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Home My WebLink About02/02/12 - City Council Newsletter EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER February 2, 2012 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 EDITION SCHOOL GARDENS AND COMPOST MAKES NEWS EUGENE POLICE PROVIDE LIVE BREAKING NEWS TO PUBLIC AND MEDIA TRAFFIC CONTROL CHANGES ON FIFTH AVENUE IMPROVE SERVICE, MAINTAIN SAFETY RECREATION SERVICES TEAMS WITH WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT BETHEL PARK MASTER PLAN UPDATE PROCESS COMPLETE AROUND THE CITY School Gardens and Compost Makes News Reporters from The Register-Guard, KEZI, KLCC and MyEugene.org eagerly shot pictures and took audio of teachers, administrators, students, and educators on Jan. 27, as they learned the fine art of school cafeteria composting. The City of Eugene partnered with The School Garden Project of Lane County to build and implement five new school gardens and cafeteria composting programs in the 2011/2012 school year. The support provides funding for a full-time Northwest Youth Corps AmeriCorps staff person to create school gardens and implement compost programs. Cafeteria composting reduces the amount of waste schools send to the landfill and provides valuable compost for school gardens. The training in January paired Oregon State University Extension Service compost specialist mentors with each school receiving a new garden and compost system. The School Garden Project educator showed 10 participating schools the process of setting up a sort system in the cafeteria, and how to create buy-in with school staff, teachers, students and parents. School Garden Project educator oversees students as they “dump and cover” food scraps in the school compost bin. Parent volunteers demonstrated how easy it is to maintain a school compost system and how much can be composted on a weekly basis. The City anticipates that each school will be composting 300 to 600 pounds of food scraps a month, resulting in six tons of food scraps composted by all five schools throughout the school year. For more information, contact Compost and Urban Agriculture Coordinator Anne Donahue at 541-682-5542 or Anne.c.donahue@ci.eugene.or.us. Eugene Police Provide Live Breaking News to Public and Media On Thursday, Jan. 26, Eugene Police Special Investigation and Department of Homeland Security Federal Protective Services officers conducted an investigation involving a man impersonating a police officer that eventually required SWAT and Crisis Negotiation Response to go to the man’s residence in an apartment complex. Media heard the scanner traffic about the call and quickly arrived on-scene. This incident was cleared with an arrest at a secondary location. Traditionally, one of the concluding actions of the department with calls that draw media interest is to provide an interview about the incident’s outcome. Now, in addition to that interview, using a smart phone application and Internet site, the Eugene Police Department (EPD) was also able to stream the interview, provided on-scene to media, and live EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 February 2, 2012 to its Internet channel http://www.ustream.com/channel/EPDpio. Media members who were not able to be at the location, as well as the general public, were able to get their news first-hand from the interview as it occurred. Notice of the live-streaming interview was made through a news release sent via iPad and Eugene Police Twitter notification via smart phone. EPD will continue to experiment with readily available and inexpensive technologies to make news more readily available to the media and public. For more information, contact Melinda McLaughlin at 541-682-5124. Traffic Control Changes on Fifth Avenue Improve Service, Maintain Safety Public Works is implementing several traffic control changes on Fifth Avenue at Washington and Jefferson streets. On Wednesday, a traffic operations crew from Public Works Maintenance removed the stop signs on Fifth Avenue at Jefferson Street to allow through-traffic on Fifth Avenue. Stop signs remain in place for north-south traffic on Jefferson Street at Fifth Avenue. On Thursday, crews covered the traffic signal at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Washington Street and replaced it with an all-way stop, with stop signs for north-south traffic on Washington Street at Fifth Avenue and stop signs for east-west traffic on Fifth at Washington. The changes are intended to improve the level of service while maintaining safety standards. Traffic flows will be improved, reducing delays and idling times. Safety will be enhanced by increasing pedestrian visibility, particularly at Fifth and Washington. In addition, the removal of the signal will reduce the costs of powering and maintaining the signal. Signs have been posted alerting motorists to the changes and advising residents that the traffic signal removal is under study. Prior to the changes, Public Works staff provided information to the Whiteaker Community Council and businesses in the area. People wishing to comment on the signal removal can call Public Works Maintenance at 541-682-4800 or e-mail pwmaintenance@ci.eugene.or.us. For more information, contact City Traffic Engineer Tom Larsen at 541-682-4959. Recreation Services Teams with Wounded Warrior Project Beautiful blue skies and cool, crisp weather greeted seven Wounded Warriors and their caregivers as they snow- shoed around Crater Lake last weekend. Adaptive Recreation Services and the Outdoor Recreation Program teamed up with the Wounded Warrior Program to offer a two-night trip to Crater Lake. All of the soldiers on the trip live with post-traumatic stress disorder and physical disabilities from their tours of duty. Warriors came from as far as Wildomar, California, but most live in the Eugene area. It was the first time the soldiers had been to Crater Lake and, for some, it was the first time they had been snow-shoeing. Union Creek Lodge provided lodging for the group, who had the whole facility to themselves. For one solider, who was injured in 2009, it was the first time he and his wife had been away from home together. Another soldier who served four tours in Iraq said, “Thank you for letting me see the country I served. It was an awesome trip.” More opportunities will be offered in the near future with the Wounded Warrior Project, including an adapted sports day, cycling club, hiking club, kayaking, and a ropes course. For more information, contact Patty Prather at 541-682-6365. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 February 2, 2012 Bethel Park Master Plan Update Process Complete Parks Planning, Recreation, Transportation Planning and Library staff were all on-hand on Wednesday evening, Jan. 25, to host a final open house workshop for the Bethel Community Park Master Plan update process. The public process to incorporate a larger community center into the park master plan began in May 2011. Neighborhood concerns focused on additional traffic, bike and pedestrian safety, parking, preservation of existing open space, and inclusion of park amenities shown on the current master plan. Many neighbors were also very supportive of the effort to bring a new community center to Bethel Park. The process was initiated by an offer from the Eugene Family YMCA to construct a new community center in Bethel Park and operate it in partnership with the City of Eugene Recreation Services Division. While the original park master plan showed a 10,000-square-foot community center, the proposed facility is approximately 60,000 square feet and would necessarily include several hundred new parking spaces. Building amenities would likely include athletic and gym facilities, a branch library, and a phase-two aquatic center. The revised master plan shows the larger community center, future outdoor tennis, basketball and City staff meets with neighbors at Meadowview School sand volleyball courts, bike and pedestrian paths through the park, a new spray-play adjacent to the existing playground, and 300 additional parking spaces to support the future facilities. These changes to the park plan will also require a land use approval process before construction can begin. Parks Planning staff will take the new plan forward through a conditional use permit process which will likely take an additional six to nine months. For more information, please contact Landscape Architect Emily Proudfoot in Parks and Open Space at 541-682-4915 or emily.a.proudfoot@ci.eugene.or.us. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 February 2, 2012