04/08/10 - City Council Newsletter

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Allegiant Air offers low-cost, nonstop service to three other destinations from Eugene: Las Vegas, Phoenix and the San Francisco-Oakland area. With this latest addition, Allegiant continues to add nonstop flights at the Eugene Airport (EUG) to underserved markets. An introductory fare special is being offered through April 28, 2010. For more information, go to http://www.flyEUG.com or contact Eugene Airport Director of Marketing and Public Relations Cathryn Stephens at 541-682-6638 or cathryn.e.stephens@ci.eugene.or.us. Bestselling Science Author Rebecca Skloot at Downtown Library on April 18 Science writer Rebecca Skloot will give a free reading and talk at the Downtown Eugene Public Library, on Sunday, April 18, at 2 p.m. Skloot is on a national tour with her bestselling first book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” Books for purchase and signing will be made available courtesy of the University of Oregon Bookstore/Duck Store. Released earlier this year, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” has received glowing reviews. It has been featured everywhere - from The New York Times Magazine to Popular Science, and has been excerpted in O, The Oprah Magazine. In recent months, Skloot has been interviewed widely on national television and radio. The book tells the true tale of Henrietta Lacks, a cancer patient in the “colored” ward at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951. Doctors took samples of her cells without her knowledge – and they became the first human cells to live indefinitely outside the body. The HeLa cell line became one of the most important tools in medicine, helping scientists eradicate polio, test medications, and better understand cancer and viruses. Though her cells launched a multimillion-dollar biotech industry, Lacks’ family didn’t know about the HeLa cells until more than 20 years after she died, and they never saw any of the profits. Her relatives still wrestle with mixed feelings of pride, betrayal and fear, and questions, including, “If Henrietta was so important to medicine, why can’t her children afford health insurance?” According to a starred review in Booklist, “With a novelist’s artistry, a biologist’s expertise, and the zeal of an investigative reporter, Skloot tells a truly astonishing story of racism and poverty, science and conscience, spirituality and family.” For more information, contact the Eugene Public Library at 541-682-5450 or www.eugene-or.gov/library. Notices Being Mailed to Owners of Properties in Special Flood Hazard Area In the next week, Public Works Engineering will be mailing a floodplain awareness bulletin to the owners of almost 4,000 properties identified as within or near the Special Flood Hazard Area, which is the area identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as statistically having a one percent or greater chance of being flooded in any given year. The City of Eugene participates in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the Community Rating System (CRS). The mailing is an annual CRS outreach activity intended to promote flood risk awareness, the availability of flood insurance for structures and contents, the availability of floodplain determination services at the Permit & Information Center, and the additional resources and information that are available on the City of Eugene’s website www.eugene- or.gov/flood. The City’s participation in the NFIP and CRS programs provides a direct benefit to the community. As a Class 7 CRS community, flood insurance premiums for structures and contents within the Special Flood Hazard Area are automatically reduced by 15 percent, while those outside the Special Flood Hazard Area receive a five percent discount. In addition, the CRS rating provides a standard benchmark for measuring the provision of EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 Flooding in Alton Baker Park in 2006 April 8, 2010