Hybrid General Meeting Agenda & Zoom Link

SEN General Meeting Agenda, 7pm March 14, 2023

Hilyard Community Center 2580 Hilyard St. & Zoom

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85352675842

Call to order

Public Comment

Welcome and Introduction to the SEN General Meeting

Ratification of new SEN At-Large Board Member Gerry Meenaghan

Presentations by Rod Price, EWEB Assistant General Manager, Jeremy Somogye on the decommissioning of Leaburg Dam and Wally McCullough with an update on the E. 40th St. Water Storage Project
Q & A will follow presentation.

Presentation by Ryan Skiles, Manager of the Crime Analysis Unit for the Eugene Police Department

Q & A will follow presentation

Adjourn

Ready Southeast Update for February 2023

Ready Southeast is your preparedness program

The tragedy unfolding in Turkey should remind us how vulnerable those of us living in seismically active areas are.  Preventing an earthquake is, of course, impossible, but preparing for it will minimize injuries and damage to homes. Being prepared may even save your life.

Recognizing that our professional first responders will be overwhelmed in the aftermath of an earthquake, your neighborhood association developed a preparedness program a decade ago. Since then Ready Southeast volunteers have helped hundreds of residents become better prepared individually and connected with nearby neighbors for mutual support.

We now have more than sixty volunteers throughout the neighborhood. Many of them have organized their nearby neighbors. All of them have a radio to ensure that they can quickly reach other volunteers should we lose phone service. This communications network allows us to connect those who need help with those who can assist. It also puts us in direct contact with the City’s Emergency Operations Center so that we will know the severity of the disaster and the expected time for outside help to arrive.

We want to help everyone become better prepared. Whether it’s putting together a go-bag, supplies for an extended power outage, or protecting your home and belongings from an earthquake, wild fire or other emergency, we can help. We also assist groups of nearby neighbors get organized and identify the relevant skills and resources among them. Knowing your neighbors well enough to count on them will be invaluable in the aftermath of a disaster.

Ultimately, we want every Southeast resident to be prepared and connected with their nearby neighbors. In this way we’ll all enjoy the benefits of being in a supportive community as we ready ourselves for the next emergency. If you need information on how best to prepare, or want to connect with the nearest group of organized neighbors, please get in touch!

Ready Southeast can be reached by phone at 541–972-3867 or by email at seneighborsprepared@gmail.com

SEN Land Use Committee Report February 2023

SEN LAND USE REPORT February, 2023

Present: Dennis Hebert, Kristin Allen, Alden Jole, David Monk, Emily Fox

Discussed our mission statement as presented by Dennis. David Monk made some additions. Here is our draft mission statement:

The SEN Land Use Committee monitors, reports, and makes recommendations to the SEN Board and association membership on topics related to land use in the SEN neighborhood as well as the City of Eugene.

 

Land Use Committee topics cover a wide range of issues impacting the livability of the neighborhood and may include but are not limited to:

  • Comprehensive Planning & Zoning Changes
  • Affordable Housing & Infill
  • Development, Demolition, & Construction
  • Urban Canopy Preservation
  • State and City Code &/or Ordinance Proposals
  • Public Works Projects
  • Represent neighbors seeking resolutions between neighbors/developers/and or the city

We talked about why we wanted to be on this committee and what some of our projects might be.

1 Helping East Amazon become  a nodal hub by including mixed housing with low impact businesses that fit the scale of the neighborhood.

 

2 Continuing sidewalks on Willamette street so you could walk to the Ridgeline Trailhead and the Willamette Trailhead of Spencer’s Butte totally walking on a sidewalk.

 

  1. Looking into zoning laws of C2(commercial) areas in the SEN neighborhood   to see if there  could be a lower limit  set for building height. Currently 10 story buildings could be allowed. And easing the interface between R1 and C2 in these areas.
  2. Possibly helping the 40th st and Donald commercial area become more useful to residents.

 

Our next meeting will be March  27th at 6pm on zoom.

SEN Environmental Stewardship Committee Report February 2023

Environmental Stewardship Committee – February 2023 Report

The Environmental Stewardship Committee (ESC) meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 10am Hideaway Bakery. The meeting was held on February 21st and 5 people were in attendance.

Several topics were discussed:

  • Amazon Creek tree planting project
  • The tree planting event was rescheduled to Saturday, March 11th (originally Saturday, February 25th) due to the weather being too cold to plant bareroot trees per the City of Eugene’s Parks & Open Space guidance.
  • The results from the Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers (GPLB) survey
  • Thirty-two people responded to the survey as of the meeting date. The survey results were shared with QuietClean Eugene.
  • The results can also be viewed at the end of this report.
  • EWEB’s water storage tanks at 40th and Patterson and future of College Hill Reservoir and Amazon Emergency Water Station
  • Two ESC members recently got a tour of the tank construction progress. At that tour, it was noted that although the tank roofs were designed to support “green roofs”, EWEB’s Board had decided to not move forward with installation. The ESC is looking into why this decision was made.
  • Information about the benefits of green roofs can be found here: https://www.gsa.gov/governmentwide-initiatives/federal-highperformance-green-buildings/resource-library/integrative-strategies/green-roofs)
  • Additional questions for EWEB include (a) the future of the College Hill Reservoir and (b) whether the future Amazon emergency water station will be supplied by well or by the newly constructed tanks.
  • Plastics Reduction, locally and state-wide
  • The Eugene Sustainability Commission (of which Devon Mann is a member) attended a recent presentation regarding a mixed waste processing facility named the Integrated Material & Energy Recovery Facility (IMERF), located at Short Mountain Landfill in the Goshen area. It is a public/private partnership between Lane County and Bulk Handling Systems, who was awarded the contract. It will not take tax dollars to fund the project; rather, funding will come from an increase of site fees.
    • IMERF uses Anaerobic Digestion (AD) to divert roughly 72% of Lane County mixed waste (garbage) from the landfill. AD & subsequent methane collection occurs prior to wood/food waste entering the landfill and will decrease CO2 emissions by 100,000 tons/year.
    • Sorting occurs via AI-driven robotics on site, not at curb. Mixed waste (garbage) arrives at facility, bags opened and waste is sorted by size and density, and 2-dimensional from 3-dimensional. All organic material enters the AD process. After methane collection, the remaining material is dehydrated (Bio-Dried) and used for landfill cover as well as soil amendment. Collected methane is sold to NW Natural (and as fuel for NG vehicles).
    • Can sort co-mingled waste (recycling) as well
    • Food & wood debris are largest waste streams in Lane County, and 85% of greenhouse emissions in Lane County comes from landfills. Currently Short Hill has a waste recover rate in the low 50s%; IMERF would increase to greater than 63%.
  • State Senate plastic reduction bills’ current status: There are 3 bills in committee at the state level regarding plastic reduction – SB 543,SB 544 and SB 545. Here are some details regarding each bill.

SENATE BILL 543:

Bill Title:  “Relating to prohibitions for certain products.”

Bill Summary:  “Prohibits food vendor from using polystyrene container in sales of prepared food.”

SB543:   https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Measures/Overview/SB543

SENATE BILL 544:

Bill Title:  “Relating to prohibiting certain consumer products.”

Bill Summary:  “Directs Environmental Quality Commission to establish program for source reduction of single-use plastic food ware and single-use packaging and achieve 25 percent source reductions compared to 2023 levels by 2030.”

SB544:   https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Measures/Overview/SB544

SENATE BILL 545:

Bill Title:  “Relating to reuse of containers; declaring an emergency.”

Bill Summary:  “Directs State Department of Agriculture and Oregon Health Authority to adopt rules allowing consumers to use own containers for refilling with food at food establishment.”

SB545:  https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Measures/Overview/SB545

SEN Transportation Committee February 2023 Report

The SEN Transportation Committee meets via Zoom on the first and third Wednesdays at 1:00 via zoom and as needed on the fourth Thursday evening at 7:00 pm each month. Please see the SEN calendar for details.

Lucy Bambrey has started to help the committee to create and maintain a work calendar so that important topics and items receive necessary committee time and attention throughout the year. We will work to adopt a work plan by the first week of April.
Jess Roshak heard back from Jenifer Willer from Eugene Public Works regarding the Spring Boulevard bridge inquiry sent in 2022. We are following up with Jenifer with related questions and concerns. Ms. Willer supplied the following response about the Spring Boulevard bridge inquiry:
“Public Works Engineering received an assessment from a bridge engineering firm on the seismic vulnerability of the Spring Blvd overpass over 30th Avenue on 1/31/2023. The conclusion is that the bridge does not meet current seismic standards and it would cost less money to replace the bridge than to retrofit it.  I want to note that all City bridges need to be retrofit or replaced to meet current seismic standards, which is common across the state for both state and local agency bridges.
Currently, the City has prioritized bridge retrofits carrying designated emergency routes shown on the map at https://www.eugene-or.gov/2549/Emergency-IceSnow-Routes The City has preliminary designs for 10 bridges prepared and has proceeded to final design for 3 of the 10 bridges. The City has obtained federal grants for constructing the three bridge retrofits that are in final design and has a grant application submitted for a fourth bridge retrofit.
Regarding bridges over 30th Avenue and neighborhood concerns about the route being blocked with debris from the pedestrian bridge or the Spring Blvd bridge, the City has a process in place to clear blockages to get these routes open in the case of a major emergency. In addition to public works resources, we have contracted with a disaster management company that specializes in coming into areas and cleaning up massive amounts of debris and clearing emergency route blockages. Eugene is one of the few west coast cities to have such contracts in place which will allow for much a much quicker response for our area.”
Committee members met with City Transportation Planner Logan Telles and planning students from the UO to discuss their outreach on potential non-permanent roundabouts at the intersection of 35th and Kincaid. Committee members urged door-to-door outreach at homes in direct contact with the intersections in addition to their planned postcard mailing. We helped distribute a survey made by the students by disseminating on Facebook, paper news, and e-news. Members also advocated for further communication between city planners and neighborhood groups in the identification of future project locations.
Committee members met with city staff at the site of the proposed new sidewalk installations on Hilyard at Tugman to discuss concerns related to turning radius and the proposed bump outs. Staff will go ahead with original plans and are certain that the bump out will not pose any traffic hazzard for motorists making northbound turns onto Hilyard.

LTD continues its system-wide ridership assessment this year and we on the Transportation Committee urge members of the community to take the buses in our neighborhood when possible. We will advocate for the return of recently eliminated scheduled routes as staffing becomes normalized at LTD.

Heather Murphy is our new LTD Board representative for the South Eugene subdistrict. She also represents Cottage Grove, Lowell, and Creswell areas. We invite all SEN members to attend a Zoom meet and greet with Heather on Monday, March 20th at 7:00 pm via this Zoom link.  If you have a question you’d like to submit for Ms. Murphy to answer, please email it to sentrans97405@gmail.com ahead of the meeting.

We’ll be looking to plan out the Spring sidewalk cleanup soon as soon as we designate a committee point person — stay tuned for details! If you need help maintaining your sidewalk free of vegetation that impedes safe passage for everyone, please reach out. We’ll contact you send volunteers out to remove the overgrown vegetation.

Friends of Tugman – February 2023 Report

Friends of Tugman – February 2023 Report

 

  • We held one volunteer work event in February on Wednesday, 2/8.
  • February 8th highlights:  we removed the cages from the (7) oaks trees lining the Fawn Lily Rise path in the park’s south slope in order to weed and prep the ground for bark chip mulch addition in early March; cages were re-secured following our prep work
  • We canceled our scheduled Wed. 2/22 work event due to inclement weather. Instead, 6 of us met for lunch and enjoyed the camaraderie of our neighborhood Tugger team.
  • We expect several Tuggers to participate in the next Amazon Creek tree planting event which has been rescheduled to Saturday, March 11th.
  • We received approval from Parks & Open Space to start our restoration project in the natural area just south of the plaque circle in the park’s north end. This work will commence in late march/early April and will include chopping back of the invasive grasses, placement of fabric/plastic to kill off grasses, coverage of the area in mulch and eventually restore the area with appropriate native plants in the coming year(s).
  • The Friends of Tugman park adoption contract with P&OS covering 2023-2025 has now been signed and finalized.

Antisemitism literature in South Eugene

Antisemitism leaflets in Southeast Eugene

“Today, the best defense against antisemitism remains these things: proudly showing up as who we are, and calling in others to ally with us. Antisemitism wins when Jews disappear, when we hide and make ourselves small.”  “…please reach out to your Jewish friends and neighbors and ask how they are doing and what support they might need.”  

-Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein – Temple Beth Israel, Eugene

​​The Southeast Neighbors Association Board strongly condemns the recent acts of antisemitism in our neighborhood as well as Eugene and Springfield.

The following link from the City of Eugene describes hate or bias crimes or incidents, and discrimination.

https://www.eugene-or.gov/529/Hate-and-Bias

To report any hate or bias crimes or incidents or discrimination contact the Eugene Police Non-Emergency Line:

1-541-682-5111

The Oregon Dept. of Justice also requests people report hate/bias crimes and incidents on their non-emergency line: 1-844-924-BIAS (1-844-924-2427) or on their website:

https://justice.oregon.gov/CrimeReporting/BiasCrime

Ready Southeast February 2023 Report

Our preparedness committee continues with our Second Sunday radio check-ins. On January 8 fifty two of our volunteers participated. We start with our block captains reporting to their area coordinators. The coordinators then check in with our communications lead Larry Kirkpatrick, who in turn does a check-in with all of our ham radio operators.
This last week we got back on schedule with our first Thursday of the month committee meetings.  This is an open meeting. All of the volunteers in the preparedness program are invited.

At our meeting on February 2 we discussed the exercises we did with the City’s CERT leadership team last fall and specifically the work most of us need to do to improve the accuracy and brevity of our messaging. We agreed to work on this as well as the use of ICS reporting forms during our next exercise.

We’ve committed to doing two exercises with our volunteers each year. The CERT leadership team has consistently organized an exercise in the fall. We have done our neighborhood exercises in the spring to early summer. We’re planning an exercise for late May this year. We’ll incorporate our emergency supplies cached around the neighborhood into this exercise. We want to include more SE neighbors in this exercise and are exploring how best to invite them. We’ll mention it in this upcoming newsletter and depending on access to SEN outreach and education funding we’ll print up some posters for the event.

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