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Home My WebLink About11/12/09 - City Council Newsletter EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER November 12, 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 ANNUAL HOLIDAY BAZAAR AT CAMPBELL CENTER NOVEMBER 14 FOOD FOR LANE COUNTY WELCOMES HULT CENTER FLOWER POTS TO NEW HOME COMPUTER HELP LAB AND JOB SEARCH SUPPORT AT EUGENE PUBLIC LIBRARY NEW SIGNS TELL STORY OF MAJOR ENHANCEMENT PROJECTS IN DELTA PONDS AREA TH OPEN HOUSE SLATED FOR NOVEMBER 18 ON WEST 11 AVENUE CORRIDOR STUDY TRANSGENDER WEEK OF AWARENESS NOVEMBER 16 - 20 AROUND THE CITY Annual Holiday Bazaar at Campbell Center November 14 The Adult and Senior Services program will present the Campbell Center's Annual Holiday Bazaar from 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 14. Admission is free. The bazaar features items made by the program’s many volunteers such as crafts, quilts, wooden items, raffles, preserves, and baked goods. Local merchants also donate many items. The event includes breakfast snacks and lunch, a silent auction, and, of course, the famous Campbell’s Sweet Hot Mustard. Each year, the event raises $7,000-$10,000 that is used to purchase equipment for Campbell Center programs. The bazaar is open to the public and is a wonderful holiday shopping location with great gifts for all. For more information, call Adult Services Program Manager Yvaughn Tompkins at 682-5318. FOOD for Lane County Welcomes Hult Center Flower Pots to New Home The City has provided a long-term loan of concrete planters to FOOD for Lane County’s Dining Room. The large round planters have been in front of the Hult Center for 25 years. While the planters were no longer needed for the Hult Center’s landscaping, FOOD for Lane County’s Dining Room on 8th Avenue has been looking for planters that will help control parking traffic while providing a visual buffer from the street to the parking lot. Josie McCarthy, FOOD for Lane County Program Manager at the Dining Room, said: “This is a great partnership for us. We’ll take good care of them and use community volunteers to keep them planted with attractive flowering plants. They are awesome and totally spruce up our neighborhood! ” McCarthy added, “With the downturn in the economy we are currently serving an average of 350 meals a night to lower or no-income adults and families with children.” Collaboration between Hult Center, Facilities, and Planning and Development staff made this community partnership possible. For more information, contact Richie Weinman at Richie.d.weinman@ci.eugene.or.us or 682-5533. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 November 12, 2009 Computer Help Lab and Job Search Support at Eugene Public Library Ask questions and get individual help with any of Eugene Public Library’s online resources at a new Computer Help Lab on Wednesday, November 18, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., at the Downtown Library. Staff will provide assistance to get participants started - or unstuck - with e-mail, the Internet, MS Word, the library’s computers and printers, the library catalog, or managing online library card accounts. Help will also be provided with any of the Library’s online tools, from language lessons to article searches to Consumer Reports. Participants may use one of the library’s computers or bring their own. On Saturday, November 21, from 10:00 a.m. to noon, the Downtown Library will offer information and advice to job hunters during a hands-on computer class titled, “Job Search and Resumes.” Participants will learn how to research opportunities, create an effective résumé, and use tools available for free at the Library, including Microsoft Word’s Resume Wizard, the Oregon Career Information System, and LearningExpress (practice exams). Internet resources including Craigslist, Monster.com, and the Oregon Employment Department website will also be covered. Pre-registration is required for both sessions. Call the Eugene Public Library at 682-5450 (press 2). New Signs Tell Story of Major Enhancement Projects in Delta Ponds Area New signs have been erected along Goodpasture Island Road to let people know they are traveling through the Delta Ponds habitat restoration and bridge project area. Two major projects currently are underway, and more work is scheduled to begin next spring. A $6 million project to construct a bicycle-pedestrian bridge across Delta Highway is under construction. Mowat Construction Company has been on-site since August and is currently building the reinforced columns for the elevated path. Mowat has completed similar work in the community, notably the DeFazio Bridge in Alton Baker Park, and the bicycle-pedestrian bridge over Interstate 5. The Delta Ponds bridge is scheduled for completion in early fall 2010. To the north and east of the bridge project, the removal of large stands of non-native, invasive blackberry, ivy and Scotch broom continues. Funded by a $1.642 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the work includes enhancing 16.4 acres of degraded riparian habitat and is being implemented by local contractor Walama Restoration Project. More than 27,000 native trees and shrubs will be planted in these areas in early 2011. The NOAA federal stimulus grant will also fund a project to complete fill work and shaping around the edges of the ponds to improve habitat for juvenile salmon, western pond turtles and other native species. Bids for the Delta Ponds riparian bench construction project were opened on November 5. The apparent low bidder is Delta Construction, and work is scheduled to begin late next summer and be complete by October 2010. Also in partnership with the City, the U.S. Corps of Engineers is currently negotiating a design-build contract to construct a 12-foot-wide, fish-passable culvert under Goodpasture Island Road that will be a significant step in completing the hydrological connections between the Delta Ponds and the Willamette River. This work is expected to be underway next June and will take several months to complete. A comprehensive web page at www.eugene-or.gov/DeltaPonds has been developed to provide information about these various projects. For more information about the bicycle-pedestrian bridge project, contact Project Manager Patrick Cox at 682-6854. For more information about the riparian bench construction project, contact Project Manager Scott Milovich at 682-6086. For more information about the Delta Ponds habitat enhancement project, contact Natural Resources Enhancement Coordinator Lauri Holts at 682-4925. th Open House Slated for November 18 on West 11 Avenue Corridor Study th An open house to provide information about the West 11 Avenue Corridor Study is scheduled for Wednesday, th November 18, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., in the Bascom Room of the Eugene Public Library, 100 West 10 Avenue. The West 11th Avenue Corridor Study is an endeavor by the City of Eugene to seek short-term remedies for EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 November 12, 2009 transportation problems in west Eugene. The development of the study follows removal of the West Eugene Parkway from area transportation plans. The corridor study takes a look at existing conditions in the corridor and identifies strategies to enhance travel through improvements to bicycle and pedestrian facilities, corridor safety, management of accesses, changes to traffic signal timing and intersection modification projects. If implemented, these strategies will yield improvements to safety and mobility in the corridor. Other long-term solutions will be needed to address increasing travel demand to and through the corridor as the area’s population and employment continues to grow. The West Eugene Collaborative (WEC) vision for a multi- way boulevard and the West Eugene EmX Extension (WEEE) transit project are other efforts to identify long-term solutions to meet the community’s transportation needs. For more information, contact Chris Henry, transportation planning engineer, at 682-8472. Transgender Week of Awareness November 16 - 20 Trans Awareness Week (TAW) November 16 – 20 will be a full week of educational movies, workshops and panels held at various times and at various locations in Eugene. Trans Awareness Week is all about the gender spectrum, gender identity and gender expression which all humans have. The week will culminate on Friday, November 20, with National Transgender Day of Remembrance events which will include speakers, a speak out, and a candlelight vigil. Transgender Day of Remembrance has been held every year at many locations throughout the United States since 1999. The day honors those who have died by homicide at the hand of ignorance and prejudice while attempting to pursue the American dream of freedom and equality. Trans Awareness Week will also serve to embrace and celebrate diversity and to promote universal human rights which are the birthright of all persons. th Visit the Celebrating Transgender Lives exhibit installed on the second floor of the Atrium Building, 99 West 10 Avenue. This exhibit was developed by the City of Eugene Planning and Development Department Diversity Committee. Scheduled Events Monday, November 16: Gender Identity Workshop , 5:30 - 7:30 p.m., Tykeson Room, Downtown Library Tuesday, November 17: Boy I Am, 6:00 - 8:30 p.m., 229 McKenzie, University of Oregon. Boy I Am is a feature- length documentary that begins to break down the barriers and promote dialogue about trans issues through a look at the experiences of three young people in transition. Wednesday, November 18:Youth in Transition Lecture, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m., Tykeson Room, Downtown Library. A presentation by Jenn Burleton of TransActive Education and Advocacy. Thursday, November 19: Switch:A Community in Transition , 6:30 - 8:30 p.m., 16 Pacific, University of Oregon. A documentary film about the response of a community to the gender transition of one of its members, followed by a discussion with the Portland filmmaker Brooks Nelson. Friday, November 20:Eugene Celebrates National Transgender Day of Remembrance , 5:30 - 8:00 p.m., th Atrium Building, 99 West 10Avenue. For more information, contact Holly LeMasurier at 682-5619 or http://www.eugene-or.gov/humanrights. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 November 12, 2009