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Home My WebLink About11/05/09 - City Council Newsletter EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER November 5, 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 LIFE FLIGHT MOVES TO EUGENE EMERGENCY SERVICES CENTER FREE SUMMER EVENTS IN CITY PARKS AND DOWNTOWN A BIG HIT JOURNEY OF ITALIANS IN AMERICA: ILLUSTRATED TALK AT THE LIBRARY HALLOWEEN EVENTS A SCREAMING SUCCESS PARKING PILOTS EXPLORE OPTIONS FOR DOWNTOWN METERS CHAD DRIVE OPENS NEW CONNECTION BETWEEN COBURG ROAD AND GAME FARM ROAD AROUND THE CITY Life Flight Moves to Eugene Emergency Services Center With the necessary approvals in place and financing secured, construction is now underway on a helipad at nd Eugene’s Emergency Services Center (ESC) at the 2 and Chambers campus, which will serve as the new local base for the Life Flight medical transport helicopter serving the area. The 24-hour flight crew has moved into living quarters at the Whiteaker Fire Station complex. A public ceremony will be scheduled when construction is completed. Life Flight’s decision to move to the ESC from the Eugene Airport will significantly reduce overhead costs for the air carrier, while helping to further establish the ESC as a regional center of emergency operations. Life Flight is an essential component of the area’s comprehensive medical rescue and emergency transport system, providing airlift capability in remote locations as well as rapid inter-facility transfers of patients needing special care. nd The helicopter has been flying from 2 and Chambers on an interim basis since mid-summer. Life Flight has reported a higher rate of departures from this location than from the airport, at least in part due to a reduced incidence of fog. Construction cost of thehelipad – on the grassy knoll at the center of the ESC compound – is being borne primarily by Life Flight, supplemented by grants from Springfield FireMed and the Lane County Fire Defense Board ($5,000 each). Life Flight coverage has been a popular addition to the FireMed ambulance membership program available to area households. For more information, please contact Fire & EMS Chief Randy Groves at 682-7115. Free Summer Events in City Parks and Downtown a Big Hit The numbers are in, and the City of Eugene’s Summer in the City events were a big hit. The events included 20 free concerts and eight movies in the parks, and 12 fun events and concerts downtown on Broadway Plaza with performances by the Satin Love Orchestra, Kidz Rock, Fashionably Urban, Bite of Downtown, and others. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 November 5, 2009 The new events series downtown were also very popular. They included music at the Farmers’ Markets in the Park Blocks on Tuesdays, youth performers at selected Concerts in the Parks and free bike valet parking for the concert at Maurie Jacobs Park. More than 9,000 adults and children enjoyed the Summer Concerts in the Parks series, Washburne Park concert series and Summer in the City events. Numerous partners and sponsors helped make these events happen. Thanks to Coca-Cola Bottling Company Northwest, Pacific Winds Music, Saturday Market,The Lesson Factory, Downtown Eugene Inc./Chamber of Commerce, Travel Lane County, Cindy Ingram Booking & Promotions, Ninkasi Brewery, KOOL 99.1 and KDUK radio stations, and Eugene Celebration Presents. Stay tuned – City staff is already working on summer events to enrich life in 2010. For information, contact Community Events Manager Billie Moser at 682-6347. Journey of Italians in America: Illustrated Talk at the Library On Saturday, November 14, at 2:00 p.m., Vincenza Scarpaci, Ph.D., will give a richly illustrated talk based on her book, “The Journey of the Italians in America,” at the Eugene Downtown Public Library. Admission is free. The book showcases more than 400 photographs illuminating the history and legacy of the Italian-American experience, from hardships to achievements. Italians have influenced American life since the beginning of the Republic. For example, Thomas Jefferson adapted classic Italian architecture for the design of his home and the University of Virginia. In the many years since, millions of Italians have immigrated to the United States bringing a distinct set of beliefs, traditions, and customs that have been passed down through the generations. The influence of this ethnic group is felt in nearly every facet of American life, from arts to agriculture, religion to industry, cuisine to sports, and architecture to politics. Scarpaci’s lively talk traces the evolution of the Italian immigrants of the late 1800s up to today's business people, scholars, celebrities, and even a Supreme Court justice. Copies of the book for purchase and signing will be provided courtesy of the University of Oregon Bookstore/Duck Store. For more information, contact the Eugene Public Library at 682-5450 or www.eugene-or.gov/library. Halloween Events a Screaming Success More than 700 people attended the Recreation Division’s free Booo Barn, presented by the Youth and Family Services Program on October 30, at Petersen Barn Community Center. Attendance at the event, which is for families with young children, was more than double that in previous years. Some 200 middle school students attended the Spooky Splash Dance presented by Recreation’s Aquatics Program at Echo Hollow Pool, also on October 30. This supervised, two-hour event included dancing with a live DJ, a costume contest, and open swim time in the pool. More of the popular splash dances will be held after the first of the year on January 22, March 12 and May 14. For more information, contact Kathy Madison at 682-6342. Parking Pilots Explore Options for Downtown Meters Parking Services has been testing new options for downtown parking. Providing convenient parking for downtown visitors while also encouraging alternative modes of transportation has been identified as a downtown strategy to help foster a vibrant downtown. Results from this summer’s free downtown parking pilot indicate more people parked in the West Broadway pilot area during the trial. Free two-hour parking was available on West Broadway, between Willamette and Lincoln Streets, from July 29 to September 27, 2009, and average daily use was 7% higher overall. Providing easier payment options may be another way to draw more people downtown. New meters that accept credit cards as well as coins have been installed EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 November 5, 2009 along West Broadway for a 90-day test run. The new meters alert customers when payment is not necessary by turning themselves off at 6:00 p.m. and back on at 7:00 a.m. The solar- powered meters can also notify Parking Services when they are broken. The pilot does not cost the City any money as the meters are provided for free by the IPS Group during the test run. Currently there are approximately 15,000 parking spaces in downtown Eugene; 965 of these are metered on-street spaces. Metered spaces downtown are 75 cents an hour, Monday through Saturday. The Overpark (10th Avenue and Oak Street) and Parcade (8th Avenue and Willamette Street) parking structures offer one-hour free parking, Monday through Friday, and all City of Eugene garages are free on Saturday and Sundays, except during signed events. For more information, contact Parking Services Manager Jeff Petry at 682-5079 or email jeff.t.petry@ci.eugene.or.us. Chad Drive Opens New Connection between Coburg and Game Farm Roads Chad Drive is now open to through-traffic, giving motorists a new connection between Coburg Road and North Game Farm Road in northeast Eugene. The 1,800-foot road extension includes two travel lanes, one for eastbound and the other for westbound traffic, a center turn lane/median area, with bike lanes, sidewalks and street lights on both sides of the street. A new traffic signal was activated Tuesday to control traffic at the intersection of Chad Drive and North Game Farm Road, which was improved in 2008. Benefits of the Chad Drive connection include reducing out- of-direction travel for people traveling between northeast Eugene and the Gateway area in Springfield and improving access for customers, employees and freight services to the numerous commercial and industrial facilities on Chad Drive. Constructed bioswales provide a natural system to reduce pollutions in the stormwater runoff from the roadway. Work on the $2.46 million project began in late June. Owners of property adjacent to the new section of Chad Drive will be assessed approximately $570,000 for the improvements, with the assessment ordinance tentatively scheduled to come before the council early next year. The City of Eugene will pay for the balance of approximately $1.9 million using local development fees and federal Surface Transportation Program (Urban) funds. The general contractor on the project was Babb Construction Co. of Eugene. The City of Eugene designed the improvements and managed the bidding and construction phases under a cooperative “local agency certification” agreement with the Oregon Department of Transportation. For more information, contact Project Manager Jenifer Willer at 682-5364. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 November 5, 2009