From the editor
A busy week and many items to ponder during the rain.
Website difficulties — this site was down temporarily but as you can see it’s now up again.
We hit the airwaves!
At the Eugene City Club last week, a panel of neighborhood representatives spoke about projects the various neighborhood associations have been involved with. Southwest Hills (CDCA), Southeast, Friendly, and other associations all spoke. David Kolb spoke about what we learned from the Crest Drive Street project about the difficulties of communication within neighborhoods. If you would like to hear the program, go to http://klcc.org/post/just-what-do-neighborhood-associations-do
Crime Note
A neighbor writes: “I live in the 600 block of west 31st. Not sure of the exact date (sometime earlier this month) but someone tried to steal our late model Subaru from the driveway. It was premeditated in that they used a Slim Jim type device, but amateur enough the only result was damage to the door, both inside and out. Nothing of value was in the car, hence the supposition the intent was to steal the vehicle. Additional deterrents besides garage lights have since been installed.”
Emergency preparedness news
1) Neighborhood Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Workshop
Talk about improving communication in the event of a disaster as well as during “normal” times and share ideas for using the CERT program to its fullest extent across our neighborhood.
Neighborhood maps and city maps will be available.
Anyone interested in emergency preparedness and safety response in S Eugene is welcome.
• DATE: 2/19/2015 (Thu 5:30PM – 7:30PM)
• LOCATION: Hilyard Community Center, 2580 Hilyard Street
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For more info and to RSVP, go to http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0e49abab23a7fe3-southeast
2) A neighbor writes: “I noticed there is a Southeast neighborhood emergency prep session at Hilyard about FIRE on 2/28. Will there be a southwest session? or do we attend this one?”
The fire emergency prep session is for anyone living in Southeast or Southwest. So if you’re interested we’d suggest attending this upcoming session. Here are the details reprinted from last week:
Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and Neighborhood Watch programs along with Neighborhood Associations are invited to participate in a Wildfire disaster tabletop exercise being facilitated via the internet at the Hilyard Center in South Eugene. This exercise has been designed specifically for organizations that work to support the disaster caused needs of community and neighborhood residents during and following a disaster. By participating in this exercise, you will be able to assess your organizations existing disaster response capabilities.
This program is free for all participants but pre-registration is required.
Last summer’s wildfires had many of thinking about the potential for wildfire in South Eugene. How would our neighborhood respond if the South Hills caught on fire?
A team of national, regional, state and local agencies and organizations have undertaken an effort to help communities assess their capability to prepare for, respond to and recover from a variety of natural disasters through a series of disaster exercises facilitated via the internet entitled “Formidable Footprint”.
Southeast Neighbors will be conducting a neighborhood wildfire exercise on Saturday, February 28 from 10am to 1pm at the Hilyard Center at 2580 Hilyard St. Join us as we discover our community strengths and weaknesses and help make South Eugene stronger and better prepared for emergencies.
Date/Time
Saturday, February 28, 2015 from 10:00am to 1:00pm
Location
Hilyard Center Main Hall, 2580 Hilyard St
Exercise Registration
This program is free for all participants but pre-registration is required. There are several important reasons to register: Preparing for emergencies is everybody’s business but we tend to put it off. There will be an event at the end of February which might be of use to you.
Prior to the exercise important situational awareness materials will be e-mailed to all registered participants.
Each participant in the exercise will be required to submit an evaluation after the exercise has ended.
Individual exercise Certificates of Participation will only be generated for registered participants.
To register for the exercise, go to
http://www.onxsystem.com/?q=onx/ex/2431.
Location Information
Hilyard Community Center is located in south Eugene at 2580 Hilyard Street across the parking lot from Amazon Pool. Hilyard Community Center houses the City of Eugene’s Adaptive Recreation Program and was designed for maximum accessibility including: wheelchair accessible bathrooms, full kitchen, FM loop systems, large raised print signs and easy access to the outdoors.
Environmental news
An organization called DriveOregon is asking the Oregon Legislature to pass a Clean Car Rebate to lower the cost of electric vehicles for Oregon families. If you would like to join our coalition, please send an email to Zach@driveoregon.org
From the city:
1) First Fridays Event
Communities of Color Network Social
Join Communities of Color Network for an afternoon social on Friday, February 6 at 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM.
Good food, good music and great company await you at this free community event! Check out the collaborative project display: “Stories of Exclusion and Inclusion: Owning our History; Creating our Future”
Event is followed by the BIG 5th Annual Black History Month banquet. For tickets to banquet conact 541-852-9782.
2) LTD Proposes New Routes
Participate in the Annual Route Review
LTD has put together a package that addresses our communities desire to run the buses more often, earlier and later, or to increase coverage to more areas. Please take a minute to review the plan and add your comments!
Take the Survey! Go to LTD.org and click on the survey to submit your comments on the proposed changes.
Or attend an Open House and weigh in:
Open Houses:
Customer Service Center Lobby
February 11 & 12
7:00 – 9:00 a.m.
3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Or attend LTD Board Public Hearings:
March 18, 5:30 p.m. -Eugene Library/Bascom-Tykeson Room
April 6, 5:30 p.m. – Eugene Library/Bascom-Tykeson Room
Of course you can always send your comments to LTD@LTD.org or call LTD at 541-682-6100
3) Eugene Trail Plan – Update
Draft Plan Map and Guidelines will be based on your feedback!
A year ago the City of Eugene Parks and Open Space Division held a kick-off meeting for the Eugene Trails Plan – a plan to help guide and coordinate Eugene Parks and Open Space decisions about soft-surface trails. After a hiatus due to a number of factors including limited staffing resources and focus on implementing new trail construction efforts, this winter the project has kicked back into gear:
• A consultant has been hired to assist, Jeff Krueger of JK Environments;
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• A second survey is being conducted by Oregon State University, and;
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• A draft plan map and guidelines are being prepared based on input from citizens, local trail advocates and organizations, and city staff;
• The second public meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, February 26th, 6-8PM. Meeting details will be shared in a follow up email soon, but please set aside that time and date if possible so you’ll be able to attend.
During the hiatus, we have continued progress on a number of trail related projects including:
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• The Dillard Connector Trail. This new section of the Ridgeline Trail was completed in October, a beautiful and much safer shared-use segment connecting the Fox Hollow Trailhead to the Dillard East Trailhead through park land, replacing the former route along the shoulder of Dillard Rd.
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• The Spencer Butte Summit Trail project. Contractor’s bids are due this week for a reroute of the very heavily used trail from the treeline to the summit. This reroute will provide a much clearer and safer experience while also reducing negative impacts to the sensitive habitat on the rocky top. The project is expected to be complete by the end of this summer.
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• Skinner Butte Columns Trail. This renovation of a badly eroded trail section above the rock climbing columns in Skinner Butte Park also has a contract out for bidding, with construction expected to be complete by the beginning of summer.
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• Wild Iris Ridge connector. This new mile-long segment of the Ridgeline Trail will create an additional trailhead and looped trail connection through Wild Iris Ridge in SW Eugene. The alignment is currently being refined, with construction expected to be complete by the end of this summer.
Finally, and most importantly, the City is welcoming feedback and asking that community please take the second survey. On our behalf, Oregon State University is conducting this survey based on the recent statewide trails survey done for the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, but shorter and focused on soft-surface trails in Eugene (including use of waterways by non-motorized craft). It only should take about 10 minutes.
Please take the survey and then send it to anyone you think might have an interest in Eugene’s Trails. Your responses needed – and the results will be presented at the upcoming meeting.
4) Oregon Asian Festival
February 14-15, Lane Events Center
Bring family, friends, and loved-ones to the two-day Asian cultural heritage festival, the Oregon Asian Celebration, on Feb. 14 and 15, at the Lane Events Center. Enjoy cultural performances, music, fine art, children and youth activities, as well as demonstrations of crafts, cooking, and martial arts.
Celebrate Valentines’ weekend with special activities such as the canoodle-noodle eating contest and more. Visitors can tempt their taste buds with exotic and traditional cuisine of different Asian countries, and spend time strolling through the Asian Marketplace for special souvenirs, trinkets, and keepsakes.
The doors at the Lane Events Center open at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 14 and 15, and close at 7 p.m. on Saturday, and 6 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $6 for one day; $10 for two days; and free for children ages 12 and under. Tickets are available for pre-sale at all Oregon Community Credit Union branch locations or at the door on event day. The event is produced by the Eugene-Springfield Asian Council. For an up-to-date schedule of activities and events, visit http://www.AsianCelebration.org.
5) Good things happen to people who share!
Point2Point introduces CarpoolKarma
Point2point at Lane Transit District, Cherriots Rideshare, and Cascades West Rideshare are pleased to introduce Carpool Karma, a regional carpool incentive program set for Feb. 1 – May 1, 2015.
Carpool Karma has been developed to help Willamette Valley commuters explore their carpooling options and will reward carpoolers with great prizes and good karma. Prizes include free drinks at Dutch Bros, Fred Meyer gift cards, iPads, weekend getaways, and more!
To get started, simply register at DriveLessConnect.com (the Oregon Department of Transportation’s free statewide ridematching database), then complete a pre-survey (link below) and log a minimum of two days of carpool activity each week throughout the campaign to be eligible for weekly prizes.
Whether you are an experienced carpooler, or are just starting out, Carpool Karma is for you!
No carpool partner? No worries, we can help! Just create a ridematch trip in the Drive Less Connect database to view your potential partners. Contact them directly through the database. Your personal information remains private. You determine how much of your information is visible to others. From Woodburn to Springfield, there are thousands of people looking for a carpool partner just like you! Transportation options mean good karma for your community, your wallet, and the planet.
For more information and to get started, visit DriveLessConnect.com/carpool-karma and let the good karma begin!
SHiNA 