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Home My WebLink About07/29/10 - City Council Newsletter EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER July 29, 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 PUBLIC WORKS EXPANDS ONLINE OPTIONS FOR REQUESTING SERVICES “WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT H0?” FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES AT THE LIBRARY 2 JUNIOR AQUATICS RIVER SAFETY TRAINING DAY TH RECONSTRUCTION EXCAVATION ON EAST 18 AVENUE YIELDS HISTORICAL FIND NEIGHBORHOOD PARK PLAYGROUND RENOVATIONS UNDERWAY EUGENE PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLE MASTER PLAN WEBSITE GOES LIVE AROUND THE CITY Public Works Expands Online Options for Requesting Services Reporting nuisance vegetation, describing debris in a bike lane or requesting to be notified when your street is scheduled to be swept is now as easy as pushing a button. The Public Works Department has added three new request-for-service applications – a bike lane service, street sweeping notice and vegetation service - to its website. The new services are in addition to previously created online applications to report potholes and request leaf delivery (during leaf season), as well as a graffiti-reporting center created by Lane Council of Governments (LCOG). Justin White, an application systems analyst in the Public Works Maintenance Division, worked with program managers at Maintenance and Parks and Open Space to identify areas where customer service could be enhanced with web- based request applications. “The goal is to have a seamless interface between our customer- generated requests for service and our automated maintenance management system,” White said. All of the service request applications use a map- based system. Customers enter a street address to generate a marker “pin” for a specific location. (On most of the applications, the “pin” can be dragged to an even more exact location.) The customers fill in an easy online form specifically created for each service type. The final step is to click the “submit” button, which automatically sends the request to the correct work group for Request services online at www.eugene-or.gov/pwm that type of service. The suite of online service requests is based on some of the most frequent calls received by Public Works at its Roosevelt Yard operations center. The Public Works Department plans to increase public awareness of the new online services by getting the word out through neighborhood groups. “Right now we’re focusing on a small but important group of services,” White said. “In the future there is definitely potential to expand to other areas to give our customers 24-7 access to our service system.” EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 July 29, 2010 For more information, please contact Acting-in-Capacity Maintenance Director Jim McLaughlin at 541-682-4800. “What Do You Know About H0?” for Kids of All Ages at the Library 2 The Downtown Eugene Public Library will overflow with laughs and surprises on First Friday, August 6, at 6 p.m., when kids of all ages are invited to “What Do You Know about H0?” 2 Admission is free. In this smart, funny show, the entertaining educators of Mad Science illustrate the magic of water and share everyday ways to protect this crucial resource. This special First Friday event for all ages is inspired by the Summer Reading theme, "Make Waves.” For more information, or to pre-register, contact the Eugene Public Library at 541-682-8316. Junior Aquatics River Safety Training Day Every summer, the City’s Aquatics Program hires dozens of lifeguards to meet the public’s increased demand for recreational and lap swimming. For many of the new hires, this is their first job. To ensure there is a pool of qualified applicants each year, the Aquatics Program offers a class called Junior Aquatics Staff (JAS) for aspiring lifeguards, ages 12-15 years. Traditionally, during the popular month-long class, JAS students learn the duties of lifeguards at the City’s swimming pools and gain pre-job experience by assisting and training with lifeguards, and providing aid to learn-to-swim instructors. They receive American Red Cross GuardStart training and Water Instructor Aide certification. This year, the Aquatics Program added one more aspect to its training day – this one on the Willamette River. Outdoor Program staff taught the pool-trained youth how to properly fit and use life jackets, how to right a flipped raft (see photo), how to swim defensively in rapids and how to rescue a swimmer with a throw-bag from shore. For more information, contact Aaron Wirth at 541-682-6367. th Reconstruction Excavation on East 18 Avenue Yields Historical Find The sharp eyes of City construction inspectors allowed an early piece of Willamette Valley history to be saved. th Last week, during roadway excavation on 18 Avenue, just east of Patterson Street, a construction worker for Wildish Construction Company pointed out an unusual-shaped object to Glen Fee, an inspector in the Public Works Engineering Division. At a quick glance, the eight- inch- diameter object appeared to be a flat stone, but Fee and lead worker Doug Reubell thought it had a “man- made” quality to it. After a quick huddle with Project Manager Jenifer Willer, Rick Minor at Heritage Research Associates was called to the site for further investigation. “This is a most interesting artifact,” Minor wrote in a preliminary report. He believes it may be a hopper mortar. A basket without a bottom would sit over the stone, and a pestle or maul would be used to crush or mash vegetal foods on the rock's surface, with the basket serving to keep the vegetal material in one place. He is seeking additional opinions to confirm his initial finding. th The stone artifact was not original to the East18 Avenue site where it was found. It was brought in as imported fill- Stone artifacts such as this one were used for several millennia th material when the roadbed for 18 Avenue was originally by native people, up to the time of historic contact. constructed. Much of the stone used in roadbeds in Eugene comes from gravel bars along the Willamette River. Because the artifact was within the imported fill- EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 July 29, 2010 material and not from an archeological site, it will be catalogued as an “isolated find” and will be offered to the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Oregon. th Meanwhile, the street repairs on East 18 Avenue are progressing on schedule, and Project Manager Jenifer Willer expects the road to reopen in about a week – minus one very interesting stone. For more information, contact Jenifer Willer at 541-682-5364. Neighborhood Park Playground Renovations Underway Playground renovations have begun at Bond Lane and State Street parks and will likely be completed by the end of August. Both of these neighborhood park playgrounds have long suffered from deteriorating play equipment and a general lack of ADA accessibility. The improvements at Bond Lane include removing and replacing the play structure, constructing a concrete curb surrounding the play area, replacing sand surfacing with ADA-compliant wood chip surfacing, and constructing a new concrete path from Chasa Street to the playground. State Street Park playground will also see replacement of sand surfacing with wood chips and installation of a new play structure, new swings, a track ride and a see- saw. Total contract cost for these renovations is Bond Lane playground design approximately $125,000 and is being funded by Parks and Open Space (POS) Operations and Maintenance funds. 2G Construction is the general contractor. Please contact Emily Proudfoot in POS Planning with questions at 541-682-4915. Eugene Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan Website Goes Live It’s no secret that Eugene is known as one of the best cities in the nation for walking and biking. Local residents walk and bike at much higher rates for both recreation and transportation in comparison to residents of other similarly-sized cities around the country. What makes Eugene stand out? One of the key factors is the well- developed pedestrian and bicycle network of shared-use paths, bike lanes, sidewalks and numerous non- motorized bridges across major waterways and highways. The credit for this system goes to a group of visionary pioneers who, in the 1970s, set a course for creating a transportation system that strikes an appropriate balance between motorized and non-motorized means of getting about. Every 10 to 15 years, the City of Eugene engages its citizens in a comprehensive review of projects, policies and programs that make up the transportation system. The update of Eugene’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan is one of the first key steps in this process. City staff and a consultant team are leading this effort to engage community members in a dialogue on the needs for active transportation projects and policies to create an even more walkable and bikeable community. As a first step in opening the dialogue, a project website designed to solicit feedback from the community is now live. Community members can provide comments, suggestions and use an interactive mapping tool to identify barriers to walking and biking. Learn more about the project at www.eugenepedbikeplan.org or call Associate Transportation Planner Dave Roth at 541-682-5727. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 July 29, 2010