on the grey sidebar of the Commuter Solutions home page at www.commutersolutions.ltd.org. For more information or questions, please contact Marcia Maffei at EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 July 30, 2009