HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/16/14 - City Council Newsletter
City of Eugene
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thnd
Eugene, Oregon 97401
(541) 682-5010
(541) 682-5414 (FAX)
www.eugene-or.gov
EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER
January 16, 2014
IN THIS EDITION
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. CELEBRATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION AWARDS: JANUARY 20
TRAINING EXERCISE TESTS OPTION FOR EMERGENCY WATER SERVICE
EXPLORE THE UNIVERSE AT EUGENE PUBLIC LIBRARY
LRCS USES INFO GRAPHICS AND HUMOR TO LIVEN ANNUAL REPORT
AROUND THE CITY
Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration and Human Rights Commission Awards: January 20
On Monday, Jan. 20, the Human Rights Commission will honor four community members with its annual Martin Luther
King, Jr. Community Leadership Award. The awards will be presented at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration being
hosted at Lane Community College at 6:30 p.m. in the Ragozzino
Performance Hall. This year’s award winners are Francisca Leyva Johnson,
Mary Spilde, Carmen Urbina, and Rose Mary Villanueva.
The Human Rights Commission will also be participating in the NAACP
Standing United March beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the Science Factory
parking lot, and ending at the Shedd Institute in downtown Eugene. For
more information on these and other Martin Luther King, Jr. events, visit
eugene-or.gov/hrc.
For more information on the Human Rights Commission, please visit
eugene-or.gov/hrc or contact Equity and Human Rights Analyst Lindsey
Foltz at Lindsey.m.foltz@ci.eugene.or.us or call 541-682-5619.
Training Exercise Tests Option for Emergency Water Service
As recent events in West Virginia underscore, there are many scenarios besides the “great shake” earthquake where the
community could face a prolonged water service disruption. Last year, Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) purchased
the first of several mobile water trailers to dispense drinking water under emergency conditions. Testing out the trailer in
a “live” situation is one way the utility is working to be better
prepared for an actual event.
On Friday, Jan. 10, EWEB, Rainbow Water District and Springfield
Utility District took part in a joint training exercise hosted at the City
of Eugene’s Public Works Roosevelt Yard. To mimic a situation where
EWEB is unable to access water from its system, water was pulled
from the Moe Reservoir in north Springfield, placed in a portable
tank, and transported to a community shelter (aka Roosevelt Yard)
for distribution via the trailer. City of Eugene staff was invited to
participate in the drill by acting as residents in need of water.
About 50 staff members took the time to line up at the trailer to fill
their containers, learn more about emergency preparedness
planning, and take a brief survey to help improve signage, messaging and the overall experience. The training exercise was
an invaluable opportunity to practice roles and responsibilities between the water providers and troubleshoot the process
to uncover areas for improvement.
EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1
January 16, 2014
EWEB expressed gratitude to the participating agencies for their planning and logistical assistance in advance of the
exercise and day of support from City staff. Such partnerships and inter-agency coordination is essential to improving
incident response and community resiliency when disaster strikes. For more information, contact Public Works Safety
Coordinator Kristi Hayden at 541-682-4848.
Explore the Universe at Eugene Public Library
Join University of Oregon physicist James Brau for a fascinating introduction to the “hidden universe” of dark matter, dark
energy and gravitational waves at the Downtown Eugene Public Library on Saturday, Jan. 18, at 2 p.m. Admission is free.
The visible universe inspires awe and wonder Ȇ
directly seen. Scientists have discovered that there is far more invisible "dark matter" in
the universe than ordinary matter made of atoms, but they still don’t know exactly what
dark matter is. Even more intriguing, "dark energy" fills the universe, dominates the
energy content of all matter, and causes expansion of the universe to accelerate.
Because humans can’t directly view these phenomena, scientists work to understand them
indirectly with techniques such asobserving the motion of stars within galaxies, relative
motion of galaxies, and radiation from the Big Bang. They also use searches in
underground laboratories and at high energy particle colliders. A potential new window
on the hidden universe will soon open with the search for gravitational radiation through
the operation of Advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory).
Dr. Brau is the Knight Professor of Natural Science and director of the University of Oregon’s Center for High Energy
Physics; a leader in the global effort to develop and construct the International Linear Collider, the next large High Energy
Physics Collider; and a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration since it was founded in 1997. For more information,
contact the Eugene Public Library at 541-682-8316 or www.eugene-or.gov/library.
LRCS Uses Info Graphics and Humor to Liven Annual Report
The Library, Recreation and Cultural Services Department’s (LRCS) annual report this year is – well, different. Gone is the
commonplace 12-page booklet used for years. In its place is an online document that uses creative graphic images to depict
the department’s accomplishments, service
highlights and milestones over the 12 months
ending June 30.
This “info graphic” report enabled staff to tell the
department’s story in ways especially
meaningful to residents. For instance, visitors to
the Eugene Public Library in 2013 numbered
more than 1.2 million. That’s impressive. But the
information is perhaps even better
comprehended when info graphics explain that
the number of library visitors equals 22
capacity-filled Autzen Stadiums. (The library is
much quieter, of course.)
LRCS/ 2013 in Review consists of four web pages: the department title and overview and one page for each division. Each
page is full of unique comparisons and interesting facts. For example: Recreation Services offered nearly 35,000 hours of
opportunities for patrons to be active and build their bodies and brains in 2013. As it happens, that’s nearly 10 times
longer than it took settlers to travel the Oregon Trail. (Recreation activities have a much higher survival rate.)
An important achievement for each division is ensuring that their services are accessible. Cultural Services provided access
to some 31,000 event attendees in 2013 – four and one-half times more than the number of performances by the longest-
running musical on Broadway, Les Miserables.
LRCS 2013 in Review is packed full of links to web pages and videos with more detail about the department. A limited
number of hard copy reports are available with QR code links to the videos. The URL for LRCS 2013 in Review is
www.eugene-or.gov/LRCS. Viewers may link to the division pages from there and also from each division’s home page. For
more information, contact LRCS Marketing and Public Information Manager Kathy Madison at 541-682-6342.
EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2
January 16, 2014