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Home My WebLink About04/15/10 - City Council Newsletter EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER April 15, 2010 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 ST ARBOR DAY PLANTING CELEBRATES 31 TREE CITY USA AWARD PERMITTED INDUSTRIES RECOGNIZED FOR COMPLIANCE FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY BOOK SALE BRINGS IN $72,000 BUSY ROAD REPAIR SEASON OFF TO AN EARLY START SUMMER RECREATION GUIDE HAS NEW PROGRAMS AND MORE THAN 100 CAMPS FIRE & EMS CAREER DAY CONTINUES TO GROW COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS: WHAT IS A HATE CRIME? AND WHAT YOU CAN DO! ENVISION EUGENE: A COMMUNITY PLAN FOR 2030 NEWSLETTER INCLUDES TIPS TO SLOW THE FLOW, TACKLE WEEDS AND CREATE PRACTICAL LANDSCAPES AROUND THE CITY st Arbor Day Planting Celebrates 31 Tree City USA Award On Saturday, April 10, more than 85 community members gathered downtown to celebrate Arbor Day. Mayor Kitty Piercy helped kick off the celebration in front of the st Eugene Weekly offices by accepting Eugene’s 31 consecutive Tree City USA award from Western Lane District Forester Dave Lorenz, Oregon Department of Forestry. Tree City USA, a program of the National Arbor Day Foundation that is sponsored by the Oregon Department of Forestry, recognizes cities that have developed programs that plant and care for trees. The Trees for Concrete project removed over eight tons of concrete-sidewalk to make th room for trees. Nearby, at 326 West 12Avenue, private site improvements resulted in removal of concrete, installation of pavers and creation of a large space for two ginkgo trees fronting a new acupuncture clinic. The volunteer team that planted 20 trees around th 13 Avenue and Lincoln included members of the Eugene Tree Foundation (ETF), REI staff, Girl Scouts of Troop 20275, Cub Scouts, Tree Stewards, Willakenzie Junior Mayor Piercy and Dave Lorenz help Grangers and nearby residents. a Girl Scout Troop 20275 volunteer plant a maple on Arbor Day – Photo by Ashley Shaw, ETF For more information, contact Urban Forester Mark Snyder at 541-682-4819. Permitted Industries Recognized for Compliance Beginning in January 2009, all permitted significant industrial users (SIUs) connected to the City of Eugene’s wastewater system had the opportunity to distinguish themselves for consistently meeting all applicable local, state, and federal pretreatment standards and requirements throughout the calendar year. Meeting all permitted effluent limitations typically requires more than just operating and maintaining a pretreatment system. A significant amount of time must be devoted to address all permit-prescribed, self-monitoring and reporting requirements. Compliance also is determined through unannounced sampling and inspections by City staff. In the first year of the recognition program, 16 local businesses operating under permits by the industrial source control program of the Wastewater Division have been issued certifications for maintaining full compliance with all the conditions EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 April 15, 2010 contained in their permits. These businesses are: Forrest Paint, Molecular Probes, Murphy Plywood, Quality Metal Finishing, Springfield Creamery, Altech Finishes, Oak Patch Gifts, Pacific Metal Fabrication, Veneer Technologies, Extreme Technologies (BowTech), ALSCO, Gheen Irrigation Works, Hynix, J.H. Baxter and Oregon Medical Laboratories. Each company received a letter of recognition signed by Mayor Piercy. For more information, contact Industrial Source Control Stormwater Supervisor Ron Morrow at 541-682-8615. Friends of the Library Book Sale Brings in $72,000 The volunteer work of hundreds of Friends of Eugene Public Library paid off big at the 2010 Annual Book Sale on April 10 and 11, when more than 5,000 shoppers contributed over $72,000 in exchange for gently-used books, DVDs, and CDs. All funds raised by the Friends go to support Eugene Public Library programs and activities, with a particular focus on those serving youth and families. In addition to supporting events, the Friends’ funding provides a brand new book for every child and teen who signs up for Summer Reading. According to book sale coordinator Jane Gilbert, “All this is made possible by the commitment and generosity of community members who believe in the importance of the library. Thank you from the Friends to everyone who donated, volunteered, and shopped at this year’s book sale.” She added, “The Friends accept donations year-round for the sale, and also to stock our Second Hand Prose Book Store at the Downtown Library. So you don’t need to wait for that one big clean-up day -- anytime you come to the library, bring along a book, DVD, or CD that you’re done with. Someone else will get to enjoy it, you’ll de-clutter your home, and the money will go to a great cause.” For more information about the Friends, visit www.eugenelibraryfriends.org or call 541-484-1452. For more information about the library, visit www.eugene-or.gov/library or call 541-682-5450. Busy Road Repair Season Off to An Early Start A busy road repair season is off to an early start in Eugene. Work is underway on the second phase of improvements in the Crest Drive area, and within the next week, repairs will start on five additional streets. By the time fall rolls around, 20 repair projects will have been completed, fixing more than 70 lane-miles of streets at a cost of almost $20 million. Primary sources of funding for this year’s road repair projects include Eugene’s local gas tax, a voter-approved bond measure to fix streets, and federal and state dedicated road funds. With this much work on the schedule, it’s inevitable that motorists will encounter detours and delays, said Eric Jones, the public affairs manager for Eugene Public ththth Works. “In addition to having arterials such as 11, 13 and 18 avenues under construction, there are going to be places where the number of projects in one area add up to major disruption,” Jones said. Among those hot spots: Goodpasture Island Road, where bridge work, road repaving and a major culvert installation are all scheduled this summer, and the Harlow Road area, which will see not only repairs on the Eugene side of the I-5 bridge but also work on Harlow/Hayden Bridge and the widening of Gateway Street on the Springfield side of the freeway. “We’re working with our partners to coordinate as much as possible the work schedules and the information available to commuters so they can make the best travel choices,” Jones said. For more information, contact Pavement Preservation Program Manager Matt Rodrigues at 541-682-6036. Information about road work and traffic delays is available at www.eugene-or.gov/traffic, www.keepusmoving.info, EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 April 15, 2010 www.twitter.com/EugenePW, and by calling the regional road repair hotline at 541-984-8484. Summer Recreation Guide Has New Programs and More than 100 Camps It’s a sure sign of summer – the arrival this week of Summer Recreation Guides in Eugene resident mailboxes. This season, the guide includes dozens of new programs along with 103 summer camps for ages 3 - 18. This catalog includes activities, events, classes and programs offered by the Recreation Division from June 1 – August 31. It includes listings for children, teens, adults, and families in six categories: youth and family, outdoors, aquatics, adults and seniors, adult athletics, and adaptive recreation. At 84 pages, it’s one of the largest guides ever. Among the new offerings are Storytelling and Puppet Shows for newborns to age 5, Stand-Up Paddleboarding for ages 16 and older, Swim & Tennis Camp for ages 6 - 14, Eugene Flying Disc Festival for all ages, Vinyasa Yoga for adults, and Partner Dancing for people with disabilities, ages 16 and older. Attendance is free for many events listed in the guide, including Friday family fun nights, park walks, theatrical performances, community festivals, biking activities and kids’ track events. Dozens of free, Summer in the City events are listed in the guide, including free movies and concerts in the parks, and free events every Wednesday evening at the Broadway Plaza, downtown. The guide also includes information about the free summer playground program, Fun For All, which will operate five days a week in area parks, from June 28 - August 27. Registration is now open for most activities and summer camps that run from June 21 – August 27. Most camps center on themes such as art, outdoor adventure, sports and just plain fun. New camps this summer include Challenger British Soccer, DiscMania, Full Moon Rising Environmental Camp, Ready, Set, Garden, Wild Explorer and Sk8 Oregon Overnight. Camps are either part-day or all-day and some extended care is available. For more information, contact Craig Smith at 541-682-5334. Fire & EMS Career Day Continues to Grow Last week’s high school Career Day at the Fire & EMS Department drew 43 local students - the highest total ever- to the nd 2 & Chambers campus for a daylong learning experience that included hands-on fire skills practice as well as classroom information about emergency response careers and the steps needed to prepare for them. In addition to the Fire & EMS Department, participating agencies providing information included Lane Community College, Chemeketa Community College, Life Flight, the Red Cross, Eugene’s 9-1-1 Center and Human Resources Division, the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Springfield Fire Department. On the drill field, students donned turnouts and other firefighting gear and tried their hand at climbing the training tower, hoisting and lowering hose rolls, moving 55-gallon drums with fire hose streams, and other exercises simulating routine firefighter duties. In the profession, this type of outreach has been proven to be of benefit not only in firefighter recruitment generally, but also in helping departments to reach their ethnic and gender diversity goals. This was the fourth Career Day offered by the department in what has become a twice-yearly event; resources permitting, the department hopes to expand its career-prep curriculum into a full-fledged cadet program at some point in the future. For more information, please contact Deputy Chief/Special Operations Joe Zaludek at 541-682-7103. Community Conversations: What is a Hate Crime? and What You Can Do! The City of Eugene’s Human Rights Commission and Police Commission are collaborating to present a public forum, Community Conversations: What is a Hate Crime? and What You Can Do! The forum is on Wednesday, April 21, from 6 EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 April 15, 2010 – 9 p.m. at the University of Oregon’s Downtown Baker Center at 975 High Street. This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. The forum will open with a distinguished panel to build awareness and understanding of hate crimes and the impacts of hate and bias in communities. Diane Sykes, who heads the Oregon Department of Justice Civil Rights Program, will be joined by David Fidanque of the American Civil Liberties Union, Chicora Martin of the University of Oregon LGBTQ Educational Support Services and Dr. Randy Blazak of the Coalition Against Hate Crimes. Following the panel, break-out groups will be facilitated by Human Rights and Police commissioners, and will include local and regional leaders from the field. These sessions will encourage discussion about preventing and responding to hate activity. Themes of the break-out groups include: Action in Schools; Public Safety and Hate Crimes Law; Neighborhoods and Community Action; and a proposal for an Anti-Hate Resolution and other possible government leadership actions. Following the event, information and resources from the forum will be posted to the Police Commission and Human Rights Commission websites, and will be presented to the Eugene City Council in mid-May. For more information, contact Human Rights Analyst Holly LeMasurier at 541-682-5619. Envision Eugene: A Community Plan for 2030 Envision Eugene in the year 2030. Envision your neighborhood, home, job, school, and favorite parks and shops – and how you will get there. The Planning Division has started a community conversation about how the city will grow and change over the next 20 years, as 35,000 more people call Eugene home. The Envision Eugene project will plan for how and where Eugene may choose to grow in the future. Over the next several months, Envision Eugene will seek community input through workshops, websites, and surveys to help inform the creation of the plan, including ways to grow inside the existing urban growth boundary (UGB), and if necessary, where and how the boundary might expand. Envision Eugene will ask community members to help build a preferred growth scenario that meets the city’s land needs and promotes the most sustainable, livable, prosperous city possible. Last week, the Envision Eugene website at www.EnvisionEugene.org was launched as a key tool for sharing information th May 4 with the public and collecting input. The first community workshop kicking off Envision Eugene will be held on at th the Eugene Hilton, 66 East 6 Avenue, with sessions from 4 - 6 p.m. and 7 - 9 p.m. For more information on Envision Eugene, please see the project website at www.envisioneugene.org or contact Terri Harding at 541-682-5635 or terri.l.harding@ci.eugene.or.us. Newsletter Includes Tips to Slow the Flow, Tackle Weeds and Create Practical Landscapes Long-term solutions for keeping weeds at bay require more than a quick fix in the herbicide aisle at the garden store. Readers of the latest issue of Stormwater Connections will find tips about using healthier solutions for weed management and learn how one homeowner and her husband have taken a practical approach to transforming their landscape to minimize watering demands and more. A new demonstration garden in the works in Alton Baker Park will be open to people who want to see and learn more about low-maintenance plants, smart use of water and other landscape efficiencies, later this spring. Other highlights include the annual Earth Day celebration event on April 24, eco-friendly car wash kits, how to sign up for Canines for Clean Water, and much more. The focus of the Stormwater Connections newsletter is educating and informing community members about stormwater pollution and ways to protect local waterways. Articles in Stormwater Connections typically address seasonal or current issues and include one page of interest for our younger residents. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 4 April 15, 2010 Information provided in this semi-annual newsletter has been produced by the Stormwater Management Program since 1994 to increase awareness of surface water and natural resource issues in the community. Copies of the newsletter have been placed in the City Manager’s Office. For more information or additional copies of the newsletter, contact Public Information Specialist for the Stormwater Management Program Kathy Eva at 541-682-2739. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 5 April 15, 2010