Forum Lane

To all:

Here is to wishing you a very Merry Christmas, Great Holiday Season and a Wonderful New Year!

If you are reading this today, tomorrow or on Sunday that means you are at work when most of the rest of city staff are fortunate enough to be off enjoying the holiday season. Your presence is critical to our city and I am sure I can speak for all the elected officials and your co-workers wishing we could personally say; “THANK YOU and THANK YOU to your loved ones for allowing us to borrow you during a time when you should be with them.” We our now counting on you to protect us, our families, our visitors, our homes and businesses and to provide safe travel. That is a lot of trust and responsibility to be placed on such a small group of dedicated people. We are in great hands!

If you are reading this on Monday, you will know that I let the season creep up on me before I could give you this Holiday wish. Wow! Where did that week go?  I promise it will be sent sooner next year!

What a year 2010 was for Springfield leadership. We gained a new County Commissioner, two new City Councilors with a third one coming soon and Christine Lundberg became entrusted as our newest City Mayor. I am confident all of these folks will do a great job and continue to fully support you. We appreciate all the flexibility and understanding the various employee groups have allowed us so we can continue providing the best service possible to our citizens.

The work you do throughout the entire year is nothing short of phenomenal! It truly amazes me when your work is presented to us each and every week. Your dedication and pride is so completely obvious, it makes our mission to represent our citizens easy. Again, please accept this as a thank you for the work you do. So many times throughout the year, I hear from every part of Lane County what a great place Springfield has become. I could not agree more. With so many great people working for the City of Springfield, how could it not be right?

If you celebrate Christmas have a wonderful one! If you were lucky enough to be able to spend time with your family and friends on this special day, take a moment to thank others that could not.

In any case, please enjoy the holiday season. Continue to help others when you are able. After all….. it is the “Springfield Way!”

In closing,
I know I am not alone when I say: “We hope all of you and your families have a healthy, happy and great New Year!”

Your continued support is appreciated!

Best wishes,

Joe

It was a HUGE event held at the beautiful Thurston High School football field.  I have been going to these events which began at Hayward Field for many years.  I was amazed at the turn out and how much easier it was to participate. It is a great neighborhood. Well…. I may be a little jaded. It is my ward after all.

My wife Mary and I, along with both of our “children” Megan and Tony and the usual string of their friends, attended the American Cancer Society’s annual Relay for Life fundraiser. We had in hand donated pizzas, huge sub sandwiches, chips and sodas.  These were donated by Thurston Albertsons and Papas Pizza.  My hats off to these local businesses.  They have been taking care of our Lane County Sheriff’s Office team for years now.

We were there most all of Friday and into the wee hours of Saturday. Mary and I couldn’t help but notice how full the track was of  people. The booths and tents consumed the entire areas around the track and the field between it and the school buildings.  That equates to literally acres!

I noticed Springfield Superintendent Nancy Golden and her husband had a chance to walk and show their support. Not surprising to me. This was wonderful of Nancy to allow this to take place at THS. It was good to see Patrick Hurley out there with his crew raising money to combat cancer.

Please accept my sincerest “Thank You” to all of those that helped out.  Many hours of hard volunteer work is needed to make this happen.  Next year, please consider helping in this effort in any way.  Set-up, clean-up, forming a team, donating  or whatever.  It all helps. I also want to thank the nearby residents. I am confident all those people also meant a lot of cars and not much parking available. Your patience and understanding was great.

Take a look at this link for more info: http://thurston.kval.com/content/relay-life-underway

On July 12th, a plan by the consulting firm, Crandalll Arambula was presented which provided recommendations on how the Springfield City Council can help revitalize downtown Springfield. There were some very significant changes recommended. One of which was changing the traffic flow. This is called a “Mobility Oriented Downtown”. I was very pleased to see that the recommendation was identical to the one I made about 18 months ago. This was to allow two-way traffic on South A Street as well as on Main Street. The purpose for this was for South A Street to become more of a “thru traffic” zone and truck route. Then, structure Main Street to have considerably slower traffic, no trucks, easy parking and much more pedestrian friendly. In theory, this would allow businesses that line Main Street the best chance to be a destination point for consumers. I would very much like to hear what others think of this and what other ideas you may have to help downtown Springfield become more vibrant and “user friendly”. For this and all Springfield City Council meeting minutes follow the link provided.

I just wanted to publicly commend Willamalane for the job they did this last weekend celebrating Springfield’s 125th birthday. The event dubbed “Springfest”, had activities going at Lively Park, Dorris Ranch, and Island Park. My wife, Mary and I attended several music concerts and enjoyed meeting with literally hundreds of citizens and reconnecting with old friends. Willamalane could not have done it without the help of “Team Springfield” a consortium of four agencies. The members are; City of Springfield, Springfield School District, Springfield Utility Board and of course Willamalane Parks and Recreation district.
The weekend began with began on Friday night with Satin Love Orchestra at Island Park and an Outdoor movie at Lively Swim Park. Then on Saturday bright and early, a 5k run and walk started at Dorris ranch, winding around town and ending at Island Park. During this event, a huge breakfast feed was served up at the Willamalane Adult activity Center and a “PetFest” was in full swing at Lively Park. Then a noon, festivities were kicked off at Island Park for the kids while most of the adults were beginning to show up for the American Idol series. Kristy Lee Cook, Blake Lewis and Bo Bice sang their hearts out. Then on Sunday, Island Park was opened back up bright and early for children’s activities followed by a huge birthday cake celebration and a great family barbeque.
Thank you everyone for your incredible effort!
Joe Pishioneri