HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/07/13 - City Council Newsletter
City of Eugene
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Eugene, Oregon 97401
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www.eugene-or.gov
EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER
March 7, 2013
IN THIS EDITION
LANE COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS HONORS MARY SPILDE AND JON RUIZ
SISTER HELEN PREJEAN SPEAKS AT EUGENE PUBLIC LIBRARY
“OUR CHOICES, OUR FUTURE” FOCUS OF SPRING HOME SHOW BOOTH
AROUND THE CITY
Lane Council of Governments Honors Mary Spilde and Jon Ruiz
Lane Community College President Mary Spilde and Eugene City Manager Jon Ruiz received the 2012 Intergovernmental
Team Award from the Lane Council of Governments at its annual Appreciation Dinner on Feb. 28. The two were credited
for working together on Lane Community College’s (LCC) new downtown campus, which is serving as a significant catalyst
for downtown’s recent wave of redevelopment.
Spilde and Ruiz provided an outstanding example of individual leaders
reaching across traditional boundaries to join forces for the greater public
good. As a result of some outside-the-box thinking in 2009, they presented
to the LCC board, the City Council and the community, a vision for a new
Lane Community College downtown campus to replace one of the city’s
worst eyesores, the pit where an old Sears store once stood. Now, a $53
million campus has emerged, including a first-ever student apartment
building for the college, and an innovative new academic, business and
community building.
Both buildings are models of sustainability in keeping with goals and
values held by the City, the college and the entire region. The housing
building meets LEED Gold energy efficiency standards, and the academic
building will earn the rating system’s highest level - LEED Platinum. The downtown campus will directly serve more than
8,000 students annually, helping Lane better serve the rest of its 37,000 students per year throughout the district.
The project is bringing new residents downtown, including students from across the country and the world, as well as new
businesses, new shoppers, and new visitors. All are contributing to the diversity of the community, the growth of the local
economy, and an improved downtown Eugene.
For more information, contact Jan Bohman at Jan.L.Bohman@ci.eugene.or.us or 541-682-5587.
Sister Helen Prejean Speaks at Eugene Public Library
In connection with the citywide “Prisons, Compassion, and Peace” project, Sister Helen Prejean,
author of “Dead Man Walking,” will give a free talk at the Downtown Eugene Public Library on
Saturday, Mar. 16, at 2 p.m. Books will be available for sale and signing courtesy of the UO Duck
Store.
Sister Helen Prejean has been instrumental in sparking national dialogue on the death penalty and
helping to shape the Catholic Church’s newly vigorous opposition to state executions. She considers
herself a southern storyteller and travels around the world giving talks about her ministry.
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March 7, 2013
A member of the Congregation of St. Joseph in the 1980s, Sister Helen was asked to correspond with a death row inmate,
Patrick Sonnier, at Angola (the Louisiana State Penitentiary). She agreed and became his spiritual adviser. After witnessing
his execution, she wrote a book about the experience. The result was “Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the
Death Penalty in the United States.” The book has since become a movie and an opera.
Since 1984, Sister Helen has divided her time between educating people about the death penalty and counseling individual
death row prisoners. She has accompanied six men to their deaths. In doing so, she began to suspect that some of those
executed were not guilty. This realization inspired her second book, “The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of
Wrongful Executions.” She is presently at work on another book, “River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey.”
“Prisons, Compassion, and Peace” events include the “Prisons and Peace” UNESCO/UO International Conference; Eugene
Opera’s Northwest premiere of the opera “Dead Man Walking,” and the 40th anniversary celebration of Sponsors, Inc. For a
complete community calendar, visit www.eugeneopera.com/events. For more information about free events at the Eugene
Public Library, call 541-682-5450 or visit www.eugene-or.gov/library.
“Our Choices, Our Future” Focus of Spring Home Show Booth
A showcase display at the Spring Home Show features photos of children in healthy and unhealthy environments. The goal
is to encourage people to think more carefully about how the choices they make every day affect the future - resources, air
and water quality. The display also includes interesting facts about pollution and some simple steps to lessen impact in
these areas.
The booth is in Expo Hall 1, space #524, at the Lane County Spring Home Show this weekend.
The information station will have handouts on a range of topics, and staff from partner agencies
will be available to answer questions.
Booth visitors who complete a short pledge will have the option of entering a drawing with
multiple prizes donated by local businesses and several agencies. There’s an activity table for
younger citizens to color or make bookmarks.
This is the fifth year that an interactive booth, created and staffed by the Lane Pollution
Prevention Coalition (Lane P2C) will be featured in the Expo Hall. The Lane P2C is a group that
works together to share information and inform and educate residents about pollution
prevention tips. These agencies include the City of Eugene’s Stormwater and Wastewater
Management Programs, City of Springfield Environmental Services, Department of
Environmental Quality, Lane County Public Works-Recycling and Household Hazardous Waste
Programs, Springfield Utility Board, Lane Regional Air Protection Agency, and Eugene Water &
Electric Board. The City’s Stormwater Management Program focuses on protecting local
waterways while promoting environmental stewardship.
For more information, please call Kathy Eva, public information specialist for the Stormwater Management Program, at
541-682-2739 or visit www.eugene-or.gov/happyrivers.
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March 7, 2013