South University Neighborhood Association
Executive Board Meeting Minutes January 19, 2015
Attending: Pamela Miller, Mike Russo, Bill Aspegren, Tammy Young, Carolyn Jacobs, Tim Shinabarger, Malcolm Wilson. Guests: Karen Hyatt, University of Oregon Community Relations; Carlos Barrera, Friendly Area Neighbors.
UO Report: Karen: The January 31st Student Day of Service will include projects at Amazon, Hendricks and Alton Baker Park. Projects are planned for 220 students. Tammy suggests student volunteers can work on developing a walking track around the sides of the field behind Edison School.
Marijuana use in Washburn Park: Karen: Fairmount Neighbors at their recent meeting discussed pot smoking in Washburn Park. UO, Eugene Police Department representatives and City Councilor Alan Zelenka discussed the topic. Karen said EPD is working on a new data-led policing model. She said EPD is asking neighbors who have problems with the smoking to notify police via the non-emergency line. She said the UO is asking folks to use the Good Neighbor hotline if identifiable UO students are part of the pot-smoking. Karen said marijuana will be legal in Oregon in July but not for use in parks.
UO Softball field: Karen said the UO would be holding a public hearing January 29th regarding open space and the proposed softball stadium, proposed to be located on the womenʼs softball field location. The UO seeks to amend its Campus Plan.
Student Conduct Code: In response to a question from Malcolm, Karen said the UO is now responding with the UO Student Conduct Code to off-campus complaints, primarily noise complaints and alcohol-related incidents.
UO Community Liaison meeting is February 5th, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Emergency Preparedness/Map Your Neighborhood: The “Map Your Neighborhood” program was started by the State of Washington; using the program, members of a neighborhood “map” who has resources, skills and tools. In the event of an emergency, natural disaster or other event, such advance preparation provides a neighborhood with some resiliency to respond. Carlos talked about Friendly Area Neighborsʼ experience with the MYN program. He said FAN, Amazon and Southeast Neighbors wrote a successful grant through an insurance company; the grant provided funding to hire field organizers to accompany neighborhood volunteers to go door-to-door in the neighborhoods to explain the project and encourage participation. The City of Eugene provided flyers and printed information.
Carlos said he promoted MYN in the neighborhood after finding out about risks specific to the Pacific Northwest. He went house to house and explained the Map Your Neighborhood program and invited neighbors to participate. Based on interest, he scheduled trainings. For the trainings, he drew up a handout map beforehand showing the block-by-block home area of the people for whom the training was intended; houses on the map were numbered sequentially and by street address.
He said the trainings take about two hours but if people provide a lot of input it takes much longer; therefore, a small group is more effective simply because itʼs quicker. Also, the program is not designed for large groups. He said he and other organizers provided 19 trainings to residents at the “micro-neighborhood” level, including a half- dozen trainings in FAN.
Carlos said the micro-neighborhood structure is almost the same structure as Crime Watch. It could even be the same people and same contact information as Crime Watch, but more structured because youʼre asking people what skills and tools they have.
He said the Oregon Department of Geology Web site is a resource that provides details of what could happen in an earthquake of the magnitude that has occurred in this region. He cited concerns about earthen dams upriver of the city, the potential for flooding, possibility of bridges collapsing on highway transportation corridors, roads being unusable, groceries and other supplies being quickly exhausted, and disruptions to water, sewer, electric and gas service.
He said Map Your Neighborhood recommends people who have small children set up a system so in the event of an emergency or natural disaster, thereʼs a care center where the children can go until parents can get to them. He also suggested preparing a car kit to contain supplies to help vehicle occupants survive an emergency or natural disaster.
Neighborhood Livability: Malcolm said a party on January 17th at 2176 Harris St. had more than 100 people. When police arrived, it took an hour to disperse. He said he is concerned Eugene Police Department is advising but not ticketing. He said he tries not to second-guess EPD, but sanction is necessary and weʼre not seeing as much of it as we used to see.
Karen said the night of the national championship football game, EPD, UOPD and Eugene-Springfield Fire responded at 19th and Onyx to a burning couch.
Web Site Matters: Pamela said the annual hosting cost for the Historic District Web site is $180 or $15/month plus annual renewal fee on the domain name. She said Connie found a walking tour on the Historic District site but itʼs just a PDF. She may walk it, photograph the houses and provide an interactive tour on the site.
Upcoming Board Elections: Mike Westervelt, Mike Russo and Tammy Young will step down at the end of their terms this year. Mike W does the newsletter and interfaces with Connie on the Web site so someone will need to step up. Tammy is the main liaison with Edison School. Tammy said Kari is an Edison parent, and Tom, the principal, is always accessible.
Carolyn said she is concerned about the ability to continue as an active neighborhood association. She said the same people staff the board every year and hardly anybody attends general meetings. Even if the city does have a neighborhood-specific planning process, who in the neighborhood would attend? How can the board make it so people feel like this is an association they want to be part of?
Malcolm said the city requires monthly board meetings and quarterly general meetings. He said the board is struggling to come up with topics for the quarterly general meetings.
Pamela said the neighborhood needs the board to continue to track city planning, UO activities and 4J School District activities in order to keep this a neighborhood. As a recognized entity, the neighborhood association gets to weigh in on things and participate in UO planning events.
Regarding departures from the board, Pamela said the board can seek to get three people to join the board or decrease the board to 10 people. Malcolm said he will send something out in his weekly report alerting neighborhood residents to upcoming board vacancies. Tammy also said she could write something up and send it out. Carolyn said she could be contact person for responses.
March 5th General Membership Meeting: Theme will be emergency preparedness. Tim will invite Lindsey Cullums, City of Eugene Risk Services, and Carlos Barrera to speak. Pamela will invite Julie Grossman from YMCA.
MUPTE (City of Eugeneʼs Multiple Unit Property Tax Exemption program): Pamela sent the letter the board approved about MUPTE to Mayor Kitty Piercy. Mayor Piercy sent a response indicating she received it. Pamela said MUPTE should only be approved where it pays for something necessary such as low-income housing, or is in a blighted neighborhood where no developers are going to invest.
Urban Growth Boundary Expansion: Bill said City Planner Terri Harding sent an email indicating new evidence had come up that could affect the amount of land the city needs to put within its UGB for future residential development.