Author: Joshua Kielas

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Year End Update from Ready NW Eugene

As we reach the end of 2022, it’s important to reflect on the accomplishments of the year and look ahead and our goals for 2023!

This Ready NW Eugene Team was formed a few years ago by a few Northwest Eugene neighbors, with the support of the River Road, Bethel, and Santa Clara neighborhood organizations, and aims to reach all neighbors to continue the conversation about Personal and Community Preparedness. We meet on the First Tuesday of each month from 6:30 – 7:30 pm via Zoom and everyone is invited to join these conversations.

Here is a Summary of our 2022 Recorded Meetings:

  • January 4, 2022 – Discussion with Catherine Zunno of the City of Eugene’s Emergency Management Department about Winter Power Outages and Personal Preparedness. – View Meeting Recording
  • February 1, 2022 – We held our first Virtual Evacuation Exercise of a simulated Chlorine Gas leak at a rail yard in Northwest Eugene. We explored how neighbors would be alerted of the incident, how to identify our Evacuation Zones, if we were prepared to evacuate or shelter in place, and how to consider rapidly changing conditions. – View Meeting Recording
  • March 9, 2022 – Emergency Preparedness Team Meeting with updates from neighbors about their preparedness efforts. – View Meeting Recording
  • April 5, 2022 – Discussion with Travis Knudsen of LRAPA (Lane Regional Air Protection Agency) about Air Quality in Eugene and Lane County. – View Meeting Recording
  • May 3, 2022 – Discussion with Lin Woodrich of Ready NW Eugene and Merrill Harrison from Eugene Springfield Fire about Fire Behavior and Defensible Space in NW Eugene. – View Meeting Recording
  • July 5, 2022 – Discussion with Jacque Wurster of Ready NW Eugene about Extreme Heat and Summer Power Outages. – View Meeting Recording
  • August 2, 2022 – Discussion with neighbors about generating Community outreach. – View Meeting Recording
  • October 5, 2022 – Updates from Summer and Fall activities, Permaculture Tours, Damage Assessment Teams, Preparing for the Dam Safety Presentation – View Meeting Recording
  • November 1, 2022 – Updates from neighbors about their preparedness efforts, Preparing for the Dam Safety Presentation. – View Meeting Recording
  • November 14, 2022 – Discussion with US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) about Dam Safety and Inundation Mapping. – View Meeting Recording

We need your help to continue these efforts! The City of Eugene, Lane County, and Eugene Springfield Fire have Emergency Plans in place for how to respond to large scale disasters (https://www.eugene-or.gov/681/Emergency-Plans), but first responders may not be able to reach you or have other higher priorities after a major (or minor!) event and your immediate neighbors may become your help, until help arrives. Knowing this, it is our responsibility as residents and neighbors to research and share the necessary information, tools, and know-how to minimize the effects of the disaster on our community.

“These individual responsibilities include hazard awareness, knowledge of appropriate protective actions, taking steps to mitigate the effect of anticipated hazards, and preparing for personal and family safety and self-sufficiency.” – Eugene-Springfield Multi-Jurisdictional Emergency Operations Plan

If you have questions or are interested in any volunteering for specific areas listed below, please contact ReadyNWeugene@gmail.com. No experience necessary!

Looking to Organize in our Neighborhood:
  • Map Your Neighborhood/Block Parties/Immediate Neighbor Contacts
  • Establishing a Radio Network/Communication Hubs
  • Establishing Damage Assessment Teams
  • First Aid Training
  • Power Outage Practice Event
  • Evacuation Practice Event
Looking for Expert Presentations and Discussions on:
  • Earthquake Damage
  • Water Storage
  • Water Purification
  • Food Storage
  • Creative ways to acquire and use multi-functional emergency supplies in everyday use and for quick access
  • Small space storage ideas
  • Fire and Defensible Space
  • Front Yard Gardens/Food Sharing/Edible Landscapes
  • Dam Safety and Flooding
  • Incident Command System
Needing help from neighbors with these tasks:
  • Planning monthly meetings
  • Hosting monthly meetings
  • Taking notes during monthly meetings
  • Writing neighborhood matching grants
  • Evaluating the city/county emergency plans
  • Follow up with city/county officials with questions from neighbors and organize action steps
  • Social media management
  • Update website content
  • Create “advertising” materials or content for newsletters, articles, blog posts, etc.
  • Follow up on inquiries to email contacts
  • Business reach outs
  • Church reach outs
  • School reach outs
  • Youth organization reach outs
  • Engaging students or interns

Next Meeting – Tuesday January 3, 2023 06:30 – 7:30 PM

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85657314800?pwd=VVQzWDRiL2dGTFE2K3diOVpSMFlIZz09
Meeting ID: 856 5731 4800
Passcode: prep

Visit the RRCO Emergency Preparedness Team Page/ for more preparedness tips.

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RRCO Board Member Election Results March 2022

Ballot Box Image

Congratulations to: Carly Sylva-Gabrielson, Susan Kittleson, Stefan Ostrach, and Mysti Frost who were elected tonight!

Thanks to departing board members Dwight Owens, Harry Sanger, Jan Spencer, and Joshua Kielas for your service to the neighborhood on the board. We hope you will stay involved going forward.

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A Welcoming Attitude

By Carleen Reilly

The River Road neighborhood lawn signs say, “Building Community Together.” Living in a neighborhood that chooses to focus on building community feels good. ‘Community’ opens the possibility of accomplishing tasks large and small to make the whole neighborhood shine with pride. Our ‘River and Garden District’ offers many chances to work together, clearing invasive species along the river, planning for a neighborhood to serve future needs, or working to protect good air quality and clean water.

One problem that looms large in our neighborhood and across the broad metro area is how to meet the needs of a growing population of unsheltered people. The River Road neighborhood likes to think of ourselves as a welcoming community, but voices on social media tell us that we should be fearful of new people arriving in our neighborhood, whether they are moving into an apartment complex or seeking the simple shelter of a Conestoga hut.

How do we choose a welcoming attitude towards new people? For one thing, we must learn to set our fears aside and see the gifts new people bring with them. New neighbors often have enthusiasm for community projects. Current neighbors who have been in the trenches for a long time are tired. This injection of new energy often pushes a project over the goal line. New neighbors bring skills and knowledge that revitalize our energy stores and offer new ideas to improve our vision.

Iris Place, a new affordable housing project, will open this year on River Road, just north of our DariMart. We can choose to welcome our new neighbors or hold them at arms length. It is exciting to have this well-planned project underway. We are delighted to know that our new neighbors will be well cared for. Educational and social services will provide support as they raise children and learn to live in community.

Our neighbors put a great deal of thought into requesting energy efficiency, plenty of landscaping, and adjustment of building placement to minimize impacts on surrounding neighbors. This is a joint effort between the neighborhood, the City of Eugene, and St. Vincent de Paul. SVdP has a team of River Road neighbors who are kept up to date on the construction project and advise the construction team about neighbors’ desires and concerns. This team communicates with the River Road Community Organization about the status of the project.

Iris Place will have a community room open to the broader neighborhood and will provide a place for us to get acquainted with one another. We can start thinking, right now, about how we can integrate with one another. A few ideas come to mind.

Working together on tasks and holding socials are good for learning about one another. The Willamette River may be common ground that allows us to learn together: Walking tours along the river to observe wildlife, learning which paths access the river from River Road, locating public parks, and planning for clean up parties.

Another neighborhood held a welcoming celebration for residents and staff at a new affordable housing project. The project itself has pathways from one side of the neighborhood to a park on the other side. Regular social events, like ice cream socials, game nights, singalongs, and educational activities can knit a community together. Current affairs discussion groups, book clubs, children’s craft groups, sewing and quilting circles, fix-it cafes, and helping-hand events allow us to get acquainted in non-threatening situations. This brings to mind a childhood song: “The more we get together, the happier we’ll be.’ Building friendships rather than nursing separations will make everyone happier.

Let’s all choose a welcoming attitude and build a sense of community with one another. And once we are beyond the pandemic, we can live out our dreams together.

By the way, you, too, can obtain your River Road Community Organization lawn sign by going to the website and requesting one. That would be a good start toward choosing a welcoming attitude.

Disclaimer: This article is my personal views and interpretation of community events and neighborhood planning efforts. I am not a Board member of RRCO (River Road Community Organization); SCRRIPT (Santa Clara-River Road Implementation Planning Team) has transitioned leadership to the Community Advisory Committee (CAC); and I have never been a City employee.

Carleen Reilly has lived in the neighborhood for over 40 years. She served on the RRCO board of directors from 2007-2013, and has been involved over the years with the Joint Strategy Team (JuST), the Santa Clara-River Road Outreach and Learning project (SCRROL), and the Santa Clara-River Road Implementation Planning Team (SCRRIPT)

She publishes a weekly e-newsletter called “River Road Community Resource Group Newsletter” that focuses on land use, transportation, parks and open spaces, economic development, and Community interests as they are related to our Neighborhood Planning activities in conjunction with the Santa Clara neighborhood. If you would like to subscribe you can contact Carleen at: carleenr |at| gmail dot com.

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River Road Community Update #255

By Carleen Reilly

Coronavirus, Neighborhood Planning, and meeting cancellation. Well, dear friends, a lot has changed on the health front since my last message to you. Info about how to take care of yourself, family, friends, neighbors, and the larger community abound. Thus, I will not repeat it here. This crisis makes us particularly aware that building community connectedness is critical to health, well-being, and survival. This crisis thoroughly reveals ‘why’ ‘Community’ has been built permanently into our neighborhood planning efforts.

This link isn’t the most recent version of the draft plan, but it covers all categories. Most changes are to combine, wordsmith, and move actions from one category to the other. Please look at the Community goals, policies, and actions. Some of the critical work supports our vital services, like fire protection, water delivery, law enforcement, and emergency preparedness. https://www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/48190/November-2019-Draft-of-Goals-Policies-and-Actions

As a result of the virus, most community meetings have been cancelled, including our Land Use Conversations. 🙁 If you were planning to attend something, you may want to check to see if it has been cancelled.

RRCO Board meeting. Monday evening, the RRCO Board met virtually. Joshua Kielas set things up on Zoom, and members carried on! Here’s an iteration of meetings cancelled that are known:

  • Land Use Conversations
  • Affordable Housing Meeting
  • Coffee with the Chief at Black Rock
  • Mulch-a-Palooza (rescheduling uncertain)
  • Community Advisory Committee meeting was not scheduled for Spring Vacation.
  • River Road Park and Recreation District classes and activities are closed from March 14 through March 31. Reassessment will be made later. Scheduling for Spring classes continues by phone at 541-688-4052 or message through their Facebook page.

The March General meeting was discussed. Contact will be made with candidates to see if they would submit information about their qualifications and proposals for their races that could be distributed to neighbors. Another option is to hold a ‘virtual’ meeting with the neighborhood, just as the RRCO Board had, if the candidates are also willing to participate. It is time to employ 21st century technology to keep ourselves connected and make progress on our projects.

  • WEDNESDAY, March 19, 2020, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Let’s Talk Land: Neighborhood Plan Community Conversations. Cancelled.
  • FRIDAY, March 20, 2020, 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Police Chief Skinner.  Cancelled. 
  • SATURDAY, March 21, 2020, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00. Mulch-A-Palooza 2020.  Cancelled.
  • TUESDAY, April 7, 2020, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Let’s Talk Land: Neighborhood Plan Community Conversations.  Cancelled.
  • SATURDAY, April 18, 2020, 11:00 to 2:00 p.m. Annual Awbrey Park Wildflower Walk and Santa Clara Community Celebration. 

Disclaimer: The RR CRG weekly messages are my personal views and interpretation of community events and neighborhood planning efforts. I am not a Board member of RRCO (River Road Community Organization); SCRRIPT (Santa Clara-River Road Implementation Planning Team) has transitioned leadership to the Community Advisory Committee (CAC); and I have never been a City employee.

Carleen Reilly has lived in the neighborhood for over 40 years. She served on the RRCO board of directors from 2007-2013, and has been involved over the years with the Joint Strategy Team (JuST), the Santa Clara-River Road Outreach and Learning project (SCRROL), and the Santa Clara-River Road Implementation Planning Team (SCRRIPT)

She publishes a weekly e-newsletter called “River Road Community Resource Group Newsletter” that focuses on land use, transportation, parks and open spaces, economic development, and Community interests as they are related to our Neighborhood Planning activities in conjunction with the Santa Clara neighborhood. If you would like to subscribe you can contact Carleen at: carleenr |at| gmail dot com.

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River Road Community Update #248

By Carleen Reilly

I was remiss last week in not providing Andy Kading’s email address to you. Andy works at Eugene’s Traffic Operations and informed neighbors at the River Road Community Organization (RRCO) January meeting about traffic signal lights and how they are synchronized. I didn’t have his email available a couple of weeks ago, but members of the RR CRG sent it to me. AKading@eugene-or.gov Our members are a fount of wisdom.

Land Use Conversations. Pat and I attended the first Conversation, held at Countryside Pizza, Monday at Noon. We had a full house and a lively discussion about the draft proposals for zoning along the River Road Corridor for housing and commercial activities. The best thing you can do is sign up to attend a Conversation (See Calendar), listen to others, and provide your views. We received a postcard in the mail yesterday, so you have a hard copy to square with your calendar. What I have to say here are my personal views, and other Conversations may center on different areas of the neighborhoods than ours did.

My first observation was that nearly all land use questions morphed into transportation questions. As we add new housing, new people in our neighborhoods will need to get to school or work, need to buy groceries, go to doctor’s appointments, attend lectures and meetings, and travel to visit friends and family. When new dwellings are added to current parcels–one at a time, no traffic impact analysis would be conducted. Is there a way we could conduct annual traffic analyses to give us indicators about traffic trends and implement more incentives for people to use public transit, or bike and walk? Employers might give employees a bonus if they use public transit, bike, or walk to work. I think it might be seen as vindictive if employers charged their employees for driving and the use of a parking lot. There are times an employee needs to drive in order to get to a doctor or dentist appointment or go to an event after work.

Then, a question arises as to whether our neighborhood plan would require parking be provided on the property for each dwelling. River Road and Santa Clara have a particular problem in that our lanes are narrow, often just two vehicle lanes and fog lines on either side. When neighbors park their cars in the rights-of-way, it makes walking or biking dangerous. Pat and I sometimes see a woman in her wheelchair early mornings, ‘walking’ her dog. She has to go quite a ways out into the traffic lane to go around parked cars. This puts her in the line of fire as she is unable to maneuver quickly when vehicles come around the corner.

Another area of discussion was about agricultural land within the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB). I see this as a trade off. Some are adamant about protecting this ag land, but, I am adamant about protecting the large agricultural area beyond the UGB and the City Limits. I would love it if every parcel had its own garden, but if we do not provide sufficient parcels for housing within the UGB, then we will have to extend the UGB to bring in additional land for housing, encroaching on ag land. One thing we learned in Envision Eugene, some 9+ years ago, was that when you take in more territory, you would want to build single-family housing, because it would produce fewer vehicles commuting for jobs and school than large apartment complexes.

A related topic is to provide adequate land to add sufficient housing for new residents, both within our neighborhoods and the larger community. One comment was that this concept extends zoning too far out into the neighborhood (1/4 mile). First of all, House Bill 2001 only allows (not mandates) an owner to add another dwelling unit to their parcel, if they choose to. My fear is that if we plan to add most new dwelling units closer to the corridor, then we would have to build such tall apartment houses–close together–along the corridor that it would feel like a canyon when you walk or ride along River Road. I would rather have people have the opportunity to build further out into the neighborhood, scattering the new dwellings, and providing a variety of housing (rather than big blocks of housing going up all at once).

A powerful comment was made about how to provide housing for the unhoused. I am very proud of our neighborhoods’ welcome of affordable housing. We are lucky that our affordable housing is currently very well managed and great community assets. Many people and groups are working toward providing dwellings for unhoused and underhoused people, and the City and County are cooperating to locate parcels and finding funds to underwrite this effort. The state has recently provided additional funds for housing the unhoused for out community and around Oregon. But, as long as people have private property rights, we do not have mechanisms to require that dwellings built be affordable. We can set zoning across an area, but setbacks, heights, and  limits won’t keep someone from choosing to build a McMansion. Incentives like MUPTI (Multi-Unit Property Tax Exemptions) could be used to encourage more affordable dwelling units or even ADA units for seniors and physically impaired people.

I heard a piece of transportation-related data that affordable housing groups have fewer cars and utilize public transit to a greater extent than other market-rate apartment or single-family residents. This bodes well in our efforts to transition from single-vehicle trips to public transit or walking and biking.

I hope you will attend a Conversation and get your copy of the Corridor map that shows proposed housing and commercial concepts with specifics about zoning setbacks, heights, buffering, and details. Make your own educated conclusion of how these concepts will work on your street and in your life, then provide information to help make the best decisions for our community overall.

Calendar

  • THURSDAY, January 30, 2020, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Let’s Talk Land: Neighborhood Plan Community Conversations. Santa Clara. RSVP for meeting location. cepddrrscplan@ci.eugene.or.us
  • THURSDAY, February 6, 2020, 7:00 p.m. Santa Clara Community Organization. Messiah Lutheran Church.
  • THURSDAY, February 6, 2020, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Let’s Talk Land: Neighborhood Plan Community Conversations. River Road. RSVP for meeting location. cepddrrscplan@ci.eugene.or.us
  • MONDAY, February 10, 2020, 7:00 p.m. River Road Community Organization General Membership meeting.  River Road Annex, 1055 River Road.
  • WEDNESDAY, February 12, 2020, Noon to 1:30 p.m. Let’s Talk Land: Neighborhood Plan Community Conversations. River Road. RSVP for meeting location. cepddrrscplan@ci.eugene.or.us
  • THURSDAY, February 13, 2020, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Let’s Talk Land: Neighborhood Plan Community Conversations. River Road. RSVP for meeting location. cepddrrscplan@ci.eugene.or.us
  • MONDAY, February 17, 2020. River Road Community Organization Board meeting. River Road Annex, 1055 River Road.
  • MONDAY, February 24, 2020, 11:30 a.m. Eugene Planning Commission. Work Session on River Road/Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan. Atrium, Sloat Room, 99 West 10th Avenue.
  • MONDAY, February 24, 2020, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Let’s Talk Land: Neighborhood Plan Community Conversations. Santa Clara. RSVP for meeting location. cepddrrscplan@ci.eugene.or.us
  • WEDNESDAY, March 4, 2020, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Let’s Talk Land: Neighborhood Plan Community Conversations. River Road. RSVP for meeting location. cepddrrscplan@ci.eugene.or.us

Disclaimer: The RR CRG weekly messages are my personal views and interpretation of community events and neighborhood planning efforts. I am not a Board member of RRCO (River Road Community Organization); SCRRIPT (Santa Clara-River Road Implementation Planning Team) has transitioned leadership to the Community Advisory Committee (CAC); and I have never been a City employee.

Carleen Reilly has lived in the neighborhood for over 40 years. She served on the RRCO board of directors from 2007-2013, and has been involved over the years with the Joint Strategy Team (JuST), the Santa Clara-River Road Outreach and Learning project (SCRROL), and the Santa Clara-River Road Implementation Planning Team (SCRRIPT)

She publishes a weekly e-newsletter called “River Road Community Resource Group Newsletter” that focuses on land use, transportation, parks and open spaces, economic development, and Community interests as they are related to our Neighborhood Planning activities in conjunction with the Santa Clara neighborhood. If you would like to subscribe you can contact Carleen at: carleenr |at| gmail dot com.

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