HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/22/09 - City Council Newsletter (2)
EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER
October 22, 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
EUGENE CELEBRATES NATIONAL MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY
BAILEY HILL ROAD PROJECT WINS STATEWIDE AWARD FOR TRANSPORTATION SAFETY
TELECOM PROGRAM MANAGER PAM BERRIAN RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD
RESPONSES TO EUGENE NEIGHBORHOOD SURVEY ROLL IN
CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY EVAN WOLFSON SPEAKS ON MARRIAGE EQUALITY AT PUBLIC LIBRARY
LRCS REACHES OUT WITH SOCIAL NETWORKING
EUGENE ADVANCES TO GOLD LEVEL AS BICYCLE FRIENDLY COMMUNITY
NEIGHBORHOOD STABILIZATION PROGRAM HELPS HOMEBUYERS PURCHASE PROPERTIES
AROUND THE CITY
Eugene Celebrates National Make a Difference Day
Millions of Americans across the country will join together to celebrate the 18th Annual
Make a Difference Day by volunteering to improve their communities and help neighbors in
need. In celebration, Northwest Youth Corps and the City of Eugene Parks and Open
Space Division, Eugene Fire, and Emergency Management Program will be working with
volunteers to improve fire safety through fire fuel reduction in the transition areas between
natural area park land and developed properties. Volunteers will concentrate on removing
non-native invasive under-story brush and dead tree limbs on the Ridgeline Trail and
around the Wayne Morse Family Farm.
The volunteer event will take place on Saturday, October 24 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
For more information, contact Emergency Program Manager Joe Rizzi, at 682-5664 or
joseph.d.rizzi@ci.eugene.or.us.
Bailey Hill Road Project Wins Statewide Award for Transportation Safety
The Bailey Hill Road Improvement Project has been awarded a 2009 Oregon Transportation Safety Award for Best
Engineering Project from the Alliance for Community Traffic Safety in Oregon (ACTS Oregon).
The awards committee was very impressed by the project,
especially its solutions-oriented collaborative nature. After a
fatal crash during the summer of 2007, concerned neighborhood
residents formed the Bailey Hill Road Safety Committee to work
with City and 4J School District staff to develop an appropriate
and effective solution to safety problems on Bailey Hill Road.
The end result was an innovative street design called a “road
diet” that converted the four-lane undivided road into a two-lane
road with a center turn lane. The design included improved
pedestrian crossings, wider bike lanes and completion of a
missing sidewalk segment. A combination of funding resources,
including voter-approved local bonds and a grant from the
ODOT Pedestrian and Bike Program was used to implement this
project in the summer of 2009. For more information, contact
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October 22, 2009
Transportation Planning Technician Lindsay Selser at 682-5094.
Telecom Program Manager Pam Berrian Receives National Award
th
At the 29 annual National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) Conference, Pam
Berrian received an Ovation Award for ‘facilitating the development of NATOA comments to the Federal
Communication Commission’s (FCC) Broadband Notice of Inquiry proceeding.” This FCC proceeding is just one
of several federal efforts underway to establish national policy and principles regarding broadband deployment and
funding initiatives, many of which impact local governments.
Pam serves as Past-President of the Oregon chapter of NATOA, on the League of Oregon Cities’ Cable and
Telecom Committee and was appointed by the Governor to the Oregon Telecommunications Coordinating
Council.
She has worked for the City since 1990, seven years as a program manager in the City Manager’s Office and in
her current position with Information Services Division.
For more information, contact Information Services Director Randy Kolb at 682-5075.
Responses to Eugene Neighborhood Survey Roll in
To date, over 3,600 people have completed either online or in-person Eugene Neighborhood Surveys. Launched
in early August 2009, the survey will continue to collect responses until the end of October 2009. The survey asks
what people like about their neighborhood and what they would like to improve, including information on
transportation, parks, safety and many other topics. The survey also asks for information about what barriers need
to be addressed and what incentives might be needed to increase participation with neighborhood associations.
Anyone who lives, works, attends school, or owns property in Eugene is encouraged to take the survey. It is
available online at www.eugene-or.gov/neighborhoodsurvey. All survey materials are available in Spanish and
alternate formats. The survey is estimated to take five minutes to complete, and participants are eligible to win an
iPod or tickets to a Hult Center performance.
Information gathered from the survey will be used to help improve
City services and help neighborhood groups with planning and
outreach efforts. Neighborhood associations will be able to use the
information as baseline data for their Strategic Neighborhood Action
Plan (SNAP). SNAPs are an opportunity for a neighborhood to take
a proactive, comprehensive look at their neighborhood’s needs and
create a plan to help address these needs. SNAPs can cover a wide-
range of topics including traffic management,
housing/homelessness, natural resources, community building, land
use, historic preservation, parks, public safety, and economic
development.
For more information on the SNAP program, go to www.eugene-
or.gov/nap. For information about the Eugene Neighborhood Survey project, or to access it in an alternative
format or take it orally, please contact Neighborhood Planner Lorna Flormoe at lorna.r.flormoe@ci.eugene.or.us or
682-5670.
Civil Rights Attorney Evan Wolfson Speaks on Marriage Equality at Eugene Public Library
Famed civil rights attorney Evan Wolfson, named by TIME magazine as “one of the 100 most influential people in
the world,” will give a free talk on Wednesday, November 4, at 6:00 p.m., at the Downtown Eugene Public Library.
Wolfson, the author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to
Marry, will speak about the past, present, and future of this controversial topic. Like the state
of Oregon, Wolfson has a long, high-profile history in the evolution of laws regarding sexual
orientation. In recognition of the impact of his work, The National Law Journal honored
Wolfson as “one of the most influential attorneys in America."
Among his many accomplishments, Wolfson was co-counsel in the landmark Hawaii
marriage case, Baehr v. Miike, which launched the current nationwide debate about
marriage equality. From 1989 to 2001, he worked at Lambda Legal Defense & Education
Fund, the nation's preeminent lesbian/gay legal advocacy group. He argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in Boy
Scouts of America v. Dale.
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October 22, 2009
Wolfson contributed his expertise to the case that led to the creation of civil unions in Vermont, which have since
been replaced with full marriage equality. He also worked with the legal team in Goodridge v. Department of Public
Health, which in May 2004, led to full marriage equality in Massachusetts.
Between Yale College and Harvard Law School, Wolfson spent two years with the Peace Corps in West Africa.
The founder and executive director of the non-profit, Freedom to Marry, Wolfson lives in New York City and
appears frequently as a guest expert in the national media.
For more information, contact the Eugene Public Library at 682-5450 or www.eugene-or.gov/library.
LRCS Reaches out with Social Networking
The Hult Center was first, then, last summer, Eugene Public Library signed on. Now,
Recreation Services has a Twitter account, too. The 500 people who are “following” the Hult
Center and the Library, and the more modest number following the two-week-old Recreation
site receive frequent updates on activities and events sent to their smart phones.
The Hult Center also has a Facebook page, as does Amazon Pool, Sheldon Community Center, Amazon
Community Center, the Outdoor Program, Adaptive Program, and Petersen Barn Community Center. The sites
provide information and updates on what’s going on at the local community centers and
pools, and provides invitations and notices of events and activities. For information about
outdoor activities for adults, check out the Campbell Community Center Google Group.
New media provides a novel way to build enthusiasm and support for LRCS programs and services. For more
information, contact Kathy Madison at 682-6342 or on Facebook!
Eugene Advances to Gold Level as Bicycle-Friendly Community
Eugene has moved into the prestigious gold circle as a bicycle-friendly community. The League of American
Bicyclists this week announced that Eugene has become one of only 10 cities in the nation to be designated at the
gold level, which is presented only to communities with “remarkable commitments to bicycling.”
“The League is proud to award Eugene for its work to promote bicycle safety and education while encouraging
bicycling in the community,” said League President Andy Clarke.
The designation of Eugene as a gold level, bicycle-friendly community dovetails with
the City’s sustainability program. Transportation Planning staff has estimated that a
person who uses a bicycle to make a four-mile commute to work just once a week will
reduce Co2 emissions by more than 300 pounds over the course of a year. Multiply
that by the thousands of bicycle commuters in Eugene (many of whom are daily bike
commuters) and it adds up to a really meaningful reduction in the community’s carbon
footprint.
Eugene was designated at the silver level in 2004. In reapplying for designation in 2009, Eugene cited a number
of factors that make it a bicycle-friendly community: Eugene has 80 miles of on-street bike lanes and 41 miles of
off-street paths connected to a regional network of cycling routes; Eugene has a strong bicycle education program,
including the Eye-to-Eye Traffic Safety Campaign and a well-organized Safe Routes to Schools program; and
Eugene’s cyclists are well represented in policy and legislative issues and have strong connections through groups
such as Greater Eugene Area Riders (GEARS), the BikeLane Coalition, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA),
Disciples of Dirt, and the League of American Bicyclists.
Six other communities in Oregon have been designated bicycle-friendly communities by the League of American
Bicyclists. Portland is designated at the platinum level and Corvallis is a gold level community, Bend is at the
silver level and Ashland, Beaverton and Salem are at the bronze level.
For more information, contact Transportation Planner Dave Roth at 682-5752 or David.F.Roth@ci.eugene.or.us.
Neighborhood Stabilization Program Helps Homebuyers Purchase Properties
The Planning and Development Department will use approximately $300,000 in funds from the federal
Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) to help encourage home ownership in areas hardest hit by
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October 22, 2009
foreclosures. The funds are targeted to help low- to middle-income residents buy and rehabilitate foreclosed
properties that might otherwise become sources of abandonment and blight in their communities. NSP funding is
provided through Housing & Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant Program under the
Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.
NSP can provide up to $50,000 in an interest-free, deferred payment loan per household based on the applicant’s
income and need, required repairs, and eligible energy efficiency upgrades. An eligible applicant’s household
income cannot exceed 120% of Area Median Income. Applicants do not have to be first-time homebuyers, but
they must occupy the property as their primary residence. Applicants will be required to contribute at least of 50%
of the minimum down payment required by the primary lender and complete eight hours of homebuyer education.
In order to apply for the funds, the foreclosed property must be a single-family unit located in specific census tracts
of the city. Properties must be foreclosed, owned by the lender, vacant, and purchased at a minimum of a 1%
discount to Fair Market Value.
Information on additional eligibility requirements is available on the Planning and Development website
www.eugene-or.gov/pdd or by contacting Bob Briscoe at bob.briscoe@ci.eugene.or.us or 682-5446.
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October 22, 2009