HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Newsletter - 03/09/06
EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER
March 9, 2006
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
2006 GOVERNOR’S TOURISM CONFERENCE
BETHEL DRIVE PEDESTRIAN PATH TO BE DEDICATED MARCH 13
AIRPORT RUNWAY EARNS PAVING AWARD
INSPECTIONS OF NEW CONSTRUCTION REACH RECORD NUMBERS
“YOUTH TO MAKE IT HAPPEN” OPEN MIC NIGHT
EUGENE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION KEEPS ON GIVING
CITY’S THEME FOR HOME SHOW IS “BE SMART ABOUT CAR WASHING”
AROUND THE CITY
2006 Governor’s Tourism Conference
The Convention & Visitors Association of Lane County Oregon (CVALCO) won the bid for Eugene to host
the 2006 Governor’s Conference on Tourism (April 2-4). Cultural Services is proud to have been part of
the bidding process to secure this prestigious conference for Eugene. Governor Kulongoski has been
invited to the conference where CVALCO will be hosting 350-400 tourism professionals from around the
state.
The conference awards ceremony will take place in the Soreng Theatre on Sunday, April 2, with a
reception in the Hult Center lobby following the event. Cultural Services will showcase to the statewide
tourism community that Eugene is the World’s Greatest City of the Arts and Outdoors—a great place to
visit with a vast assortment of cultural and artistic experiences. Locally-grown food and beverage will be
featured at the reception and the Hult Center’s Resident Companies will be represented by decorative
displays throughout the lobby. Hult Center Presents, as well as the commercial touring companies will
be represented via a colorful and entertaining looped PowerPoint presentation projected above the crowd
throughout the event. The Willamette Repertory Theatre will perform a work by David Ives from the
upcoming All in the Timing performances (3/29-4/16). During the reception, the highly energetic local
dance troupe, the DAC Nooners, and a talented juggler will entertain.
Library, Recreation and Cultural Services is thrilled to take such an active and representative part in the
local tourism industry and promotion efforts. The event meets the Cultural Services Divisions’ goal to
build new audiences and be a proactive participant in promoting Eugene as the World’s Greatest City of
the Arts and Outdoors. For further information, contact Billie Rathbun-Moser, marketing and public
relations manager, at 682-8380 or CVALCO at 484-5307.
Bethel Drive Pedestrian Path to Be Dedicated March 13
The new pedestrian path along Bethel Drive will be dedicated at 3:30 p.m. Monday, March 13. Councilor
Andrea Ortiz will be a guest of honor, and all members of the City Council are invited to attend.
The five-foot-wide, 3,300-foot-long concrete walkway was constructed by KSH Construction of Keizer
over the past two months. The primary source of funding for the $135,000 project was a Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG), along with funds generated by transportation system development
charges.
EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1
March 9, 2006
The path runs along the north side of Bethel Drive from the corner of Bethel Drive and Roosevelt
Boulevard to a point across from the local office of the American Red Cross at 862 Bethel Drive. The
path is intended to provide a safe walking place for local residents, especially schoolchildren.
The new walkway is set back approximately 10 feet from the existing street travel lanes and meanders
slightly to avoid conflicts with trees. It is fully accessible to people using wheelchairs or walkers. Paved
access points marked with bright yellow tactile mats have been constructed at several locations to bridge
the narrow swale that runs along the north side of Bethel Drive.
The project was reviewed and approved as a high priority by the Trainsong Neighbors and the Bethel
Weed and Seed Program. The project also earned praise from the Oregon Pacific Chapter of the
American Red Cross, in part because of the safer access it provides to Trainsong Park behind the Red
Cross building. For more information, contact Principal Engineer Michelle Cahill at 682-6855.
Airport Runway Earns Paving Award
The new parallel runway at the Eugene Airport has
received an award for paving excellence from the
Asphalt Paving Association of Oregon. The paving
association announced its 2006 awards, including the
third-place award for the airport runway in the
commercial-industrial category, at its annual statewide
conference on Monday evening at the Valley River Inn.
The commercial-industrial category draws a large
number of entries statewide. Paving award judges
credited the Eugene Airport runway paving project for
achieving excellence while meeting a very challenging
set of construction standards set by the Federal
Aviation Administration. More than 68,000 tons of
asphalt was used on the job. Special steps in the
paving process included using a dual laser system to
Final lift of paving being applied last summer
control the first paving lane, testing the final surface
with a profilograph, and grooving the final surface with saw cuts every 1.5 inches to increase surface
friction and improve drainage. For more information about the runway paving award, contact Airport
Manager Bob Noble at 682-8352.
Inspections of New Construction Reach Record Numbers
Inspection of building construction in Eugene and the urban
transition area falls to inspectors in the Planning and
Development Department (PDD). Until recently, a high
inspection count was more than 225 inspections in a day. That
number was eclipsed on the Tuesday following the Presidents
Day holiday when more than 400 inspections were requested.
The counts continue to be higher than average.
Inspections are scheduled daily by the permit holders. When
the number of inspections exceeds staff resources, some
inspections are held over until the following work day. A
limited number of holdovers, as they are called, are a normal
part of the process, but the number of holdovers over the last
three weeks has been unusually high. Holdovers are disruptive
for the contractors trying to keep projects on schedule.
Builders are often dependent on an inspection occurring before
another phase of work can begin. As a courtesy, PDD staff calls the jobs that will have inspection
holdovers each morning to minimize the level of scheduling inconvenience permit holders experience.
PDD has taken steps to address staff capacity, with recruitment underway to fill unexpected vacancies
and inspection positions. For more information about building inspections and holdovers, contact
Building Official Stuart Ramsing, Planning and Development, at 682-6801, or
EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2
March 9, 2006
stuart.g.ramsing@ci.eugene.or.us.
“Youth to Make It Happen” Open Mic Night
Youth to Make it Happen (YMIH), a youth leadership program sponsored by Petersen Barn Community
Center and designed to empower high school youth through creative expression, hosted its first “Youth
Open Mic” night on Wednesday, March 1, at Cozmic Pizza in downtown Eugene. High school students
from throughout Eugene shared their poetry, music, spoken-word and other vaudevillian inclinations with
a diverse and enthusiastic audience.
Youth to Make it Happen reflects the Recreation Services Division’s expanded effort to develop young
leaders in our community, pursuing this goal through facilitated, project-based, performance
opportunities. Aligned with the Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets, which emphasize positive
connections among youth and their broader communities, YMIH projects provide high school students
with the opportunity to practice visioning, decision-making, negotiation, and public speaking skills
through creative expression.
In addition to Youth Open Mic, current YMIH projects include Hip Hop Hope—a week-long, intensive,
camp collaboration between high school students and local professional recording artists that culminates
in the production and distribution of a youth CD Summer Youth Concert—a concert presented at
Churchill skate park in partnership with Recreation’s summer skate park contest series, and Youth
Voices—a peer-to-peer, needs assessment process designed to contribute to recreation and community
decision-making.
For more information regarding Youth to Make it Happen, please call Recreation Program Assistant
Peter Chavannes at 682-6359, or Recreation Activity Coordinator Lizz Zitron at 682-6042.
Eugene Public Library Foundation Keeps On Giving
In February 2006, the Eugene Public Library Foundation gave two gifts totaling nearly $13,000 to the
Eugene Public Library. Interest from the EPL Foundation Year 2000 Fund endowment provided $7,034
towards the purchase of picture books, large print books, and the five-volume reference Historical
Statistics of the United States. An additional $5,900 for new books, films, audio books, and other
materials came from donors to the New Books and Media Fund 2005.
For more information about the Eugene Public Library Foundation, call 682-5338 or visit
www.eplfoundation.org. For information about library materials and services, call the Eugene Public
Library at 682-5450 or visit www.eugene-or.gov/library.
City's Theme for Home Show is “Be Smart about Car Washing”
Eugene’s stormwater education program will focus on the link
between car washing and protecting local streams and rivers at
the Lane County Home Show, which begins today and runs
through Sunday. Soap and pollutants washed from cars often
empty into local storm drains, and flow, untreated, into Amazon
Creek and the Willamette River, where they harm wildlife,
damage habitat, and reduce water quality. Even biodegradable
soaps, if disposed of improperly, can damage the environment
by consuming oxygen that fish need to survive.
Stormwater program staff will be on hand at Booth #517 in Expo
Hall # 1 to explain the pollution problems associated with car washing and offer simple tips to prevent or
divert runoff. Home show attendees can also pick up printed materials and a free, inexpensive chamois
designed to get people thinking about putting together an environmentally friendly car washing kit. For
more information, please call Kathy Eva, public information specialist for the Stormwater Management
Program at 682-2739.
EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3
March 9, 2006