River Road Community Organization
The River and Garden District
Here is an easy way to help strengthen our local community and make a statement in support of River Road being a welcoming and inclusive neighborhood! The sign has two sides, one in English and the other Spanish. They are available for free at our events, and you can contact us through our web form with your River Road address and we will find a way to get one to you.
Presentation by Jan Spencer
Tuesday, Dec 3, 6:30
River Road Recreation Center, 1400 Lake Drive, River Road Neighborhood
A growing number of cities and towns all over the world are pushing back on cars. Parklets, Intersection Repair, community plazas, congestion pricing, redesign of streets and limiting cars and trucks from city centers are only a few push back approaches. Nijmegen and Groningen, Holland; Copenhagen, Oslo and Madrid can boast of impressive strategies – and results – for encouraging bike, walking or transit trips rather than cars. Barcelona, Spain’s Super Block Program is perhaps the world’s most ambitious effort at car push back to reclaim streets for people, public health and livability. Even New York City is active in pushing back on cars.
Pushing back on cars can happen at home as well – take out the driveway and replace with food production, turn a garage into living space.
The Dec 3 slide show/presentation will touch on the history of pushing back on cars in the US, describing highways in the US that have been removed such as the Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco and highways prevented such as the Southwest Corridor in Boston. Critical Mass bike rides and Parking Day are grass roots examples of pushing back on cars. Eugene’s Sunday Streets is a mild push back on cars.
Times Square in NYC is only the most well known example of dozens of Community Plazas in New York City. The Vauban Neighborhood in Freiberg, Germany is a vacated and repurposed French military base that was purposefully designed to dramatically reduce the presence and use of cars. In Eugene, turning River Road into an EmX corridor would also include new bike lane design that would give bike riders much greater protection from car traffic.
Jan will also show a new proposed bike map of Eugene that would take lanes of traffic from various streets and turn them into a city wide network of protected bike ways.
Finally, a review – the benefits of pushing back on cars.
Please join us for a fascinating presentation and Please forward this message.
More info at http://suburbanpermaculture.org and related podcasts at https://player.whooshkaa.com/shows/creating-a-resilient-future
This image from Groningen, Holland. A small city with a population about the same as Eugene and Springfield. The scene show part of the bike park at the railway station.
Another town in Holland. Car free center of the city. You cannot drive across town.You have to go out to the ring road and drive in. Its faster and easier to ride a bike for trips between neighborhoods.
Over 300 people enjoyed the Community Resilience Festival on Aug 24th! They browsed, tabled, heard about solutions for resilience from speakers, and collaborated on ideas for community action such as a local food system network. A banner was created to represent River Road in the Eugene Parade. Thanks to all who participated and made this event such a success!
There are pictures and comments on https://www.facebook.com/River-Road-Community-Organization
If you weren’t able to make it but are interested in seeing some of what happened you can watch video that has graciously been taken and made available by Todd Boyle.
Plenary Talks:
Jan Spencer – “Towards A Green and Resilient Culture and Economy”
https://youtu.be/YSaLrs7iFjs?t=325
Terry McDonald, Executive Director of St. Vincent de Paul – “St. Vinnies Builds Community Economic Resilience”
https://youtu.be/YSaLrs7iFjs?t=1032
Charlie Tilt and Kate Perle – “Local Food Systems Build Regional Resilience”
https://youtu.be/YSaLrs7iFjs?t=1622
Clare Strawn – “Creating a Regenerative and Resilient Local Economy”
https://youtu.be/YSaLrs7iFjs?t=3377
Residential Coops:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8cjoEIy9v0&t=1449s
Skeeter Duke – East Blair Housing Cooperative
Rob Bolman – Maitreya Eco Village
Tom Atlee – Walnut Street Co-op
Joanne Fox – PDX Commons, Portland
We are only 2 weeks from the Community Resilience Festival. One of the most rewarding parts of helping to create an event is seeing it come into focus. And another great part is working with friends and neighbors for the good of the neighborhood and good of the planet. Its awesome to see people becoming involved, to see the creative ideas turn into plans and then, of course, the day of the event.
The event will have a lot of moving pieces – the round table conversations, the fishbowls, skill shares out at the pavilion along with the Kid Zone. We look forward to the key note presentations and seeing all the community groups tabling, sharing their passion for all kinds of actions and ideals that are all part of a more green and resilient home, neighborhood, economy and culture.
The Resilience Festival now has a food truck. Not only does The Peaceful Palette have a great menu of eco-friendly vegan food, you can bring your own dinnerware and totally avoid the throw away plate, cup and plastic. Bring your own!
Did someone say site tours? We have an exciting month following the ‘fest of site tours [Aug 17, 31, Sept. 7, 14, 21, 28, Oct TBA] all over Eugene to see in real life what much of the discussion at the Resilience Festival will talk about – people living with smaller eco-footprints. Tours will visit residential properties in River Road, Amazon, Whiteaker, Friendly and Jefferson Neighborhoods.
We will visit East Blair Housing Co-op and Maitreya Eco Village and the Neighborhood Assembly of God’s market garden and outreach project. Our final tour will be the Willamette Greenway in River Road where neighbors collaborate with the city for low/no use of herbicides, removal of invasive species and restoration of habitat, along with the wonderful 65 tree filbert grove.
So please join us! Share your story about how you are living more green and resilient!
By Carleen Reilly
I wasn’t expecting cloudy weather in early August. I’m not complaining. I like being a little cooler.
Hawthorne area Block Party/Public Safety. Last night’s event was more Block Party and less public safety. However, neighbors commented that it was good to get acquainted with one another and be able to recognize who belonged in the ‘hood. I did hear a story of a burglary in that area. I also noticed on Facebook that a Cherry/Park Ave home was robbed in the middle of the night, even though a house sitter was sleeping there. They broke in through a window that had a fan in it. Do be careful to keep things locked up. No use in giving burglars easy entry.
I must say that the Block Party was a Walk of Guilty Pleasures. I had allotted us an hour to make our rounds, but it was closer to two hours for our jaunt. We thoroughly enjoyed stopping here and there, introducing ourselves, meeting people who were born in the neighborhood and neighbors who are new, chatting and hearing stories about walnut and peach orchards and gruff Mr. Goddard who chastised the children for picking ripe peaches. We listened to some good guitar music and ‘perused’ a few ‘Monster’ books hand drawn by children with wild and wacky names for each monster.
But you can only eat so much watermelon; drink so much juice, water, or wine; and munch chips, dip, and cookies. I can’t tell you how fabulous the people were, both the hosts and the walkers. But I had multiple pangs of guilt as we walked right by three out of four neighbors who had set up chairs in their driveways or backyards to welcome visitors. I particularly felt guilty when we had to turn down two little girls with their free lemonade. I regret not being able to see the lovely backyards and gardens that were opened and made welcoming. We passed right by the man who was handing out free plants. And I am really sad that we didn’t get to see the steam engine train that was out on a run with passengers. I would never have guessed that we had a train in our River Road neighborhood. We are so lucky to have so many friendly, open people here.
If someone has a Block Party in our neighborhood again, I encourage you to participate and allow enough time so your don’t go away feeling guilty.
RRCO meeting. Our elected State legislators, City, County, EWEB, and other government officials will be on hand to share with neighbors and listen to our questions. The meeting is on August 12, 7:00 River Road Annex, 1055 River Road.
Neighborhood Planning CAC meeting. Don’t forget the Community Advisory Committee meeting on August 13, 6:00 p.m. at the 2nd & Chamber Fire Station. A River Road Corridor Study survey will be ready mid-August. The survey will include templates with options for styles of housing and commercial development. A public comment time is available at the beginning of the CAC meeting. Your thoughts are important on land use, transportation, economic development, parks and open spaces, and community (delivery of services, governance, building of social fabric, etc.).
Community Resilience Festival.Saturday, August 24, 10:00 to 5:00, Emerald Park, 1400 Lake Dr. This free and family-friendly event will be an opportunity to learn how to reduce your eco-footprint and survive a crisis with home grown food, water, and energy. Make some art and meet neighbors. Discussions will be held on the topics of housing and density, transportation projects, and parks. Check out the official page for more info.
Plastics Recycling. Kelly Bell at Lane County sent me tons of information about plastics recycling. If you are interested in what you can or cannot recycle or want to register to be neighborhood collector of plastics, please send me a note, and I will forward detailed accurate information. No more wondering what is permitted and what just has to be thrown out–even if it breaks your heart.
Transportation funding. When I listen to neighbors talk about transportation projects, knowledge about funding is limited. People don’t realize that bike/ped projects cannot be funded by gas taxes wholly dedicated to roads for vehicles. Even though the bike/ped path runs alongside the road, they are funded separately. You can learn more about funding transportation projects at https://keeporegonconnected.org/
As people drive more efficient hybrid and electric vehicles, we are paying fewer taxes. That creates a shortfall in funding for maintenance and preservation of roads, including seismic upgrades. Here are a few facts.
“Oregon has about 74,000 miles of roads and more than 8,000 bridges, connecting residents and visitors to their favorite places,” … most people who drive those highways and crossings don’t pause to think about their future maintenance and preservation.”
“Oregon raises money to take care of roads and bridges through a gas tax paid at the pump and vehicle fees. With more vehicles getting much better fuel efficiency, many people are paying less in gas taxes while using the road just as much. OReGO was designed to ensure drivers pay for what they use – miles of road – instead of what they consume – gallons of fuel. But most people don’t know a lot about how they pay for roads.”
“…to help Oregonians understand the transportation funding problem, what it means for them and how OReGO works to solve it,… ODOT will be at community events around the state now through 2020, beginning with the Oregon State Fair in Salem, August 23-25. Follow ODOT on Facebook or on Twitter @OregonDOT to learn about future Keep Oregon Connected events.”
I am encouraged also by the transportation bill passed by the legislature a couple of years ago that included mechanisms other than gas taxes to fund bike and pedestrian projects. Another stream of funding is the only way we will get to the multi-modal future that we want to live in.
Calendar
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.
By Carleen Reilly
It’s strange to wake up to so many cloudy days in July, but it does keep us a little cooler. That’s okay with me.
River Road Neighborhood Walk with the Mayor! We finally have specific details for our walk with Mayor Lucy Vinis on Saturday, July 27. We’ve done some finessing to accommodate Mayor Vinis’s schedule. Reality Kitchen expects us to trickle in between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. if you want to purchase coffee and/or a goodie. Lucy will join us about 9:30, along with the City’s Sustainability Manager Chelsea Clinton. We’ll round ourselves up by 9:45 to head out on the Rasor Ave. path to the West Bank Trail. We’ll be walking about 1.2 miles. We’re planning to arrive about 10:30 at the Kittleson’s on Elkay for some cool refreshments and share insights from our walk. Lucy has to leave by 11:00.
This is a chance to get our feet on the ground and eyes on the built and natural environment to be informed neighbors as we draw our Neighborhood Plan. Some obvious conversations will circle around protections for the Willamette Greenway, parks, bike and pedestrian paths, economic development, traffic safety along River Road and the Lanes, housing including lot sizes and styles of homes and what’s needed to accommodate new neighbors, trees, gardens, landscaping, stormwater drainage, schools and Safe Routes to Schools, public transit/bus services, and whatever else is on our neighbors’ minds.
Let me know if you are planning to participate. We have about a dozen people signed up, and we can accommodate about eight more.
Wear your sunhat, bring your water bottle, and put on sunscreen. We’ll stash some cars at the Kittleson’s to ferry you back to Reality Kitchen if you left your car or bicycle there. This should be a child and pet-friendly walk, as long as your dog interacts well with other dogs. We assume the people will act equally appropriate. This is a special opportunity for us to learn from our environment and from one another.
National Night Out. Neighbors in the Hawthorne Ave., Hardy, Dorris, Merieu and possibly Park Ave. are hosting a neighborhood block party to celebrate community with a NNO event on August 6.
NNO is a public safety event held across the nation on the first Tuesday of August. It is an opportunity for you to learn some safety prevention information.
National Night Out is a community-building campaign that promotes police-public partnerships to make our communities safer, more caring places to live. National Night Out enhances the relationship between residents and law enforcement while bringing back a true sense of community and provides a great opportunity to bring police and neighbors together under positive circumstances.
Neighborhood Planning update. Our NP Community Advisory Committee (CAC) met last night, and lots of work has been done by Goal Tenders and Working Groups. It is encouraging to learn that duplications are being eliminated, and actions are being moved to relevant goals. Streamlining the document will make it easier to comprehend. I appreciate their hard work in fine-combing policies and actions.
Summer outreach at each event yields a dozen signups for the NP e-news and some in-depth conversations. The fear is that 50% to 75% of our neighbors aren’t aware of our project that will affect every neighbor, renter or property owner, and business.
What are creative ways we can inform more neighbors? It seems that neighbors throw out postcards with announcements. We’ve considered billboards, putting a big vehicle out on a vacant lot with a giant banner announcing our events, door-to-door canvassing, lawn signs, postcards with children’s artwork showing their ideas for neighborhood, and others. Your ideas for outreach are needed, and your efforts to distribute flyers or posters are very valuable.
We had an update on the River Road Corridor study and saw new maps, conceptual ideas for commercial and residential housing, and written descriptions. It was exciting to discuss these concepts and understand how they would work in our neighborhoods. We gave suggestions to make them better understood by neighbors. A questionnaire will be worked up to go along with these materials so neighbors can make their preferences known. This activity will start in late summer.
HB 2001 passed by legislature. A new bill was passed by the legislature to encourage more housing in single-family zoned areas in cities. We will be talking about the implications of this as we draw out our neighborhood plan. The City of Eugene has a Frequently Asked Question link that is under development. Check it out to see if your question is answered. If not, we can ask additional questions that might be included. https://www.eugene-or.gov/4244/Single-Family-Zoning
Property Tax estimator. I often speak with neighbors who have an outsized-estimate of how much their taxes would go up if they were to annex to the City of Eugene. Our tax estimator calculator has been updated with the most recent levies. I have used it many times over the years, and it would cost me about $400 more if I annexed (if state law would permit me to–but that’s another story). At $130 a year for a library card and the public safety services I would receive, $400 would be well spent. Check out this website to get an estimate of what your taxes would be.
https://pdd.eugene-or.gov/Home/PropertyTaxEstimator
The next update should occur towards the end of 2019 after the taxes are certified in October.
Calendar
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.
The Community Resilience Festival is coming into focus. The physical space includes a large room half the size of a gym and four classrooms. We will also have use of outside for breakout groups that want a quieter place.
Plans for the large room are for 15 to 20 groups and persons tabling. There will be an appropriate tech area, a kid zone, food groups, housing, economics, land use. We want various interest groups to not only connect with the public but also with each other. We anticipate some kind of centerpiece decoration made of fabric and magical supports.
The large room will also have a presentation area in one corner. Several times during the day we are planning open space table top discussions on specific topics. People can browse the discussions, come and go, join another discussion as they like. There are several confirmed plenary speakers including Terry McDonald, Clare Strawn, Charlie Tilt, and Jan Spencer.
One of the classrooms will be dedicated to the River Road/Santa Clara Neighborhood Planning Process. We expect there to be many maps and graphics explaining this 2 year process of creating a set of documents that will guide decision making for the next 20 plus years in Santa Clara and River Road for land use, economic development, transportation, open space, resilience and community building. The entire effort is an unprecedented opportunity for creating far more green and resilient homes, neighborhood, economy and community.
Local food systems is another very important topic. At this point, close to 10 organizations with a keen interest in local food production intend to participate. They will have table top information but also, there will be presentations about local food systems, including a plenary talk and also a fishbowl. The fishbowl will be 6 to 8 persons involved with various aspects of local food systems in a facilitated format, taking questions from the facilitator and talking with each other, with an audience listening in. We want these groups to become acquainted and support each other’s work and to facilitate more people to become involved.
Cooperation Eugene will bring strategies for focusing on local enterprises such as building community through a Time Bank, and identifying local assets that strengthen our resilience. You can explore how the Lane Service Sharing Network (LSSN) time bank will enrich your life. One of the plenary talks will be about cooperative economics.
Speaking of cooperation, another fishbowl will be about cooperative living. The plan is to bring together persons involved with several of Eugene’s residential living communities to compare notes with each other while the audience is listening in. Co-op living will play a much more pronounced role in a near future where we can expect the needs for cooperation between friends, housemates, and neighbors to increase.
Several presentations we are looking forward to include a unique project by the Neighborhood Assembly of God Church in Santa Clara. Their garden outreach project, in the early going, has to be one of the most exciting community initiatives in Eugene.
There will be other presentations about transforming suburban properties for taking care of more basic needs on site and a presentation by members of the Neighborhood Leaders Council about preparedness.
There will be a space for Eugene Neighborhood Association leaders to meet and compare notes from their neighborhoods. Neighborhood leaders from Bend, Corvallis, Salem and the Portland area have also been invited to share what they are doing to create more green, cohesive, and resilient neighborhoods.
One final item for this update. There will be several site tours of residential properties with exceptional green and resilient features, both built and social. Plans are in place for site tours in River Road, East Blair Housing Co-op, Maitreya Eco Village and a double property in Amazon Neighborhood. We expect more tours to be added. Details will be forthcoming.
That’s enough for this update. Check back for another update in a couple weeks, maybe less!
By Carleen Reilly
What do you know? We leave home for the weekend and hear the news in Eastern Oregon that our neighborhood had a dramatic lightning strike with an exploding tree on Park Ave. The Register-Guard article wasn’t the best reportage. I looked to find out what part of River Road (the street) the strike occurred on. Turns out, it wasn’t on the Road but in the River Road neighborhood. When I listened to the report from a neighbor who watched and filmed the strike, it was an eventful blast. I am glad it happened when everything was wet. On a hot summer day, nearby trees and homes could have been lit afire by the flying, burning branches.
River Road Corridor Events. I reported in the last RR CRG that there would be another Business Roundtable, but that is no longer on the agenda. As we get closer, I will try to share the various activities of the 2-day workshop. A Public Open House is still scheduled for June 3 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the 2nd and Chambers Fire Station.
Working Groups. The Neighborhood Planning working groups weren’t well attended last night, but those who were there delved the depths of policies, actions, and comments. This finer tuning will be needed to clarify, pare overlaps and redundancies, and sort out priorities. Neighbors’ generous comments are a sorting nightmare.
A couple of us worked on the transportation safety goal. One request was to develop a list of the highest priority transportation concerns. Here are my immediate thoughts, and I would like to know if you agree or have other high priority transportation concerns.
Do these stack up for you as being high priority? What project or area have I missed? This type of list will help us sort among all the information as to where we need to focus our first energies and funding. Of course, as we think this through, we may reveal other major concerns that need immediate attention.
I will be representing River Road at a stakeholders’ meeting of the Beltline Facility on May 30. Our current representative, Michele O’Leary, will be on vacation during that time. I have heard a recent report at the Metropolitan Policy Committee, so I am reasonably up to date on this project.
Neighborhood Planning presentations. In the last week, presentations were made to the Eugene City Council and the Lane County Commissioners about our neighborhood planning work thus far, and the request was made to get the go ahead to begin action planning in ernest. The City Council voted 7 to 1 to conduct the action planning phase. The Commissioners voted unanimously for us to engage in action planning.
One quote from Santa Claran Kate Perle is worth repeating. “The only way to steer the ship is to get on board. There’s no remote control.” It’s truly up to us to provide the input and guidance of our planning project. Find an area of your concern or expertise where we can piece together our knowledge to build a vibrant community.
Calendar
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.
When: Saturday, August 24, 2019. 10 AM to 5 PM
Where: River Road Recreation Center, 1400 Lake Drive
Hosted by the River Road Community Organization [RRCO]
Contact – Jan Spencer janrspencer@gmail.com or Clare Strawn at clarestrawn@gmail.com
Transportation & Parking: Please ride a bike. The River Road Swim Club will provide valet bike parking, by donation, in a safe, closed in location next to the Rec Center. Look for the signs and swim club members pointing the way to bike parking.
If you drive, car pool if you can and please park at Howard Elementary School on Howard Ave. Enjoy the pleasant walk from the school parking lot, South to Emerald Park and to the Rec Center. Thanks!
Healthy Food: The Resilience Festival welcomes the Peaceful Palate, serving healthy and tasty vegan cuisine. Even better, the Palate will serve on your own dinnerware so you can avoid throwaways! And best of all, they will donate a part of their proceeds to RRCO and the Rec Center!
Schedule of Events (PDF – last updated 08/19/2019)
The Community Resilience Festival is a day long event that will be fun, educational and timely. It’s all about reducing our ecological footprints and building positive community culture. The event will show and tell projects, actions, allies and assets we have in Eugene and the southern Willamette Valley for creating more green and resilient homes, lifestyles, city and region. The River Road Community Organization [RRCO] is the host of the Resilience Festival and we say thanks very much to the River Road Parks District for their hospitality making the space available. We also value our helpful pals in Santa Clara.
The Festival will include over 30 community organizations, 15 round table conversations, 10 classroom presentations, 5 plenary talks, 4 fishbowls, and a Kid Zone. It will be followed by 7 site tours in 5 different Eugene neighborhoods on other dates to see over 15 properties w/ green and resilient features. Scroll down to see more detail.
Topics of interest include cooperative economics; urban, rural and suburban land use; neighborhood associations, local food systems, cooperative living, climate change and reducing eco-footprints. The participating community organizations touch on a wide range of issues and interests and all play a part in creating green and resilient homes, neighborhoods, community and region.
The festival will be free and family friendly. All are welcome. Donations to RRCO and the Parks District appreciated!
This is an overview of planned plenaries, presentations, fish bowls, round table conversations, kid zone, tabling organizations and skill shares. More content will be added. Scroll down to see what’s here and please check back for updates.
Have you ever wanted to explore one of those Conestoga Huts you’ve been seeing around town? Community Supported Shelters will have a hut onsite and will be giving tours during the festival!
11:00
Towards A Green and Resilient Culture and Economy
Jan Spencer- What would a culture and economy look like that planet earth could sustain for all life on earth? Very different. This plenary talk, with slides, will explain how many of the allies, assets and actions for creating green and resilient homes, neighborhoods, economy and culture already exist and many of them can be found at the Resilience Festival.
12:00
St. Vinnies Builds Community Economic Resilience
Terry McDonald -Terry McDonald, Executive Director of St. Vincent de Paul, was awarded the 2018 Recycler of the Year – Innovation Award from the Association of Oregon Recyclers. St. Vinnies has their finger in every phase of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and REINVEST. Terry will talk about how all their projects fit as a model of a regenerative economy enterprise that builds a resilient community.
1:00
Local Food Systems Build Regional Resilience
Charlie Tilt and Kate Perle – Charlie and Kate will explain the aspects of a local food system – why it’s important, what is current with creating a local food system and how can people in the region can participate in and support a local food system. Kate is a farmer in Santa Clara and Charlie sees that Hummingbird Wholesales sources as much food it sells as local as possible.
2:00
Creating a Regenerative and Resilient Local Economy
Clare Strawn – What strategies can we create to weave a local regenerative economic ecosystem? How can we create pathways of collaboration to cultivate our local resources and invest in community solutions? Clare will describe regenerative economic initiatives from around the country that can be achieved here in Eugene.
3:30
Resilience and the River Road/Santa Clara Neighborhood Plans
Louisa de Heer – How can the River Road/Santa Clara Neighborhood Planning Project make transportation, land use, economic development, open spaces, community more green and resilient over the coming years? The Project is in its second year and presents itself as an unprecedented opportunity for creating green and resilient homes and neighborhoods.
Participating groups, organizations and businesses in alphabetical order
Plenary Presenters
10:15 – Jan Spencer – Permaculture Meets Urban Land Use – Willamette Room
20 years transforming a suburban property – grass to garden, patio to passive solar, rain water catchment, reclaim car space, edible landscaping & more. Also, increasing the scale of transformation – block planning and retrofit eco villages with examples from Eugene, Portland, Davis. Pushing back automobiles – Barcelona, NYC, elsewhere. All previews of a more green and resilient future.
10:15 – Richie Weinman – Better Homes, Building an ADU – Community Room
What are the ins and outs of building an ADU – an Accessory Dwelling Unit? City goals are to create more residential density. What are the codes, what are the benefits to be gained by building an ADU? Richie can answer those questions and more.
11:20 – Christina Clark – Neighborhood Assembly of God Garden and Outreach Project – Community Room
Since its inception five years ago, this faith-based garden project has undergone many changes, and the vision has morphed considerably. A discussion of what we’ve learned, what worked, what didn’t and current thoughts on where and how to proceed from here in the context of our surrounding community is what we are hoping to share, as well as offer.
11:20 – Amanda Krichbaum – Lane Service Sharing Network Time Bank – Culture Room
Join some of the members of Lane Service Sharing Network, Eugene’s new Time Bank, as we explore what we have to give and what we can receive from our community, plus what gets in the way of us living in generosity with one another. Mostly exercises and sharing, very little lecture.
12:20 – Aleta Miller – Our First Relations – Culture Room
Finding Your Place Among the Plant and Medicine People The presenter, Aleta Miller, has been offering this presentation about plants and our relationship with them to local Indian Education summer programs in the Bethel School District since 2013. She is a longtime Eugene resident, certified permaculturalist, farmer and owner of a landscape maintenance company, Seven Directions. She has had the honor and privilege of being trained and guided by many local Native elders and teachers in various medicine ways. Although she does not have tribal enrollment, she has Cherokee and Choctaw heritage, as well as European ancestry.
1:20 – Heather Johnson – Eugene Alliance for Somatic Education – Culture Room
Come join us to explore—through discussion and hands-on demonstrations and activities—how permaculture concepts like observe and interact, self-regulation and feedback, pattern-to-detail design, and stacked systems can be applied to human learning to create new capacities and to maximize resilience.
2:20 – Daphne Singingtree – Herbal Preparedness – Culture Room
Discussion on growing and making herbal products to have on hand for a variety of unexpected or emergency situations. What plants grow in your yard, your neighborhood, and what you can grow easily to increase your self-reliance if there are breakdowns in accessing usual resources. Herbs for emergency situations like smoke from wildfires, trauma and stress, first aid, and disorders seen in these circumstances.
3:50 – CERT Overview and Reducing the Fuel Load – Willamette Room
Two short presentations. One about reducing the fuel load at the forest – urban interface to reduce fire risk. Ian Appow from the Wildland Urban Interface Fuels Reduction Collaborative. The second presentation will be Thomas Price to explain Community Emergency Response Team Training [CERT]. Citizens learning basic skills for emergency situations – fire, accident, search and rescue, disruptions, triage.
A fishbowl can have 3, 4, 5 or even 6 members. A moderator asks questions for all the fishbowl members. They take turns answering. If time allows, fishbowl members can address each other. The audience watches but does not participate. All the fishbowls at Res Fest will have follow up conversations at the round tables.
12:20 Residential Cooperatives
Skeeter Duke – East Blair Housing Cooperative
Rob Bolman – Maitreya Eco Village
Tom Atlee – Walnut Street Co-op
Cooperative living offers many benefits and challenges. People living much closer both personally and infrastructure. This fishbowl will provide a close look at how these co-ops manage themselves, what are the benefits, some history; what communication and management skills can we learn from coop living can apply to non coop situations for building community and reducing eco footprints?
1:20 Towards a Local Food System
Charlie Tilt – Hummingbird Wholesale
Kate Perle – Full Circle Farm
Christina Clark – Neighborhood Assembly of God
Mike Brunt – Permaculture Meetup Groups
Leigh Rieder – Master Gardeners
This fish bowl will describe what is a local food system Why is a local food system important? What is being done in the southern Will Valley to grow more food nearby, both urban and rural? The city of Eugene’s Climate Action Plan calls for preparing for a very different future and to develop local food production capacity. How can the city and county help?
2:20 Climate Change
Linda Heyl – 350 Eugene
Betty Grant – Citizen’s Climate Lobby
Mark Robinowitz – Peak Choice
Extinction Rebellion
Climate change is a topic heating up all over the world. Record levels of interest. This fish bowl will compare notes. What do participants think the future will be like? What makes most sense to address climate change – lifeboat or appeal to the authorities? Who is doing what? Is government – local, state, national, capable of meaningful action?
Kevin Prier – Suburban Homecraft Presents 10 and 11:20
All kinds of skill for a more green and resilient home. Kevin should know, he has been teaching suburban homecrafts for over 10 years all over Eugene. Kevin will be making sauerkraut, talk about seed saving and do show and tell for soaps, balms and more.
Pat Grady – Grady Barrel Presents at 12:20
Pat installs rain water systems for the home ranging from hundreds up into the 1000s of gallons. He will describe design and capacity aspects of home rain water collection along with city and county codes.
Newt Loken – Solar Assist Presents at 1:20
If you want to find out about how solar energy can benefit you, your home and planet earth, Newt can answer a lot of your questions. Newt has been installing solar systems for over 20 years – solar hot water, photo voltaics. He also knows the ins and outs of tax breaks and government incentives to go solar.
Neil Kearns – Bike Church Presents at 2:20
Neil has a very important skill for making creative use of unlikely materials for building devices to serve every day needs and the more exotic like 10 foot tall bikes. Bike Church reaches out to the community with giving away tires and tune ups. The Church’s shop is at 299 Garfield.
Groups and individuals will host topical conversations. You can browse the topics, sit in for minutes or stay for the entire session. Learn new and useful info!
10:15
Grey Water Action – Reusing household greywater; soaps, irrigation, pitfalls, legalities
11:20
Daphne Singingtree – Following up on her herbs for emergencies classroom presentation
Mark Robinowitz – Fractal Permaculture: local, bioregional, global, urban, suburban, rural
KEPW Radio – Learn about Eugene radio station KEPW 97.3 FM
12:20
Master Gardeners – Planting, fertilizing, vegetable and landscape gardens, plant identification, more.
N’hood Assembly of God Outreach Project – Following up on the classroom presentation
1:20
East Blair Housing Co-op and Cooperative Living – Aspects of living in a housing co-op
2:20
Permaculture Meetup – Learn about permaculture, how to connect with other perma people
Local Food Systems – Continuing the local food system fish bowl conversation
Oakleigh Co Housing – Cohousing enhances community-building and resilient, healthy individuals and neighborhoods. Come hear about this River Road asset in the making.
3:50
Emerald Dog Obedience A responsible dog owner is a positive member of the community.
RR/SC N’hood Plan – Follow up to the Plenary talk about the RR/SC N’hood Plan
Climate Conversations – Follow up to climate fishbowl, may meet in a classroom
Kid Zone location is the Pavilion, between the wading pool and the playground in Em Park. Park and Festival visitors, young and old, are invited to participate in painting a banner for the River Road Community Organization. The banner is designed by Lisa Yu of Eug-Art 404 – a group of artists living in the River Road and Santa Clara communities.
Younger kids will be able to paint individual flags. Flags and the big banner can be used in the Eugene Celebration parade planned for September 22, and for future events. There will also be seed cleaning and seed saving.
Aug 31, Sept 7, 14, 21, 28, Oct 19
See many green and resilient features – residential, grass to garden, edible landscaping, solar design, rain water catchment, natural building, reclaim car space, lifestyle, faith, cooperative living, aspects of block planning, and more.
August 17, 11 AM, meet Rosetta Park, Benjamin and Evergreen. Circular tour
River Road, 6 properties, many green and resilient features. The tour will see grass to garden, edible landscapes, patio to passive solar, rainwater catchment, driveway to food, carport to living, accessory structures, mini eco-village, cob oven, barrel oven, front yard food forest, espalier front yard orchard, 1000 ft sq straw bale structure, gray water, cob bench, fence down between neighbors and much more.
August 31, 11 AM, meet Rosetta Park, Benjamin and Evergreen. Tour ends at the start.
River Road, 6 properties. Same sites to visit as August 17 above. Tour of East Blair follows. See immediately below.
August 31, 3 PM, meet at East Blair, 940 W 4th, Whiteaker Neighborhood, Front parking lot
Note, this tour follows the Aug 31 tour in River Road described above.
East Blair Housing Co-op, 40 residents. Both tour of East Blair and Block Planning. Community house, new property recently added, building up not out, many shared amenities, parking lot to social space and food production, garden spaces for townhomes at other locations on the co-op property, social and co-op management features of interest.
September 7, 1 PM, meet at Maitreya, 882 Almaden, Jefferson Westside Neighborhood
Maitreya Eco Village, 25 residents. Both tour of Maitreya and Block Planning. Triplex with earthen floor, straw bale structure, going up not out, driveway to garden, bio gas, water feature, fence down with neighbor, large central garden, 4000 gal water storage tower, meditation house, artistic cob structures, out door kitchen and much more.
September 14, 11 AM, meet at 2624 Harris Street, alley between Harris and Kincaid, Amazon Neighborhood. First Amazon location. Three adjoining properties with extensive gardens, swales, espalier over sidewalk, nooks and crannies. This site contains many aspects of block planning. Imagine the entire block looking like these 3 properties. Fences down, back yards in sync.
September 14, 12:30 PM, meet at 882 E. 27th Ave. , Amazon Neighborhood. Second Amazon location. Solar PV, edible landscape, rainwater catchment, heat pump water heater, triple pane windows, extreme insulation, energy efficient appliances
September 21, 11 AM, Meet 1185 W 25th, NE corner, 25th and Tyler, Friendly Neighborhood One of the most well developed permaculture properties in Eugene! Edible/medicinal landscape, over 100 species of plants, simple green house design, chickens, vermiculture, icosa hut, living roof, rain water collection, upcycling, energy efficient and solar powered home. Will highlight relationships that support resilience.
September 21, 1:00, Common Ground Garden, Van Buren and 25th. Second Friendly location. Neighbors turned an unused street right of way into a beautiful neighborhood garden. Awesome social center. Workshops, work parties, eyes on the street, cooperative, neighborhood matching grants. Visit impressive food producing property across the street.
Sept 28, 12pm (noon), Neighborhood Assembly of God Garden & Greenhouses, Santa Clara, 815 Irving Drive, total distance ¼ mile
Come and take a look at a faith-based market garden in transition towards a more grocery-centric model that is incorporating biodynamic/permaculture practices with the goal of training other suburban farmers with whom to collaborate for growing a well-rounded supply of healthy produce for our neighbors.
Oct. 19, 11 AM, Tour of Greenway Sites in River Road – River Bike Path Meet at Stults and Bike Path, Bikes Recommended, Total distance 1 mile Residents of River Road have adopted six sections of the Greenway. Each person adopting has a written agreement with the city of Eugene to perform a set list of tasks and organize a set number of work parties to improve the condition of the site. Most sites focus on removing invasive species. One site had accomplished a significant amount of planting native species. One site is a restored 65 tree filbert grove. Another site features a new information Kiosk thanks to a neighborhood matching grant.
By Carleen Reilly
April Fool’s has passed, and it feels a lot like Spring out there. We’ve resumed our morning walks and had to adjust our clothing to 53 degree temperatures.
RSVP
Neighborhood Planning Community Events – April 7 and April 10. Your RSVP is anxiously anticipated for another crucial gathering of neighbors to review draft policies and contribute to activities to implement these policies. Here is your link to RSVP!
You should have received a letter from our wonderful CAC Co-Chairs Louisa de Heer and Kate Perle, encouraging you to attend the Community Events.
Where: North Eugene High School, 200 Silver Lane
When: Sunday, April 7, open house 2:30-3 pm, workshop 3-5 pm or
Wednesday, April 10, open house 5:30-6 pm, workshop 6-8 pm
Who: Community members, including businesses and neighbors who care about the future of River Road and Santa Clara
Food and Activities for Children will be provided.
We will review and verify that neighbors’ ideas are reflected in draft policies. You can suggest actions (in addition to actions already submitted) for implementation. Everyone is needed, whether you’ve been involved right along or are new to the process!
Volunteers are requested to distribute flyers to neighbors and post at businesses. I have flyers and posters. A few tablers could still be utilized for April 3, 4, and 5, plus a Saturday shift. Contact Eric.g.brown@ci.eugene.or.us if you want to table.
River Road Corridor Survey. Take the survey. It is very informative, attractive, and surprisingly easy to take.
Bike Safety pilot project. A short segment on KLCC this morning noted a pilot project at the corner of 18th and Alder allowing bicyclists to enter the queue to cross the street without stopping to push a button or position their bikes in a special place to trigger the signal light. Perhaps we could have another pilot intersection in the River Road area. Check it out.
Pedestrian deaths. I failed last week to post a link to an NPR article I heard on KLCC. It, too, is short but informative.
Plastics Roundup. A massive success at Emerald Park on March 31. Watch for a report in the coming weeks.
Calendar
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.