HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Newsletter - 02/08/07
EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER
February 8, 2007
City of Eugene
777 Pearl Street, Room 105
Eugene, Oregon 97401-2793
(541) 682-5010
(541) 682-5414 (FAX)
www.eugene-or.gov
IN THIS WEEK’S EDITION
YOUTH VOLUNTEERS HAVE DAY IN FEDERAL COURT
SENIOR AND ACCESSIBILITY PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE SLATED FOR FEBRUARY 13
CREST DRIVE UPDATE FOCUS OF FEBRUARY 13 COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSE
FIRE ADMINISTRATION HEARS FROM LINE OFFICERS
NEIGHBORS ROLL UP SLEEVES AT ELMIRA ROAD AND MAPLE STREET WORKSHOP
106 CITIZEN VOLUNEERS DONATE OVER 19,000 HOURS TO EUGENE POLICE DEPARTMENT
MAGAZINE SALE AT EUGENE PUBLIC LIBRARY
AROUND THE CITY
Youth Volunteers Have Day in Federal Court
A planned tour of the new Wayne Morse Federal Courthouse turned into more than that for 16 Teen Court
volunteers when federal probation officer Will Blasher arranged for them to sit in Judge Ann Aiken’s
courtroom for a sentencing hearing. The judge ended up incorporating the youths into the process as she
asked the defendant, facing a minimum of 45 years in prison, if he would address the members of the
Teen Court, instead of her, when it came time for him to speak. In a spontaneous and emotional address,
the defendant rued his own life choices and praised the Teen Court members for helping others make
better decisions. It was a dramatic and charged moment that no one there will forget.
When court recessed, the federal prosecutor and defense attorney made time to answer the youths’
questions, and Judge Aiken invited the teens up to her chambers for further discussion. Said one Bethel
Teen Court volunteer afterward, “I felt sorry for him (the defendant) because, when he was young, he
didn’t have things like we do, like Club Bethel, where someone will be there for you even if your parents
aren’t.” For more information, contact Recreation Services Teen Court Coordinator Bruce Steinmetz at
682-6376.
Senior and Accessibility Public Open House for Slated February 13
Finding ways to improve walking and biking for seniors and people with disabilities will be the focus of
the second Strategic Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan community workshop. The workshop will be held
Tuesday, February 13, from 3 to 6 p.m. at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 1062 Charnelton Street. City staff
and agency partners invite the public, especially seniors and people with disabilities, to participate. The
drop-in open house will offer ongoing small group discussions, and members of the public may attend
anytime between 3 and 6 p.m.
Initial feedback received at a walking and biking “summit” held last October identified a number of
barriers that make transport difficult for special populations such as seniors and people with disabilities.
The goal of the community workshops is to involve the public in identifying potential strategies to make
the local transportation system more walkable and bikeable for everyone.
The Pedestrian and Bicycle Strategic Plan will guide the City’s work over the next several years to
implement pedestrian and bicycle elements of TransPlan and the Regional Transportation Plan. Over
the next several months, there will be a series of workshops, surveys, focus groups and other activities to
engage the community in developing the Pedestrian and Bicycle Strategic Plan. For additional
information contact Lee Shoemaker at 682-5471 or lee.shoemaker@ci.eugene.or.us. Details about the
planning process are available at www.eugene-or.gov/walkbike.
EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1
February 8, 2007
Crest Drive Update Focus of February 13 Community Open House
An update on the Crest Drive project will be the
focus of a community open house on Tuesday,
February 13, from 4 to 7 p.m. at United Lutheran
Church, 2230 Washington Street.
The open house is an opportunity for people
interested in the Crest Drive project to learn more
about the work completed to date, upcoming
milestones, why middle Crest has been added to the
project, results of topographic survey and how street
rights-of-way are delineated, and City of Eugene
assessment policies and procedures.
The Crest Drive “context-sensitive solutions” process
is a joint effort by City staff and Crest Drive
neighbors and stakeholders to find common ground
on transportation solutions that address both the
needs and desires of the neighborhood and the
safety and operational requirements of the public
street system. For more information, contact David
Roth at Public Works Engineering, 682-5727 or david.f.roth@ci.eugene.or.us, or visit the project web site
at www.eugene-or.gov/pwprojects (click on Crest Drive).
Fire Administration Hears from Line Officers
The Fire & EMS Department recently completed another session of meetings with the fire suppression
Company Officers. These meetings, held quarterly, give the Company Officers a chance to meet with
command staff which includes the Fire Chief, two Deputy Chiefs, Training Chief and EMS Chief. These
valuable sessions give labor personnel an opportunity to talk with management in an informal but
productive format. In addition to discussions about fire suppression and EMS delivery, many other
issues were brought up, including staffing, diversity, neighborhood interactions, and hiring and
recruitment. For more information please contact Acting Deputy Chief Operations Randy DeWitt at 682-
7130.
Neighbors Roll Up Sleeves at Elmira Road and Maple Street Workshop
City Transportation Planning, Engineering, and
Finance staff met with approximately 40 neighbors in
the Bethel-Danebo area on Saturday, February 3, in
the second of a series of workshops intended
to discuss and inform area residents of improvements
to Elmira Road and Maple Street. These currently
unimproved streets have been identified for
improvement to City standards in the draft 2008-2013
Capital Improvement Plan. City staff has been
working with neighbors and adjacent property owners
since September 2006. Funding for the project has
been identified from transportation system
development charges and assessments to adjacent
property owners.
Elmira Road has nice trees and bad pavement
The workshop began with a presentation to answer
questions raised during the first workshop regarding existing neighborhood transportation issues,
historical data about Elmira Road, existing surface and subgrade conditions of the streets, and
emergency vehicle access and run routes. From there, the group went outside to walk the streets, take a
look at the width of the existing rights-of-way and take notes on maps regarding a variety of other
observations, including existing street and drainage conditions and safety concerns. These notes and
observations were then recorded on an aerial photograph at the workshop site over a pizza lunch. The
remaining two hours were spent discussing and answering questions regarding City of Eugene
assessment policies, financing, deferral and subsidy programs the City offers and the order of events
EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2
February 8, 2007
during the construction and assessment of a project. The workshop concluded with a brief overview of
anticipated next steps. Contact Emily Proudfoot, Transportation Planning project manager at 682-5378,
for additional information.
106 Citizen Volunteers Donate over 19,000 Hours to Eugene Police Department
In calendar year 2006, 106 Eugene Police volunteers donated 19,247 hours of service valued at
$347,216. (The national average hourly value of volunteer time is developed by the Independent Sector.
The hourly value of volunteer time is based on the average hourly wage for all non-management,
nonagriculture workers as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 12 percent increase to
estimate for fringe benefits; the current hourly wage is $18.04.) The volunteers range in age from 18 to
87 and 28 are graduates of the Citizens’ Police Academy.
Volunteers enhance and support the delivery of police services to the community through a variety of
services including helping to staff the four neighborhood substations, assisting with traffic calming efforts
such as radar patrol, staffing tables and wearing the
McGruff the Crime Dog costume at community events,
helping coordinate Police Activities League summer
camps and Safety Town, purging property for the
Property Control Unit, digitally dubbing news stories for
the Public Information Office, fundraising, public
speaking, photographing events, filing fingerprint cards
for the Forensic Evidence Unit, role playing for disaster
preparedness and team training exercises, providing
chaplain services, conducting home vacation checks,
locating stolen vehicles, filing police reports and citations
in the Records Section, issuing citations to violators of signed disabled parking spaces, preparing
certified copies of audio tape records for the Communications/911 Center, and digitally photographing
serialized and valuable property for Eugene residents.
Additional volunteers are needed for the City’s newly formed Huckleberry Patrol Team and Squad Car
Maintenance Team. Huckleberry Patrol Team volunteers will locate, digitally photograph, document, and
remove and/or paint over graffiti. Squad Car Maintenance Team volunteers perform maintenance
checks, inventory and stock trunks, wash vehicles inside and out, and shuttle vehicles needing
mechanical work to and from the City's fleet shop.. For more information, contact Volunteers in Policing
Program Coordinator Carrie Chouinard at 682-5355 or carrie.f.chouinard@ci.eugene.or.us.
Magazine Sale at Eugene Public Library
Some people just want to curl up and read magazines -- others can't wait to cut them up for collage!
Either way, the Friends of Eugene Public Library's Magazine Sale is a treasure trove. The next one is
scheduled for Sunday, February 18, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., at the Downtown Library.
The sale selection includes thousands of gently-used, recent issues of popular magazines for all interests
and ages, most just 25¢ each. Well-represented topics include gardening, travel, cooking, nature,
health, news and opinion, science, art, home decor, finance, fashion, crafts, hobbies, and much more.
Vintage magazines are individually priced.
Admission is free, and all City parking is free on Sundays. Proceeds benefit the Library. For
information, call the Eugene Public Library at 682-5450.
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February 8, 2007