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Home My WebLink About07/19/12 - City Council Newsletter EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER July 19, 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 WHITEAKER NEIGHBORHOOD RIVER FESTIVAL BRINGS COMMUNITY TOGETHER YOUNG WOMEN GET FIRED UP CAMPBELL CENTER CELEBRATES 50 YEARS SUMMER READING FOR KIDS IS HOT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF WEST EUGENE EMX EXTENSION NOW AVAILABLE COMMUNITY MEETINGS LOOK AT PROPOSAL FOR TRAFFIC CALMING ON JEPPESEN ACRES ROAD REPAIR WORK SET TO BEGIN ON MLK BOULEVARD AROUND THE CITY Whiteaker Neighborhood River Festival Brings Community Together Recreation Services presents the annual Whiteaker Neighborhood River Festival on Friday, July 27, from 4 - 7 p.m. at Maurie Jacobs Park, behind the River House Community Center at 301 North Adams. This free event features kayaking along the shore of the Willamette River, a giant slip-n-slide, an introduction to circus arts, music, and much more. Like many other Recreation Services activities, the event draws families for an afternoon of fun and builds community as hundreds of people congregate for a shared experience. This year, the River Festival is sponsored by Northwest Community Credit Union. For more information, call Roger Bailey at 541-682-5329. Young Women Get Fired Up Last week 15 young women between the ages of 14 and 19 graduated from the second annual Young Women’s Fire Camp, hosted by the Eugene Fire & EMS and Springfield Fire & Life Safety departments. Six young women who participated in the camp last year returned as team leaders and support staff, taking their experience to the next level. A dedicated group of professional women came together to make this an incredibly successful event. The goal of the camp was to provide a safe environment to introduce the young women to fire and emergency medical services, teach them leadership, confidence- and team-building skills by providing them with instruction and hands-on drills in rope rappelling, live fire burns, physical fitness training, and emergency medical treatment. Camp participants also heard from a wide variety of local community leaders and department personnel, who spoke on the topics of confidence and leadership. While fire departments in the U.S. have a long history of being predominantly white and male, the camp is part of ongoing efforts to encourage under-represented populations to consider careers in fire and emergency medical services. For more information about the Young Women’s Fire Camp, contact Anna Reid at anna.e.reid@ci.eugene.or.us. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 July 19, 2012 Campbell Center Celebrates 50 Years Share Campbell Community Center’s past, present and future at a celebration of the th facility’s 50 anniversary on Monday, July 23, from 2 - 4 p.m. Hear about the center’s namesake, Celeste Campbell, and learn about the center’s place in history as the first senior recreation center on the West Coast. Watch demonstrations of folk and line dancing, art and many of the other activities that make Campbell Center so popular with folks of all ages, and enjoy a bowl of yummy ice cream. For more information, contact Diane Sconce at 541-682-5318. Summer Reading for Kids is Hot Midway through the summer, more than 5,000 children have signed up for Summer Reading at the Eugene Public Library. Each child can choose a free book, courtesy of the Friends of Eugene Public Library. Free, fun activities to encourage kids to read and learn will continue through August. Coming soon at all Library locations: Duck Detectives! Kids are invited to solve the “Mystery of the Wetlands” and learn about local wildlife with WREN (Willamette Resources and Educational Network) on Tuesday, July 24, at 2 p.m., at the Bethel Branch; Wednesday, July 25, at 2 p.m., at the Sheldon Branch; andThursday, July 26, at 1 or 3 p.m., at the Downtown Library. On Saturday, July 28, at 11 a.m., the Eugene Public Library invites young children and their families to the annual Teddy Bear Picnic in the park at Amazon Community Center, featuring live music by McCornack’s Garden Variety Band. Bring snacks and a teddy bear or favorite stuffed friend. For more information, contact the Eugene Public Library at 541-682-8316 or www.eugene-or.gov/library. Environmental Assessment of West Eugene EmX Extension Now Available The environmental assessment of the West Eugene EmX Extension is available for public review. The Federal Transit Administration found the document to be a complete, objective, and technically sufficient analysis of the human, economic, and social environment affected by the proposed project. Federal rules require a public review period as part of the final environmental documentation. Printed copies of the environmental assessment are available at the Eugene and Springfield libraries and Lane Transit District offices, and the document is available online at www.weemx.ltd.org. The public review period ends August 29, 2012. Lane Transit District will address all comments regarding the content or conclusions of the document. These comments and responses will become part of the federal findings for the project. The proposed West Eugene Extension of the EmX bus rapid transit system is the next step in achieving the vision outlined in TransPlan for a reliable, higher-frequency, regional transit system that emulates light rail and supports mixed-use development in key corridors - a vision carried forward in Eugene’s growth management policies and Envision Eugene. The West Eugene segment of the system will add 8.8 round-trip miles of service to the network that already connects downtown Eugene to the University area, downtown Springfield, and Gateway/RiverBend areas. This project will extend EmX service from downtown to West ththth 6 and 7 avenues, Blair Boulevard, Garfield Street, and West 11 Avenue to Commerce Street. The route was selected as the locally preferred alternative by the City Council and Lane Transit District Board of Directors in March 2011 and by the Metropolitan Policy Committee in April 2011. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 July 19, 2012 The West Eugene EmX Extension benefitted from several years of public input, which resulted in many adverse impacts being avoided or mitigated through changes in project design. This environmental assessment provides the most definitive discussion of the project design and its effects on traffic, properties, parking, the natural environment, land use, socioeconomics, and other categories, and it also provides a detailed financial analysis. The City Council will not take action on this environmental assessment; however, at an as-of-yet undecided date after the public review period, the City Council and Lane Transit District Board of Directors will have an opportunity to reaffirm their support for the project before federal money is spent on project construction. For more information, visit www.weemx.ltd.org, or contact LTD Senior Project Manager John Evans at 541-682-6146, or email John.Evans@ltd.org, or City of Eugene Senior Transportation Planner Kurt Yeiter at 541-682-8379 or Kurt.M.Yeiter@ci.eugene.or.us. Community Meetings Look at Proposal for Traffic Calming on Jeppesen Acres Road Public Works held a community meeting on July 17 to review a proposal for traffic calming on Jeppesen Acres Road (between Providence Street and Coburg Road) to address neighborhood speeding concerns. Neighbors shared concerns about speeding in the neighborhood and voiced support for proposed “speed cushions,” which are speed humps with cut-outs that allow safe and efficient passage of emergency vehicles, but also slow passenger vehicles. Another follow-up community meeting is scheduled to hear from neighbors who were not able to attend the previous meeting and make a decision on whether to proceed with implementation. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 25, 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 at www.eugene-or.gov/JeppesenAcresRoad or by contacting Transportation Planning Engineer Chris Henry at 541-682-8472 or chris.c.henry@ci.eugene.or.us. Repair Work Set to Begin on MLK Boulevard Work is tentatively scheduled to begin next week on a $2.2 million project to repair Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in north Eugene. Knife River Corporation, with offices in Eugene, was the low bidder on the project, which includes upgrading pedestrian facilities, removing the existing deteriorated pavement, and constructing a new asphaltic concrete roadway surface. The first phase of the work, expected to take several weeks to complete, is to install new sidewalk access ramps at a number of locations along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between I-5 and Centennial Loop. The contractor also will make localized subsurface repairs in areas where the underlying roadbed shows signs of failure. Delays should be minimal. By mid-August, the work will shift to pavement removal and repaving operations. Plans call for at least one lane of traffic to remain open during paving construction; however, motorists may experience some delays, and alternate routes are recommended. Access will be maintained at all times to businesses along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and to the residential areas in that area. All paving and concrete work, except the raised median islands, and backfill and grading around ramps, curbs and walks is scheduled to be completed by August 31, prior to the first University of Oregon home football game on September 1. One of the final steps will be installing two solar-powered, pedestrian- activated, flashing-beacon crossing lights near the stadium. The primary source of funding for the project is coming from the City’s five-cent-per-gallon local gas tax, along with $655,000 federal highway funds. For more information about the project, contactBrian Davies, project manager, at 541-682-5676. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 July 19, 2012