Santa Clara Community Organization – Eugene

THE FIRST MEETING OF 2018 OF
THE SANTA CLARA COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION

JANUARY 4, 2018

7:00 P.M.
MESSIAH LUTHERAN CHURCH
3280 RIVER ROAD

ITEMS OF INTEREST:

• Election of Board members (4 positions open)
• Update on progress of Dog Park at Lone Oak Park
• Open Discussion and Consideration of establishing Santa Clara as a Hate Free Community

There will be much more discussion about the above topics at the meeting.  Here is a partial update prior to the meeting.

Update: Bark, Bark Dog Park! Off Leash, unfenced Dog Park in Santa Clara
The Santa Clara Community Organization has approved submitting an application for a Neighborhood Matching Grant to establish a dog park at Lone Oak Park, an undeveloped park just off of Division Avenue. Since monies are scarce for parks development, The City of Eugene will be experimenting with a concept being tried elsewhere — an unfenced off-leash dog park. With a matching grant neighbors will be able to establish a parking area, a kiosk, and a barked trail area. We thank Rebecca Marx for taking on this project. She will be looking for volunteers to work on this project.

Diversity and Santa Clara
In light of the revelations of recent white nationalist sympathies found in the local area, some Santa Clarans are concerned about their safety and have suggested that Santa Clara, as a community, proclaim our neighborhood as one that values and nurtures diversity.
On January 4, with contribution from the Office of Human Rights, the Santa Clara Community Organization will discuss declaring our neighborhood a safe place for all, treating all people equally and embracing the unique contributions of all, regardless of age, faith, race, national origin, immigration status, gender identity, ability, ethnicity, housing status, sexual orientation, economic, or other social status.

We had an informative SCCO meeting last week.  We know it can be difficult working the SCCO meetings into your schedule.  If you miss a meeting or two, we encourage you to look at the SCCO minutes.  Our most recent meeting was held last Thursday, December 7.  Key topics were:

• LTD transfer station update.  What will the old Santa Clara School site become?
• Concerns about the Egan Warming Center at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church
• The River Road – Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan.  We hope you were one of over 400 people who attended the meeting at North Eugene High School.  If not, don’t worry.  There will be more opportunities to get involved.
• Should the SCCO take a stand regarding White Nationalists in the Eugene-Springfield area?
• Can we get the city to back a dog park at Lone Oak Park?
• Four SCCO board positions are open.  The January 4 meeting is when board members are selected.

Please try and make our SCCO meetings.  The next meeting is Thursday, January 4th.  Hot topics recently have been the LTD transit station move to the Santa Clara Elementary School property, homelessness, the Beaver-Hunsaker corridor and converting part of Lone Oak Park to a dog park.

The draft minutes to the December 7 meeting can be found here.  Draft minutes are reviewed, corrected if needed and approved at the following meeting.