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Home My WebLink About07-23-09 City Council Newsletter EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER July 23, 2009 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 FARMERS’ MARKET COMES TO PETERSEN BARN COMMUNITY CENTER COMMUNITY CLIMATE AND ENERGY ACTION PLAN: KICKOFF EVENT SEPTEMBER 26 FAMILY FRIENDLY RIVER FESTIVAL BIGGER AND BETTER BRING IT HOME TOUR HIGHLIGHTS CREATIVE REUSE IDEAS FOR HOME AND GARDEN YOUTUBE VIDEO TOUTS ADAPTIVE RECREATION AWARD FIRE & EMS TAPS FORMER WASTEWATER EMPLOYEE AS NEW DEPUTY FIRE MARSHAL CARTOONIST AND AUTHOR LYNDA BARRY AT LIBRARY AROUND THE CITY Farmers’ Market Comes to Petersen Barn Community Center 300 Bethel area residents turned out to purchase fresh produce and flowers in the neighborhood at the first Bethel Farmers’ Market held at the Petersen Barn Community Center on July 23. The market was the brainchild of Aleta Miller, co-chair of the Active Bethel Citizens (ABC) neighborhood group, who talked with Diane Sconce, a Recreation programmer, about holding the market at Petersen Barn. They agreed that a farmers’ market would be a good way to increase the neighbors’ access to quality food as well as provide an opportunity for community-building. Together, they made it happen. The first Bethel Farmers’ Market was held in conjunction with the Youth and Family Program’s Free Family Fun Night featuring a BBQ dinner, tango and blues music and dancing. ABC and the City plan to hold another Bethel Farmers’ Market on August 15 from 3:00 - 7:00 p.m. For more information, call Diane Sconce at 682-5521. Community Climate and Energy Action Plan: Kickoff Event September 26 It’s increasingly clear that our national, state, and local community must take significant action to respond to climate change. Early in 2009, following a recommendation from the Sustainability Commission, the Eugene City Council committed to developing a Community Climate and Energy Action Plan by August 2010, to prepare for climate change and reduce community-wide fossil fuel (oil, natural gas, coal) use by 50% by the year 2030. The City of Eugene is now working with a variety of community partners to create a plan to reach this ambitious goal. Input from the community and local experts is essential in developing the plan. On September 26, partners are hosting a kickoff event at North Eugene High School starting at 9:30 a.m. The event will include small group discussions, interactive activities, and time to network and share information. The goal is to engage the community in helping create and ultimately implement the Climate and Energy Action Plan. The kickoff will be followed by public discussions on parts of the community that will be especially affected by EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 July 23, 2009 climate change including: ? Food and Agriculture ? Land Use and Transportation ? Buildings and Energy ? Health and Social Services ? Natural Resources ? Consumption and Waste Dates and locations for these topic discussions will be available soon. More information, including a short report discussing the climate and energy issues that will be addressed in this plan, is now available online at www.sustaineugene.com/eugeneclimate. For more information, contact Matt McRae at 682-5864 or Matt.a.McRae@ci.eugene.or.us. Family Friendly River Festival Bigger and Better The Whiteaker Neighborhood River Festival, hosted by Recreation’s Youth and Family Program on Friday, July 24, boasts Oregon’s largest “slip-n-slide,” kayak try-outs, a Fun For All Zone, live music by Samba Ja, Library summer reading activities, free food and, new this year, circus acts. Activities get underway at 4:00 p.m. in Maurie Jacobs Park, behind the River House Community Center at 301 Adams St. Beginning at 7:30, activities move to nearby Sladden Park with a youth concert, featuring local Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) youth, and the movie, Bridge to Tarabithia, at 9:00 p.m. For more information, call Roger Bailey at 682- 6323. BRING It Home Tour Highlights Creative Reuse Ideas for Home and Garden The City of Eugene guide2Green Program is a sponsor of the BRING It Home Tour on July 26 – a tour of 20 innovative and green homes and gardens in Eugene, Springfield and Cottage Grove. Tour sites will feature low- cost ways to go green, including green and solar design, water catchment, food production and reuse of materials. From scrap art gates, water catchment projects and dirt floors to architect-designed homes - the BRING It Home Tour will inspire and educate. This self-guided tour, presented by Friends of BRING Recycling and the Northwest Ecobuilding Guild, is part of the Solar Oregon and American Solar Energy Society 2009 Solar Tour. Tickets for the tour are $8 in advance and $12 the day of the event. Children 12 and under are free. Tickets are available at: BRING, Lane Forest Products, Down to Earth, True Value Hardware, The Green Store, Capella Market, SeQuential Biofuels, Smith Family Bookstores and Kalapuya Books in Cottage Grove. For more information, visit www.bringrecycling.org or contact Michele Piastro at 606-9093 or michelep@bringrecycling.org. YouTube Video Touts Adaptive Recreation Award An award the City of Eugene Adaptive Recreation Services received for bringing the National Institute on Recreation Inclusion conference to Eugene is now the subject of a YouTube post that includes information about the program’s nation-leading services and facility. Travel Lane County presented the award at its annual Visitor industry Celebration. For more information, contact Andy Fernandez at 682-6049. Fire & EMS Taps Former Wastewater Employee As New Deputy Fire Marshal Adhering to hiring guidelines necessitated by the City’s budget circumstances, the Fire & EMS Department was fortunate to recruit and hire Austin Brushett, a former Maintenance Worker 3 at the City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, to serve as the newest Deputy Fire Marshal in the Fire Prevention Section. Austin’s credentials for his new position include an Associate’s Degree in Fire Science from Southwestern Oregon Community College. With Fire Prevention, he will begin by concentrating on job shadowing, training, and achieving additional technical certifications, and will ultimately be assigned to one or more of the section’s regular functions, which include fire code enforcement, plan review, construction inspection and public education, among others. The hiring of Austin brings the Prevention Section a step closer to its full authorized staffing level, but the position of Fire Marshal remains vacant pending longer-term decisions that may result from the recently released Eugene-Springfield fire service EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 July 23, 2009 collaboration study prepared by the ESCi consulting firm. For more information, contact Interim Fire Marshal Doug Perry at 682-5887. Cartoonist and Author Lynda Barry at the Library An insightful and hilarious illustrated talk by visiting cartoonist and author Lynda Barry will take place at the Downtown Library on First Friday, August 7, at 6:00 p.m. The free event begins at 6:00 p.m. Books for purchase and signing will be provided by the University of Oregon Duck Store. In addition, on Saturday, August 8, Barry will teach a “Writing the Unthinkable” workshop from noon to 3:00 p.m. Admission to the workshop is free, but space is limited; sign up in person at the Downtown Library starting at 10:00 a.m. the same day. Ms. Barry’s visit reflects this year’s Summer Reading theme: Be Creative! Along with a hip, goofy sense of humor and compelling visual style, Barry’s work reflects striking emotional honesty, piercing perceptiveness, and an astonishing ear for real-life dialogue. She believes that creative activity is the adult version of children’s play -- and just as necessary to mental health and well-being. Barry is the creator of the instantly recognizable and widely beloved “Ernie Pook’s Comeek,” which appeared weekly for 30 years, exploring the inner and outer lives of Marlys (“The Great!”) and her family. Barry’s work has appeared regularly in The Village Voice, LA Weekly, and dozens of other alternative newspapers, as well as on Salon.com. Her novels include “Cruddy” and “The Good Times Are Killing Me,” which was adapted into an off- Broadway play. Her highly-praised book “One!Hundred!Demons!,” described by Barry as “autobifictionalography,” is based on an ancient Zen painting exercise. Summer Reading programs are sponsored by Eugene Public Library, the Friends of Eugene Public Library, and the Eugene Public Library Foundation. For more information, contact the Eugene Public Library at 682-5450 or eugene-or.gov/library. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 July 23, 2009