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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/12/10 - City Council Newsletter EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER August 12, 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 “BOOKED FOR THE EVENING” LIBRARY FUNDRAISER EUGENE FLYING DISC FESTIVAL FLEET AND RADIO COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES NAMED ONE OF TOP 100 PUBLIC FLEETS FISH FROM ICONIC DOWNTOWN FOUNTAIN BEING REPAIRED TH TECHNIQUES USED TO REPAIR WEST 18 AVENUE SAVE TIME, MONEY AND ENVIRONMENT CITY ACTIVATES PAY-BY-PHONE PARKING SERVICE AROUND THE CITY “Booked for the Evening” Library Fundraiser On Saturday, September 11, the Eugene Public Library Foundation will hold its third annual fundraising benefit. This year’s theme is “Booked for the Evening” and the event will be held after-hours at the Downtown Library. Along with wonderful company and conversation, the evening will feature refreshments and entertainment, including a strolling dinner catered by Marché, wine tasting in the Library’s garden courtyard, and performances of scenes from plays based on modern classics, including “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “A Murder in the Vicarage,” and “Sometimes a Great Notion.” The mission of the Eugene Public Library Foundation is to raise funds, develop advocates, and provide other resources to enhance and perpetuate the quality of the Eugene Public Library. The foundation successfully mobilized more than 2,500 donors to contribute $5 million toward building the Downtown Library, and has since raised funds to support wireless Internet access at all Library locations, expanded online subscription resources, including homework help, and increased collections of books, movies, and music for borrowing. For more information or to make reservations for “Booked for the Evening 2010,” contact the Eugene Public Library Foundation at info@eplfoundation.org or 541-338-7018. Eugene Flying Disc Festival nd Come on over to Westmoreland Community Park at 22 and Polk Street, on Saturday, August 14, from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., to watch and/or compete in the first Eugene Flying Disc Festival. Presented by the City’s Athletics Program, the festival provides opportunities for youth, adults and canines to compete in an all- around competition. There will be four all-around events - distance, accuracy, disc golf and maximum time aloft - in three divisions: boys/girls; men/women, and seniors (age 55+). Canine competitors will be judged on distance/accuracy (toss and fetch).The cost for early registration is $10 for youth, $15 for adults, and $10 for canines. Add $5 if registering after August 6. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 August 12, 2010 Competitors in the all-around events must checkin at 9 a.m. with events starting at 10 a.m. At about 1 p.m., there will be demonstrations, skill clinics and lunch provided to registered competitors. Check-in for canines is at 2 p.m. with competition beginning at 3 p.m. For more information or to register, go to www.eugene-or.gov/recathletics or call Dave Battaglia at 541-682-5409. Fleet and Radio Communications Services Named One of Top 100 Public Fleets For a second consecutive year, the Public Works Department’s Fleet and Radio Communications section has been recognized as being one of the top 100 best managed public fleets in North America. This year, Fleet and Radio Services was ranked 29th out of the 100 top public fleets receiving this industry award. The judging was done by the top public fleet administrators in the U.S. as recognized by the National Association of Fleet Administrators and the American Public Works Association. There are more than 38,000 public fleets in the United States with 165 fleets being considered for the 2010 award. This award, coordinated through Government Fleet Magazine, recognizes those public fleets that excel in multiple areas of fleet management and service delivery. Fleets are graded on the following performance criteria: accountability, technology implementation, evidence of a high-trust culture, performance recognition, collaboration, creativity, celebration, doing it right the first time, quick/efficient turnaround, staff development, resource stewardship and competitive pricing. Fleet Service Master Technician Doug Gunderson inspects the The award is given to public fleets demonstrating leadership, undercarriage of a City Fleet vehicle. efficiency, positive customer service and cost-effective operations within their agency. Selected fleets must also show their efforts to improve ongoing performance in these selected categories throughout the year. Fleet and Radio Communications will continue striving to improve upon its current service delivery, recognizing that its performance impacts customer/co-workers and provides crucial services to the citizens of Eugene. For more information, contact Fleet Manager Tony Jobanek at 541-682-4808. Fish from Iconic Downtown Fountain Being Repaired The fish in sculptor Tom Hardy’s “1952 Fish Fountain” in the downtown Park Blocks have been removed for much-needed repair. Vandalism and natural wear and tear have taken a toll on the iconic Eugene sculpture that was installed 58 years ago. However, whenever public art is repaired, it must be done with the integrity of the artist in mind. Since Tom Hardy is deceased, Public Art Program Manager Isaac Marquez networked with Eugene’s art community to make sure the work is done properly and as the artist wouldhave liked. The work will be done by local artist, Steve Reinmuth, who founded Reinmuth Bronze Studio, Inc. The repairs are expected to be completed and the fish returned in late fall. To see an interview with Tom Hardy, go to http://www.opb.org/programs/artbeat/segments/view/570. For more information, contact Isaac Marquez at 541-682-2057. th Techniques Used to Repair West 18 Avenue Save Time, Money and Environment th The City of Eugene is reconstructing West 18 Avenue from City View to the Westmoreland Park bike bridge, just east of Chambers, using four different construction techniques to match the existing pavement, save money, and reduce traffic impacts and environmental impacts during construction. th The three-lane section of 18 Avenue from City View to Pierce (one block west of Chambers) will be reconstructed using two construction methods that allow complete recycling and reuse of the existing road materials. First, a EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 August 12, 2010 milling machine will grind up and remove the old existing pavement, which will be returned to the contractor’s plant and reused in new pavement material for future projects. Reusing the ground-up pavement is a significant advantage to the contractor because it reduces the amount of virgin crushed rock that would need to be mined to use in the new pavement material. Also, because the ground-up material is coated with asphalt cement, reuse of the grindings reduces the amount of new asphalt cement the contractor needs to add to make the new paving material. Besides saving the contractor time and money, the reduction of mining and use of asphalt cement also reduces environmental impacts and saves the City money in reduced prices. Next, a reclamation process that blends the existing aggregate base and soil with cement will be used to create an in-place cement-treated base for the reconstructed roadway. This reclamation process also has significant environmental benefits because it allows reuse of existing road materials. Because the existing road base material is mixed in place with cement, it saves a significant amount of natural resource by not mining the virgin rock, and reduces traffic and environmental impacts that would normally occur from trucking. Reclamation will save over 5,000 cubic yards of existing material from being excavated and hauled away, and 9,500 tons of base rock from being hauled to the site. This saves well over 500 truck trips, an estimated cost savings of more than $120,000, and two weeks of construction time. It also eliminates land-filling the old materials that would have been dug out and disposed of with a traditional reconstruction project. th The five-lane section of West 18 from Pierce through the Chambers intersection will have just the existing pavement surface milled off and replaced with new asphalt pavement. This is a common process for rehabilitation of worn pavement that is structurally sound. The old ground-up pavement will be returned to the asphalt plant th where it will be reused in future paving projects. The section of West 18 from the east side of Chambers, east about 200 feet to the Westmoreland bike bridge, will be reconstructed with concrete pavement to match the existing street east of the project. Warm mix asphalt concrete (WMAC) will be used for all the asphalt concrete paving on the project. WMAC uses a water-foaming process to mix the asphalt concrete, which allows the asphalt paving to be mixed and placed at lower temperatures than traditional hot mix asphalt concrete, saving a significant amount of energy and reducing the volatile organic chemicals released in the atmosphere. The project started in July and will be completed in September. It is funded by a pavement bond measure and being constructed by Knife River. For more information, contact Project Manager Doug Singer at 541-682-8460. City Activates Pay-by-Phone Parking Service Epark, the City of Eugene’s Parking Services program, is launching a new pay- by-mobile-phone service at a number of popular downtown parking locations. The new service will help save time and money by allowing customers to use their mobile phones to pay for parking at several City-managed parking lots and garages. Developed by the company Parkmobile USA, the service allows registered users to pay for parking with a mobile phone application, the Internet, or a toll-free phone call to 877-PARK-832 or 1-877-727-5832. The system even sends text message reminders of the time left on a space. Customers can register for the service at www.parkmobile.com. The program works with electronic payment stations at seven off-street parking areas, including the downtown Library garage and surface lot, the Broadway North and South garages, the Hult Center garage, the City Hall surface lot, and the train depot parking lot. Creating easier payment options is part of Epark’s recent five-point strategy to draw more people downtown. For more information, contact Parking Services Manager Jeff Petry at 541-682-5079 or Jeff.T.Petry@ci.eugene.or.us. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 August 12, 2010