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Home My WebLink About03/08/12 - City Council Newsletter EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER March 8, 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 CHALLENGE COURSE FACILITATOR TRAINING CLASS OFFERED DRYWELL ELIMINATION PROGRAM BEGINS WITH SHIRLEY STREET/FERNDALE PARK PROJECT JOIN A BIG READ CONVERSATION AT EUGENE PUBLIC LIBRARY ENVISION EUGENE RECOMMENDATION AND COMMUNITY FORUMS CITY OF EUGENE PARTNERS WITH THE RESOURCE INNOVATIONS GROUP AROUND THE CITY Challenge Course Facilitator Training Class Offered The City of Eugene Outdoor Program is offering a class at the Spencer Butte Challenge Course on group facilitation techniques and technical skills needed to lead experiential education programs. The training provides an opportunity to learn more about experiential learning, in which learning is derived from within and is a direct result of participation in a process or exercise. The techniques learned can be applied to a wide range of teaching settings. Individuals who receive the training are eligible to be hired as Challenge Course facilitators. Being a facilitator also gives an organization a price break on using the course. The two-week class includes design, delivery and debrief of Challenge Course events, and evening classroom instruction at the River House Community Center, 301 N. Adams Street, on April 20, 24 and 26, and an all-day training at Spencer Butte Challenge Course from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. on April 14, 21-22, and 28-29. The cost is $250 which includes a Challenge Course Manual. A student discount is available. For more information, contact Robert Brack at 541-682-6324. Drywell Elimination Program Begins with Shirley Street/Ferndale Park Project Public Works has entered the design phase of its first project in a long-term capital improvement program to decommission or retrofit more than 150 public drywells to comply with state and federal regulations that protect local drinking water supplies. Drywells are stormwater management facilities that direct stormwater runoff from adjacent areas into the ground, as opposed to directing it to a piped system or waterway. They historically have been used in areas where there are not existing pipe networks or waterways to receive and convey stormwater, and where soils allow surface water to infiltrate. The Shirley Street area in Santa Clara will be the site of the first pilot project this summer. The proposed Shirley Street area solution includes creating a piped storm system that discharges into a swale within Ferndale Park. Public Works Engineering and Public Works Parks and Open Space staff are working together to notify property owners, present information to neighborhood groups and involve neighbors in the Ferndale Park service area. A meeting with park neighbors is scheduled later this month. The drywell elimination program is an outcome of a long-term, basin master planning effort that included collaboration between the City of Eugene and Lane County. City decommissioning projects are funded by stormwater user fees and will not result in any direct costs to the affected neighborhoods, the majority of which are in the River Road/Santa Clara and Willakenzie areas. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 March 8, 2012 For more project information, call Doug Singer, Public Works Engineering program manager, at 541-682-8460. For information about the master planning effort, call Therese Walch, water resources manager, at 541-682-5549. Join a Big Read Conversation at Eugene Public Library All during March, the Eugene Public Library hosts The Big Read, a month-long, community-wide celebration of Ray Bradbury’s visionary science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451. Events include opportunities to get together to talk about the book and the issues it raises. On Saturday, March 17, at 2 p.m., join a community conversation, “To Cut or Not to Cut: Censorship in Literature” at the Downtown Eugene Public Library.Recent efforts to remove the “N” word in literature - from the new edition of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn to a high school production of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” - raise challenging questions about censorship. Is censorship ever a good thing? How should the difference between a character’s and author’s point of view be weighed? The discussion will be led by Pancho Savery, a professor of English, Humanities, and American Studies at Reed College. The program is part of Oregon Humanities’ Conversation Project, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Oregon Cultural Trust. Throughout the month, drop-in book groups will talk about Fahrenheit 451. There are book groups for adults and teens, and book groups in English and Spanish, at many locations including the Eugene Public Library’s downtown, Bethel, and Sheldon branches, Campbell Community Center, and Springfield Public Library. For a complete calendar of book groups and other Big Read events, please visit www.eugene-or.gov/library or call the Eugene Public Library at 541-682-5450. The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest; local co-sponsors are the Eugene Public Library, Springfield Public Library, Lord Leebrick Theatre Company, City of Eugene, UO Duck Store, Friends of Eugene Public Library, and Eugene Public Library Foundation. Envision Eugene Recommendation and Community Forums Eugene’s final land need results for housing, jobs, parks and schools are nearly complete. The City Manager will March 14 present a draft recommendation to the City Council on . The recommendation will outline strategies for achieving the community vision while accommodating expected growth over the next 20 years. It will also propose an Urban Growth Boundary that will accommodate land need for that period. Community feedback on this draft will be vital to inform council action on the six community forums recommendation. A series of will be held around the city to present the recommendation and gather feedback. An online survey will also be available. 6 - 8 p.m. All of the forums will be from with a presentation at 6:15 p.m. at the following locations: March 20 - Petersen Barn March 22 - North Eugene High School April 3 - Churchill High School April 5 - Studio at the Hult Center April 10 - Sheldon Community Center April 12 - South Eugene High School For more information, please contact Envision Eugene Public Involvement Manager Terri Harding at terri.l.harding@ci.eugene.or.us or 541-682-5635. City of Eugene Partners with the Resource Innovations Group With help from the City of Eugene, a new program will make it easier and more affordable to install solar systems on homes in Eugene. Solarize Eugene is designed to bring solar electricity, solar hot water and the benefits of weatherization to homes in Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) territory. Participants will enjoy significant savings through the bulk purchase of solar systems as well as receive technical support. Customers can enroll in the program from April through the end of June, with systems installed throughout the summer. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 March 8, 2012 The first workshop will be held on Monday, March 19, from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m., at the Bascom-Tykeson Room in the Downtown Eugene Library. Workshops on solar systems and weatherization are free and open to anyone interested in participating in this community-based project. Solarize Eugene is a project of the Resource Innovation Group (TRIG) funded by an EWEB Greenpower grant. The City of Eugene is helping to promote the program and is offering a discount on permit fees and streamlined permitting for solar projects. For more information about the Solarize Program and upcoming workshops, visit www.solarizeeugene.info or contact Sarah Mazze at TRIG at 541-654-4052 or eugenesolarize@gmail.com. To learn more about solar permitting, please contact Jenna Garmon at 541-682-5541 or jenna.r.garmon@ci.eugene.or.us. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 March 8, 2012