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Home My WebLink About07/05/12 - City Council Newsletter EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER July 5, 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 BEATLEMANIA DESCENDS ON DOWNTOWN EUGENE TWELVE GRADUATE FROM METRO FIRE ACADEMY MINDA DRIVE TRAFFIC CALMING COMMUNITY MEETING EUGENE@150 KICK-OFF CONCERT JULY 11 INCLUDES A FUN TWEAK OF EUGENE’S HISTORY AROUND THE CITY Beatlemania Descends on Downtown Eugene Summer in the City – Downtown gets underway for the 2012 season on July 11, 6 p.m., at Kesey Square when the Beatles tribute band, Abbey Road LIVE, performs to celebrate Eugene@150, Eugene’s 150th birthday. Beatles’ fans of all ages will enjoy this concert and discover Beatlemania again - and it’s free! Mecca will be at the event and participating in "What's Your 150?" by making 150 bowties. In addition, Radio REDUX—Eugene’s acclaimed, new theater company that performs historic radio shows live on stage, brings an exciting original look at the city’s rich history in an amusing special intermission show. “Watch” the show with your ears . . . it’s radio worth watching. Residents can spend the summer outside enjoying dozens of free Summer in the City events, including live and DJ music, movies, breakfasts at bike bridges, skate competitions, Sunday Jams - Dancin’ in the Park, and more. Check out the complete list of events for all six Summer in the City series for July - September at the Summer in the City calendar. For more information, contact Billie Moser at 541-682-6347. Twelve Graduate from Metro Fire Academy The Eugene Fire & EMS and Springfield Fire & Life Safety Departments (Metro departments) celebrated the graduation of 12 new firefighters from the first evenly divided Metro recruit academy last week. Graduating were (from left) Jonathan Elliot, Daniel Westerman, Jeremy Young, Dmitry Zubov, Devin Monte, Nicholas Fiorante, Steven Reerslev, Dustin Mitchell, William “Nick” MacKenzie, Tyler “Ryn” Patterson, Andy Fidino and Nicholas McEvoy. The ceremony in front of friends, family, and firefighters marked the group's successful completion of the Metro departments’ rigorous 14-week training program in firefighting techniques, survival skills, emergency medical treatment, and physical fitness. According to Training Chief Matt Ennis, “Both sets of Fire recruits were exposed to both citys’ equipment and procedures. They participated in all activities jointly, and it was by all accounts a resounding success.” Crews from all three battalions (two in Eugene and one in Springfield) participated daily in training the recruits. The new graduates will be assigned to fire stations as Probationary Firefighters, and must complete a one-year EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 July 5, 2012 probationary period under the watchful eyes of their respective captains and Training Section staff. Congratulations and welcome. For more information please contact Training Chief Matt Ennis at 541-682-7130. Minda Drive Traffic Calming Community Meeting Public Works will hold a community meeting to review a proposal for traffic calming on Minda Drive (between Norkenzie and Gilham roads) to address neighborhood speeding concerns. Staff will receive input on whether to implement a proposal to construct traffic calming devices (such as speed cushions) as part of a road repair project planned on Minda Drive this summer. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 11, at 7 p.m., at the Oregon Community Credit Union corporate offices, 2880 Chad Drive. Parking is available to the east of Costco (participants are asked to not park in the Costco parking lot.) More project information is available on the internet or by contacting Transportation Planning Engineer Chris Henry at 541-682-8472 or chris.c.henry@ci.eugene.or.us. Eugene@150 Kick-Off Concert July 11 Includes a Fun Tweak of Eugene’s History Mayor Kitty Piercy, City Manager Jon Ruiz and Police Chief Pete Kerns will take to the stage to play featured roles in a fanciful accounting of the founding of the City of Eugene performed by Fred Crafts’ Radio Redux Players during the first “Summer in the City” concert of this Celebrating Eugene@150 year on July 11: with Abbey Road LIVE and Radio Redux. The event is the first major public Eugene@150, celebration of a series of th civic activities commemorating the 150 anniversary of the founding of Eugene. Radio Redux’s 15-minute comedy will occur during intermission (around 6:50 p.m.) of the July 11 concert by Abbey Road LIVE, a Beatles tribute band, that will perform from 6-8 p.m. at Kesey Square, at Willamette Street and Broadway in downtown Eugene. The event is free and open to the public. Radio Redux’s production - staged in the manner of a 1940s radio broadcast, with actors reading from scripts and doing live sound effects - is a take-off on the radio series “You Are There,” in which news reporters travel back in time to cover historical events. In this case, the subject is Eugene Skinner’s journey to Oregon, which begins in Illinois, travels west to near Sacramento, and then north up to Eugene. On the way, the Skinner party encounters real and imaginary people. In the show, Mayor Piercy plays Eunice Franklin, a travel agent; City Manager Ruiz is Eugene Skinner’s brother, St. John Bull Skinner; and Police Chief Pete Kerns is a desperado. The cast will be anchored by Radio Redux actors - Storm Kennedy as Mary Skinner, Achilles Massahos as Eugene Skinner, Bary Shaw as Elijah Bristow and Steve Wehmeier as Jacob Sutter. Celebrating Eugene@150 with Abbey Road LIVE and Radio Redux also offers a children’s area with “What’s Your 150?” activities by Materials Exchange Center for Community Arts (MECCA) and ShelterCare, and more. In addition, food carts and a beer garden serving Ninkasi and local wines will be open. New banners are being installed downtown this week to decorate for the event and call attention to the overall celebration. Several fun, inclusive and interactive events and activities have already begun with more to come between big birthday party on October 20. now and the  NinkasiEugene@150 commemorative beer, “Commonwealth.” Brewery released a special All proceeds are being donated to benefit FOOD for Lane County and the City of Eugene’s Cultural Services. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 July 5, 2012  Children and youth age 12 and younger can discover a little about Eugene’s first 150 years and win a cool “Passport to History.” prize with a The passports are available for free at any City community center, pool or library or at the AAA Oregon office, 983 Willagillespie Road. Grand prizes are a Kindle Fire and an iPod Touch.  All community members, businesses, neighborhoods, and others are warmly invited to get involved by “What’s Your 150?” participating in Eugene has been an awesome place to live for 150 years; now the community can help decide how to celebrate!  Artist Jud Turner’s sculpture of a 16-foot-tall Great Blue Heron has been chosen as the public art piece that will be unveiled as part of Eugene@150 birthday party on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. www.eugene-or.gov/birthday facebook.com/Eugene@150 Go to the web page - or Facebook page -to get more information and get involved. For more information, contact Community Relations Director Jan Bohman at 541-682-5587. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 July 5, 2012