Northeast Neighbors

Agenda

NeN’s Sept. 24, 2019

Annual Meeting Highlights

Northeast Neighbors (NeN), Annual Meeting Minutes

Gilham Community Church, September 24, 2019

Call to Order: 7:00 pm

Attendance: 78, including 7 board members, 3 presenters

Officials: Senator Manning, Representative Nathanson, EWEB Board Chair John Brown, Eugene Police Commissioner Board member Matt Siel

May 16 General Meeting Minutes: approved unanimously

Thanks: Newsletter sponsor B² Bar and Grill

Election: Bill Haynes unanimously approved as Area West Representative

There is now an opening for an At Large Board Rep, to be appointed by Chair.

Board Chairman David Martin

EWEB Rate Update: John Brown

• EWEB is the greenest utility in the U.S.
• There will not be an electricity rate increase for at least two years. (Rates depend on Bonneville.)
• There will be no water rate increase for at least 4-5 years.
• Emergency water centers have been created at Sheldon HS and at wells on the golf course. In the future, one will be created at Eugene Swim and Tennis Club.

Senator Manning: Comments on 2019 legislation he was involved with

• Senate Bill 770 takes a step towards affordable, high quality health care for all Oregon residents. Manning was chief sponsor and will serve on the task force it creates. It will create a plan that can be implemented in 2023. Some parameters:
  • Build on the Affordable Care Act, particularly Medicare expansion
  • Cover everyone in the state, particularly seniors and low income, and include dental
  • Create access to high quality healthcare and take away nobody’s private insurance
  • Bills that stalled and died in a divided Oregon senate:
    • Senate Bill 978, an omnibus bill related to firearms. Safe gun storage was Manning’s part.
    • Senate Bill 500, which would have allowed property tax exemptions for disabled veterans.
    • House Bill 2020, which would have created a “cap and trade” system to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
    

Senator Manning

Chief Skinner: State of public safety in Eugene

• EPD is now fully staffed, with 192 officers (including Skinner), but the numbers have not kept up with community growth and needs. Years of inadequate support have created inadequate staffing.
• Response times are too slow and police presence is inadequate. Nevertheless, report all crimes, those in progress as well as low-level crimes such as vandalism and graffiti. EPD needs “an accurate picture.”
• There is a “game plan” for using funds projected to be generated starting in July 2020 from the recently adopted Community Safety System payroll tax. It will take at least three years to fully implement the hiring and training of additional sworn officers and other staff. The city should see a difference on the streets towards the end of the first year.
• Camping under the Ferry Street Bridge. A section owned by ODOT, with its many layers of bureaucracy, makes it difficult to remove illegal campers.
• City Council. The current council is the most willing to invest in community safety that we’ve ever had. It allocated money for short-term funding and created the payroll tax for longer term staffing.
• Panhandling and large groups downtown.
  • Fears are understandable, but it’s hard to prevent behavior with “overtones of free speech.”
  • What can help? Increased police presence, more officers stopping to talk with people, cameras (the current mobile cameras and a planned permanent one at Broadway and Olive).
  • What will help in the long term? The “right kind of housing” downtown and more business moving in there. Good behaviors outnumbering “bad behavior.”
  • Location of services downtown (like the Mission) draw people there, especially to Whiteaker.
  • The unhoused.
    • The EPD “does not criminalize homelessness, just behaviors.”
    • There are some who won’t accept services, who turned Camp 99 into a failure, who drain resources. The City and EPD focus will be on the many who do need and want the help.
    • The system needs to grow significantly to keep up with these real needs in the community.
    • Sex trafficking.
      It exists everywhere and initial contact is almost always made online.
    • Volunteers in PolicingA volunteer group whose activities—checking homes for people on vacation, staffing events, walking bike paths, maintaining the squad cars, moving camera trailers, etc.—free up the time of licensed officers.



Police Chief Skinner

Neighborhood Mapping: Bill Haynes

• A 9.1 quake will be worse than we imagine. NeN will be cut off for weeks, potentially flooded.
• Neighbor Mapping forms groups of 10-20 nearby neighbors who determine what resources they have to pool in case of an emergency. Andy Davis of CERT can help neighborhoods organize.
• Funds and training exist for dispersing short-range radios through the community.

November 12 NeN General Meeting Added: ODOT plans for the Delta interchange and longer term for Beltline, N Gilham Road upgrade, Eugene Carbon Free Challenge.

Speed Study on Gilham north of Ayres: ODOT proposes lowering limits from 35 to 30. To argue for a limit of 25 instead, send emails to Steve Gallup, Lane County Traffic Engineer: Steve.Gallup@co.lane.or.us

Adjourned: 9:00 pm

 

NeN General meetings are held three times a year. THE ANNUAL MEETING IS in September.

NeN Board meetings are held as needed but not less than six times per year.

NeN General Meetings

Next General Meeting: ?, 2020

• 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
• Gilham Community Church, 3633 Gilham Road(Site may vary due to availability, check Newsletter or e-News)
• Guide to NEN meetings

      If you have an announcement for the NeN membership please notify the Chair at least a few days prior to the meeting.

NeN Board Meetings

Next Board Meeting:

Date: June 9, 2020, 6:30 p.m.

Zoom online meeting.

Generally second Tuesday of month (Months will vary depending on need)

• 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (End times may vary)
•  (Site may vary due to availability, check Register-Guard or e-News. For now it is online)

      The public is welcomed to attend NeN Board meetings.

      Time is allotted at the start of each meeting for announcements and comments from non-board members. If you have an announcement for the board, or you would like to suggest a topic to be considered at the board meeting, please notify the Chair at least a few days prior to the board meeting.

Contact The NeN Chair

      chair@neneugene.org

• To request topics to be placed on the agenda
• To get additional information

Contact The Vice-Chair

      vice-chair@neneugene.org

• To request topics to be placed on agenda
• To get additional information  

Contact The Newsletter Editor

      newslettereditor@neneugene.org

• To provide announcements of neighborhood meetings and events
• To provide articles or opinions for NeN Newsletter

Northeast Neighbors (NeN) —

Board Meeting Minutes 

March 10, 2020, 6:30 p.m.

Gilham Community Church

Call to Order: Chair called the meeting to order at 6:32
Board: David Martin, Kevin Reed, Rick Edwards, John Faville, Bill Haynes, Anne Millhollen
1. Minutes of February 3, Board Meeting: Rick moved; Kevin seconded. Approved unanimously.
2. Planning the Agenda for the May 12 General Meeting. Drawing from cancelled March 10 meeting.
 • Audi dealership: Kevin will speak with Anne Marie Levis about their purpose and time needed and with Phil about $250 sponsorship..
 • Gilham Road Upgrades, Part 1: Staff Presentation
o After the May 11 Gilham Sidewalk meeting, this part of the presentation might be shortened.
 • Gilham Road Upgrades, Part 2: City & County Collaboration
  o Hoped for participants: Mike Clark, City Councilor; Pat Farr, County Commissioner
  o David, who will work with them to assure their attendance?
 • Mitigating Rats: Ashley Chesser will be invited again. Anne, will you do this?
 • Public Comments
3. Need for Four NeN Open Meetings
 • July-December, we would have to schedule two general meetings, one of them the Annual Meeting.
 • In addition, we’d need a 4th meeting, perhaps one focused on how to comment on WinCo.
 • John will pursue with Rene the issue of requiring fewer meetings in light of SDS guidelines.
4. WinCo application for the Shopko site:
 • WinCo is seeking City agreement that no TIA is required for their application. Senior Public Works and City legal are meeting tomorrow afternoon to decide. If that request is allowed, WinCo would need to make no changes to driveways or to mitigate traffic impacts.
 • Other issues: location/nature of a bottle deposit site and the location of the loading dock.
 • As a modification to a Site Review, this application process will be Type-II: public notice of the application followed by a two week period for submitting written/emailed comments, no public hearing, decision made by the Planning Director.
 • An appeal can then be made to be decided after a public hearing conducted by a Hearings Official, but would require payment of a fee to file the appeal.
5. March-June Outreach Budget:
 • Cindy will issue the allocations later this week. John will forward info to board.
 • We should be able to afford to mail a postcard and also a 4-page newsletter, perhaps in color.
6. Reimburse Anne: The Czech is in the Mayo.
7. Candidates for Board Openings. Kevin has contacted managers at Crescent Village, Bascom Village, and several other renter locations to seek candidates. He will next call the Crescent Meadows HOA.
8. Needs at Crescent/Norkenzie/Green Acres: John will call City staff to learn how best to pursue remedies.
9. Eugene Community Health Survey: Their needs were met.
Updates:
1. Creekside Park: Plans may be approved this week, allowing for application for a building permit.
2. Emergency Preparedness: Bill is connecting with program leader in Falcon Wood Village.
3. Spectrum Road Connector: Kevin has spoken to Balderas about connecting with his successor and with Sarah Medary about a helpful PW contact.
Proposed Next Board Meeting Date: Sunday, April 19, 2020, 6:30 p.m.
The Meeting was adjourned at 8:05.