Hello neighbors, On Tuesday, February 1st, we successfully held our first Virtual Evacuation Exercise that included a train derailment and Chlorine Gas Leak. This simulated incident impacted areas all over Northwest Eugene.
Thank you to David Monk and John Quetzalcoatl Murray for facilitating our event!
We hope that you will follow along with the recording and begin thinking about how you would personally respond to this scenario. If you can take it one step further and talk to your neighbors about their plans, even better!
This event contained a specific disaster of a Chlorine Gas Leak, but the emergency could be anything – an earthquake, a crime that involves evacuation or lockdown, a wildfire, etc. While preparing yourself for evacuation or shelter in place, consider a variety of situations that could occur.
We invite you to join us on Tuesday, March 1st from 6:30-7:30 pm via Zoom, to discuss takeaways and next steps for our neighborhoods.
This event was hosted by Ready NW Eugene – the Emergency Preparedness Teams of the NW Eugene neighborhoods – River Road Community Organization, Active Bethel Community, and Santa Clara Community Organization. — Jacque Wurster Emergency Preparedness Team River Road Community Organization Ready NW Eugene YouTube Channel
Eugene 4J School Board is meeting Wednesday evening, Feb 16, and it appears that the proposed 4-J district-wide policy on Racial Harassment and Bullying is likely to come up for a vote at this meeting.
Why it matters: Racial harassment at our 4J schools is a regular, ongoing problem. Individual students and groups (i.e., Black Student Union) at North Eugene High School have experienced racist and anti-semitic graffiti, and vicious online intimidation, including threats of physical and sexual violence, since late November of last year. The Eugene Police Department is investigating these incidents, but no perpetrator has been identified yet. The district currently has no policy in place that defines what constitutes bias or harassment, who should take action when an incident occurs, and what should be done. That means the response depends on the commitment and courage (or lack thereof) of the school teacher or administrator who observes the incident or receives the report. 4J needs a district-wide policy. Here is a link to a proposed draft policy: Racial Harassment Policy
call the Eugene Police Department and express interest in the case, tell them you hope they have their best people working on it.
If you know a student who has experienced harassment or bullying at school or online, refer them to CALC’s excellent Community Advocate Program. CALC’s community advocates are trauma informed, fluent in Chinese and Spanish, aware of unhoused issues, immigration issues, IEP needs, LGBTQ, and more.
Below is Martha Johnson’s letter to the 4J Board and Superintendent which you may copy and sign with your own name, or use as a template to write your own. Adding personal stories from current or former students and parents’ experiences in school with bullying makes your letter more powerful. Please cc or bcc your email to Mica Contreras at CALC (Citizens Alliance of Lane County), the author of the proposed policy, and CALC’s Equity and Justice coordinator: mica@calclane.org. Tracking the number of emails from community members helps her with this advocacy work.
Thanks in advance for taking a stand in support of our youth.Martha Johnson
Dear Superintendent Vandercar and the Eugene 4J School Board,
I am writing today to urge you to vote in support of the proposed policy on Racial Harassment and Bullying. Racial harassment at our 4J schools is a regular, ongoing problem. When a student is targeted, the impacts ripple out through the entire school and into the community. The district currently has no policy in place that defines what constitutes bias or harassment, who should take action when an incident occurs, and what should be done. That means the response depends on the commitment and courage (or lack thereof) of the school teacher or administrator who observes the incident or receives the report. 4J clearly needs a district-wide policy.
The draft policy as proposed is an excellent step in the right direction, but it is missing several important elements, which should be added before the policy is approved. Those include:
1.The need for clearly delineated processes and procedures when an event occurs, including the responsibilities, training, and processes of the Hate and Bias Incident Response team. It’s important that the Hate and Bias Incident Response Team work with community members, both within and outside the school district. 2. Easy and accessible way for students/parents to report incidents. Parents and students have requested the district provide a text-line where they can report and receive follow-up. 3. Transformative justice practices must be adopted and utilized, district-wide.
Thank you for your time and efforts to create a safe, healthy and vibrant community in our schools.
Please join us for the River Road Community Organization’s February General Meeting. Monday, February 14, 7 – 8:30 See zoom log in info below.
The transportation issue is high value. Please forward this message to your networks. Thanks!
The meeting’s program will address the issue of widening Beltline between Delta Highway and River Road, but also the broader concern of funding transportation infrastructure that has been decidedly biased for generations, in favor of cars, suburbia and freeways, at the expense of transit, bikes, walkable neighborhoods, sustainability plus clean air and water.
The basic question – Is widening Beltline a good idea or a bad idea to address the issue of transportation safety, climate change, fossil fuels, public health, equity and resource efficiency?
“The Oregon Department of Transportation [ODOT] is considering options to significantly widen Beltline highway between Delta highway and River road, crossing the Willamette River, at a potential cost of a third of a billion dollars.
RRCO has assembled a panel to discuss the proposed Beltline project and the broader issue of transportation in a world that is very different compared to the 1950’s when the Interstate HIghway System began.
ODOT will present design options for the proposed Beltline project, why is there interest to increase capacity, what would it cost, what might be the benefits.
“The panel will include a mix of supporters for expansion who assume the widening will reduce accidents and congestion; an advocate for enhancing Eugene’s transportation options; and other panel members who say widening Beltline would induce more traffic congestion, aggravate climate change, interfere with the River Road/Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan, be a poor choice given current trends of energy supplies and deprive funding that could be used for better community, environmental, public health and transportation outcomes.
Below is a graphic that was presented to the SCCO in 2019. It may be outdated. The Beltline-Delta portion of the proposal has been completed. Click on the graphic to expand.
Click on map to expand – 2019 graphic – may be outdated
The Santa Clara Community Organization will be holding board elections tonight, February 3rd. The terms of four people will be expiring this year. Any resident, property owner or business owner, 18 years or older, living in the SCCO boundaries is eligible to become a board member if they have attended at least one SCCO general meeting in the twelve months prior to the election.
Please join us to help elect the leaders of our organization. 2022 should be an active year for the SCCO. The River-Road Santa Clara Neighborhood plan should be wrapping up and the recently created non-profit Santa Clara Community Foundation are two great projects that will help guide the future of our community.
Topic: SCCO February meeting – board elections Time: Feb 3, 2022 07:00 PM
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