Forum Lane

On October 22 the Eugene City Council is scheduled to vote on a resolution which would “signal the City of Eugene’s opposition to the transport of coal by train through the city for export via the Port of Coos Bay.”  See a related Forum Lane article here: “Eugene City Council considers a blunderbuss approach to economy and employment in Coos County.” There will be a discussion by a “panel of experts” at tonight’s 5:30 City Council meeting.

A host of elected officials and concerned citizens oppose such a resolution, including Senator Joanne Verger, (D-Coos Bay), House Co-Speaker Representative Arnie Roblan (D-Coos Bay) and many more.

In fact, Congressman Peter DeFazio supports the train–see Forum Lane article “Congressman Peter DeFazio has no objections to coal port in Coos Bay.” The article contains newspaper links.

While opposition to the coal train and the associated rail line and deep water port have been vigorous, the main objections seem to be in three general areas:

1.  Coal trains “up to two miles long” and, “as many as ten a day” will block road intersections in Eugene for hours.

2.  Coal dust filtering from the train will create a film of residue the route of the train.  ” An estimated pound of coal dust per car per mile…is lost to the wind.”  Gillette, Wyoming to Coos Bay is 1069 miles.  If trains have only 100 cars and there are, lets say, five per day, that would equal 534,500 pounds of coal per day “lost to the wind.”  That’s a half million pounds of profit.  Per day.  Hmm.

and,

3.   Global warming.  Burning coal in Asia is a major contributor to the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

For balance I will provide three general arguments that support running the trains to Coos Bay:

1.  Private money from the companies operating the trains will provide new infrastructure in Western Oregon, including funding the renovation of the Coos Bay Rail Link and the deep water port in North Bend/Coos Bay.

2.  Building the infrastructure and the busy dock will provide both long- and medium-term, high paying jobs in Lane, Coos and other Oregon counties.

3.  Unemployment has caused a sharp rise in poverty levels in the Bay Area–schools there show a disproportionate high percentage of kids needing free and reduced rate lunches (kids are going hungry).  See Forum Lane, “If it were easy to forget about hungry kids…”

All of these questions need to be addressed.  The panel discussion tonight should provide answers.  I will report on my findings, based upon expert testimony, after the panel discussion.

A Lane Transit District bus, spotted in West Eugene last week. This is an advertisement on the bus, not a public message.

I am in favor of Lane Transit District’s (LTD) West 11th via 6th and 7th Avenue EmX bus rapid transit (BRT) line addition.  This leg of the BRT system will link the downtown Lane Transit District terminal via Oregon Highway 99 to a western terminal at Commercial Street on West 11th Avenue.  West 11th Avenue is also Oregon Highway 126.

 
Serious concerns have arisen during the planning phase of the link and have been voiced by a broad coalition of members of the community.  Most of the concerns are reasonable and valid and either have been or will be addressed.  As with any undertaking of this magnitude is not likely that everybody involved will be satisfied with the outcome.

 
BRT, and public transit in general, is an integral component of Lane County’s transportation plan.  As fuel prices increase it is ever more urgent and desirable for travelers, particularly in the metropolitan area, to access public transit. BRT offers the ever growing and densifying urban area a means of traveling for business, recreation and public purposes in a dependable and rapid manner.
Completion of a BRT system, including routes that will eventually cover the metropolitan area of Eugene/Springfield and beyond, is essential for assuring dependable and affordable access to facilities and amenities.

 
The decision more than two years ago by the Eugene City Council to pursue the West 11th option over the Highway 99/Bethel option was unfortunate at best.  A route linking the large growing urban area of northwest Eugene to the downtown core and the University of Oregon/Springfield BRT routes (that are already in place) would have addressed imminent needs more directly and would have met with less opposition.  The route to Bethel would have caused less business and thoroughfare interuption and could have built a greater general public confidence in the future buildout of the system.

 
In light of that unfortunate decision, along with the Eugene City Council and Mayor’s radical decision to kill the long-planned West Eugene Parkway, we find ourselves in a less than ideal position to clearly satisfy the concerns of the opponents of the EmX line. Nonetheless, the ultimate successful build-out of the system, including multi-governmental financial support, places us in the postion of needing to approve the project.

 
Concerns that a large amount of Federal tax dollars are being expended on the system have been articulately stated.  That being noted, in the United States one of the main functions of federal government has been and will remain providing integrated transportation systems.  The Interstate Highway system, airports and US Highways are examples.

Historically the US government has backed large transportation public works projects.  This project will be one such example of the government’s role in providing roads and addressing transportation needs.  The tax money that will be spent on the construction of the project in Lane County will be granted from a list of competing projects nation wide.  The money spent in Lane County comes from a large pool that is funding nation-wide projects.

 
The jobs and infrastructure that Lane Transit District’s project will provide will not only put people to work but will also facilitate public transportation long into the future.

 
There will of course be business disruptions during the construction phase of the project.  That is unavoidable, but can be minimized and ultimately improve access to existing businesses along the route and future businesses and residences that will be developed as we densify our urban area.

 
During the construction phase it will be important to make certain that minimal interruption of business occurs.  Contruction will be staged such that small sections of the route will be affected at any one time.  Concerns that road building will take place along the entire route throughout the duration of the construction have been registered and will be addressed.

 
In order to be responsive to individual business operators, driveways will be kept open and signage in place to direct traffic into the affected business.  I will suggest that a contact person will be available at all times to respond to the changing nature of the project build-out, and that if any business operators have concerns that arise due to unpredicted changes in building they will have a direct means to report the concern via phone or electronic media.

 
A part of the ongoing EmX project will be a study of other subsequent components of the BRT system, including a McVay Highway link to Lane Community College and a link to Bethel.

Rapid  public transit exists in a large number of cities and metropolitan areas in the United States.  By moving forward at this time Lane County can have a model system that will address the needs of public transit and supplement individual vehicle travel long into the future.

Pat Farr is a Eugene City Councilor representing Ward 6 in Northwest Eugene and a Lane County Commissioner-elect (presumptive) from the North Eugene District.

As reported in The World dated August 16 2012, Representative Peter DeFazio is in support of efforts to develop the deep water port at Coos Bay/North Bend into a terminus for shipping coal overseas.

An excerpt from the article:

COOS BAY — In what could be a blow to environmentalists, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio says he has few qualms with a proposal to build a coal export terminal in Coos Bay.
In a town hall meeting on Wednesday attended by 130 people, Oregon’s 4th District Democrat waded into a debate that has divided the Port of Coos Bay from the Eugene City Council.
In July, the council raised concerns that coal trains en route from Wyoming to Coos Bay would spread dust that would harm Eugene residents and food production.
The council added that exporting coal fanned the flames of global warming.

According to the article, Representative DeFazio has stated that, “You’re not going to facilitate closing down coal plants by prohibiting the sale of U.S. coal,” and that protests against the plan “ignore reality.”

To read the entire article, click here.

A Coos Bay Rail Link engine photographed recently on the Coos Bay Rail Link west of Eugene. The rail link is championed by Rep. Peter DeFazio and welcomed by the entire Bay Area community.

To read more in ForumLane about the rail link go here.

An engine on the Coos Bay Rail Link in west Eugene

After a close call last week, the Eugene City Council discussion about the Coos Bay Rail Link has been postponed.

In a July 11 Forum Lane post, If it were easy to forget about hungry kids, I called for a the Council to delay decision making until more could be heard from a broader base of stakeholders and until after a standard Eugene public process could be held.

As reported in the July 15 Register Guard, that delay has been granted.

Coos Bay Rail number 3877--she's a beauty!

Resolution 5065 first came up for a discussion and vote last Monday. South Eugene City Councilor Alan Zelenka had the support of other South and Central Eugene Councilors Andrea Ortiz, Betty Taylor and George Brown, but North and West Eugene Councilors Chris Pryor and Mike Clark joined me in insisting more time and input was needed before a decision of this magnitude could be made. Councilor George Poling was absent.

The motion was on the brink of passage without broad public input until the move to avoid it was raised.

The Council will begin to hear testimony from Port of Coos Bay officials and others beginning after our break in early September.

For related stories and links go to the Economics and Environment topic here at Forum Lane.

The Coos Bay rail line, soon to be repaired and reactivated. This time looking west toward the deep water port at Coos Bay and North Bend. A thoroughfare to new jobs and opportunities for Oregonians.

It would be simple to make a decision about whether or not to support coal trains passing through Lane County en-route to the deep water port at Coos Bay if it were just as easy to forget about hungry kids there.
Coos County has for many years now been a hotbed of kids living in poverty and needing the support of free and reduced lunch program meals at school to not be hungry during the school year.  But unlike Lane County, kids there don’t have as strong a level of support during the non-school summer months that FOOD for Lane County provides for kids here through its  well-developed summer lunch program.  Kids go hungry.

Read the associated story including links to statistics here.

Extreme unemployment levels in the County have caused working parents to either lose that status or be forced into lower paying service jobs as the timber industry died locally.
Reopening the rail link to Coos Bay, which will ultimately generate hundreds or thousands of jobs both in the Bay Area of Oregon and in the transportation hub of Eugene/Springfield, is key to reinvigorating the deep water port.  Regular rail shipments will ensure a steady work load for men and women in the region,  transporting and loading goods for overseas shipment (thereby helping balance our trade deficit with foreign nations).
I will not stand by idly and let rogue coal dust foul the lungs of our next generation in Lane County.  I was born in Sheffield, England–the country’s third largest city–a steel town in the middle of coal country.  My Dad was from Newcastle.  I have witnessed what coal can do to people’s lungs and lives.  I have lived it much more closely than most folks who enjoy our robust and healthy atmosphere in the Pacific Northwest.
That being said, work is being done to mitigate the dusting of coal and to identify the magnitude of the pollution in Lane County.  Let’s wait until we find out more about the details before we pull the plug permanently on better jobs.  And if the details show imminent and long-term serious health threats we should do all we can to prevent that.  I am pleased that the Council voted to delay the decision to pass Resolution 5065 last Monday and allow for a Council work session to discuss it.
Now the Eugene City Council should allow for the standard public process that is typical of decision making in this city and provide a public hearing and a broad based input process before making any decision that would give the City Manager walking orders that would erase any possibility of safe shipment of coal.

An 18th-century blunderbuss, used for close-in fighting when it was unimportant to protect objects around the intended target

On Monday July 9 2012 the Eugene City Council will consider Resolution 5065, put forward by Councilor Alan Zelenka, that would, among other things, direct the City Manager to “explore whether there are local, state or federal laws…that can be used to prevent the transport of coal through the City, and if so, take reasonable steps to prevent that transport.”

The resolution is designed to prevent the transport of coal to the Port of Coos Bay for shipment overseas.

The research background listed as the reason for the Resolution is, as stated in the Council Agenda Item Summary, that “Support for council action on this resolution was expressed during public testimony at City Council meetings…”

No work session has been held and no public testimony has been broadly solicited.  Monday night public forum testimony and accompanying emails have been the sole venue for public comment.  Monday night public forums are renowned for groups with a particular interest stacking the testimony.  Usually this approach results in a more carefully studied and engineered approach by the Council, as with the recent issue regarding raising goats in back yards inside the City.  At other times the public testimony approach has been completely disregarded.

While commendable in its intent, the resolution unfortunately calls for the City to take action on an issue that has not been fully defined.  It calls for immediate action that would find ways to stop any kind of coal transport through the city, no matter what findings surface regarding the actual dusting of coal from the trains in the Eugene area or what technology is employed to prevent any sifting dust.

Should findings surface that support coal dust would be spread dangerously into our area it would be prudent–essential–that we take means to protect people living here. The resolution does not take into account emerging methods of sealing transport cars and calls for the City to begin lobbying on behalf of the ban on transport immediately.  Should manufacturers such as Oregon’s  Greenbrier Companies, which designs and produces specialized rail cars, provide fully sealed cars for the coal, the resolution would still remain in effect despite the impact being fully mitigated.

While taking aim at what may prove to be a legitimate target, like shooting a blunderbuss much adjacent damage will be done.  Even if technology or research subsequently determines that any threat has been mitigated, the result of the resolution would remain, and its lasting effect on the economy of Oregon’s Bay Area would continue to be felt.

Congressman Peter DeFazio expedited the reopening of the Coos Bay rail line in order to bring jobs to one of America’s hardest-hit economic areas.  Coos County unemployment rate hovers over 10% and more than half of the kids in schools in Coos County are eligible for free and reduced price lunches (click here for statistics).

The Congressman recently announced a decision by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to obligate $13.5 million in competitive grant funding to finish repairs on the Coos Bay rail line and restore rail service vital to the coastal economy (click here for the full story).

The recently reopened Coos Bay rail line, looking east toward Eugene from Greenhill Road

By acting on this resolution now (before the actual execution and impact of the rail transport is determined) the Council would create a negative impact that would likely cause the deep water terminus in Coos Bay–job creation that would be made possible by the proposed train transport–to be built elsewhere.  The result would be a continuation of the economic slide that Southwest Oregon is mired in.

EmX bus rapid transit (BRT) to west Eugene via West 11^th/Highway 126 continues to draw mixed results.  While the signs along the route give the impression that it is distinctly not wanted, quite often public opinion voiced at Eugene City Council meetings and in other forums call for support of the system.

Lane Transit District conducted its own poll recently which has drawn a new set of mixed results, with about half the respondents supporting the west 11th/Hwy 126 leg.  Other polls by Lindholm Company, posted on the company’s blog and reported in Forum Lane, show results that demonstrate waning support.

An editorial in today’s Register Guard headlined, “Not a vote of confidence” concludes that the “LTD poll finds EmX support lukewarm at best.”  Well stated.  See the entire editorial here.

Having heard and read many hundreds of testimonies in an array of venues—email, LTD forums, Council Forums, Joint Elected Officials Forums, on the side of the street on West 11^th, the list goes on—I decided to ask people who use a business along the route what they thought.  I held a pair of open house meetings at Courtsports Athletic Club on Commerce Street.  Commerce is the proposed terminus for the BRT line.  The target audience for the meetings was intended to be club members, however the word got out and a lot of non-members showed up.

It was a non-sponsored event that I conducted without any support, other than maps, from city or LTD staff.  I held it on a Monday evening and a Tuesday morning in February and invited both oral and written comments. Greg Evans, an LTD board member accepted an invitation to join me to help answer questions. In that it was not a scientifically selected group of respondents I will not say that the results are in any way an accurate measurement of the community at large.  I will say, however, that the people who use the facility at the end of the BRT line wanted to be heard.

I received nearly a hundred comments on 3 X 5 cards.  Comments were grouped into three basic categories:  response to the terminus location, response to EmX in general, concern about LTD’s other service.

Here are a few samples of comments received:

“We totally need EmX rapid transit.  It will connect West Eugene to the rest of the city…but please have LTD (leave) us parking spaces for the gym—we need them.”

“Why choose the W11th route?  These businesses are mostly auto services and drive through.  Other routes would be better.”

“Have the turnaround where nobody parks, like (empty ends of parking lots.)”

“The Wal-Mart parking lot closest to west 11^th…”

“Why spend all that money?”

“I live west of Eugene and would like the EmX terminus on Commerce and would regularly ride the EmX.  The west Eugene EmX is an important leg of a metropolitan wide system.  With global warming we need (it),”

By and large the many people who wrote love LTD and many are riders.  But like the editorial in today’s paper I found the response to the proposed west 11th extension and terminus on Commerce to be “lukewarm at best.”

The Eugene City Council was given a presentation on February 22 about three possible areas for expansion of the Eugene Urban Growth Boundary to accommodate the anticipated need for new housing over the next 20 years.

All three areas are directly adjacent to the existing Urban Growth Boundary.  The three areas being studied are:

1.  The Bailey Hill/Gimpl Hill Study area.  This is a 365-acre portion of land located, as the name implies, surrounding the intersection of the two roads.  It has limited wetlands and a small amount of steep slope restriction.  It could accommodate as many as 800 homes.

2.  The Crest/Chambers Study Area.  Once again named for the intersection of two roads, this is a 725-acre group of parcels that could accommodate up to 1200 homes.

3.  The Clear Lake Study Area.  This is to the north of the UGB adjacent to Clear Lake Road and includes Bethel School District property and land surrounding Golden Garden Park.  It is roughly 143 acres that could add up to 520 homes.

But, lest you start to panic, it’s likely only one or two of of the areas being studied will eventually be added to our city. Extending services will be expensive and it does not pencil out well to consider adding new infrastructure to all three.

It is still undetermined how many homes will be needed in the next 20 years to accommodate the needs of our children and our grandchildren. The Technical Resource Group of the Envision Eugene Committee continues to work on the details.  At last brush we will need someplace in the range of 660 to 1475 new dwellings.  Rather a large spread, you think?  True, but a great deal of analysis is taking place and a broad view of perspectives are being considered in bringing together a recommendation.

Staff has outlined the infrastructure needs for the potential development areas.  It includes “facilities” that must be in place in order to serve the families that will dwell there.  When queried, staff translates “facilities” to mean water pipes, sewers, storm water collection, electrical and gas lines.  And, oh yes, roads.

The pipes and wires and pump stations and “downflow facilities” will be installed predominantly underground and paid for mainly by system development costs.  But the roads remain a very big question.  The first two sites listed are severely constrained by a lack of “transportation facilities” in the area that would preclude any new houses or shops or work places.  They are reliant on overburdened arterials:  West 11^th and West 18^th Avenues, both of which are already at or near capacity.

Once again, the now “dead” West Eugene Parkway, planned to ease the growing congestion on those two streets, comes back to haunt us.  Regional transportation planning had centered on the construction of the Parkway, approved by voters and funded by the state and laid to rest by the Eugene City Council and Mayor majority.

18th Avenue is burdened by traffic refugees avoiding the West 11th/State Highway 126 morass and traffic from West Lane County heading for the I-5 corridor has to join commercial and residential traffic or bog down at the failing Randy Pape Beltline Road/Willamette River crossing.

I have asked for an update on what is being considered to help ease transportation system failure in West Eugene, and we all wait to hear how it might be addressed.

I gave a presentation to a group of students in the Erb Memorial Student Union on Wednesday evening, February 9.  The students had asked me to talk about local events and about public service in Eugene.  They were quite attentive and asked lots of pertinent questions.

After the class one of the students, Allana Strader, asked for a word with me.  She told me she was a member of a project team in a class, Business Administration 352, which has an assignment.  The assignment is to prepare and submit an ordinance or ordinance change to a local elective body.  It is worth 30% of the class grade and must, I suspect, be for the betterment of University of Oregon students.

They decided it was not right that skateboarders in Eugene were not allowed to travel in bicycle lanes, which is allowed in Portland.

Allana asked for my help.

I joined them the next day expecting them to need help from the grass roots on up, but they already had copies of the Portland ordinance and had identified where it would fit in the Eugene City Code.  They had, it would seem, done their homework.

U of O students from Business Admin 352, Allana Strada front right

All that remained for me to do to help was to provide the likely steps to having Council consider their ordinance.

These are the steps I recommended:

1.          Identify  a similar ordinance in a intraregional city (Portland for example)

2.         Begin testifying at Council Public Forums on Monday nights

Wear the same clothes you wear to class

You will have three minutes to speak

Be concise and confident

Speak of real impact of the ordinance

(such as skateboarding being some people’s sole means of  transportation

Use applicable anecdotal evidence:  “I save five minutes each way…”

3.         Prepare a draft ordinance with amendments particular to Eugene or personal preferences

Remember this is your ordinance and if need be it will be changed to comply with regulations

4.         Present the draft ordinance to a councilor (say, perhaps, Pat Farr)

5.         Councilor secures support for council action

Three councilors request work session

City attorney prepares draft ordinance language

6.         Council holds work session

7.         Ordinance is prepared

8.         Public process

Council solicits public testimony, written

Further testimony at Monday night public forum

9.         Work session (held by council)

10        Public hearing in council chamber

11.       Council passes ordinance or amended ordinance (at a subsequent meeting)

While it’s true that not every request for a new or revised ordinance is accepted, this project team of U of O students has in fact done their homework and their ordinance should be considered.

GOOD WORK!  This is one way you will change the world around you!

At a City Council meeting on January 25, while discussing an agenda item titled  ”Envision Eugene“I brought up the subject of the removal of the Parkway from Eugene’s transportation plan.

Mayor Piercy made a statement that “We should turn on a red light every time Pat talks about that…”

Councilor Zelenka fell short of his oft-stated, “For the record:  The West Eugene Parkway is dead…”  but muttered something about that not being the issue in this particular case.  See the webcast of the meeting.

Well, maybe the red light should be left on because even though it’s off the books the demise of the parkway continues to haunt us.

“ODOT has been working for over 20 years with the City of Eugene and Lane County to develop the proposed West Eugene Parkway as the best way to handle growing traffic in the area. This homepage has been designed to be a repository for current planning efforts related to the project and will be updated with current information…” taken from the ODOT document titled “Northwest Region, Region 2″.

Here’s some current information that came up in the meeting on the 25^th: a large number of acres of land  that are zoned residential land (acres that are integral to our long-range planning), located west of Danebo Avenue and adjacent to State Highway 26 (see study area page 5) cannot be developed because the state tells us we do not have the “transportation facilities” to build there.

“Transportation facilities,” I thought.  “What does that mean? A bus station?”

To satisfy my curiosity I asked what that means.  I was told that “transportation facilities” in this case means “roads.”

I wondered out loud why the land was zoned residential beyond the western edge of our urban area.  I was told that the need for residences in that location, in the original plan, was to support the jobs that would come as a result of the development of the adjacent industrial land.

Well, why was the adjacent industrial land not developed as planned?  The answer was, oh my gosh, because the state has told us we don’t have the “transportation facilities” to support development.

I am not in the habit of grilling city staff.  They are good at their work and they don’t need yet another Councilor gainsaying their efforts.  But I wanted to know.

And so I pressed on, “Is there a ‘transportation facility’ in the original plan that is no longer in place to support the development?”

At this point City Manager Jon Ruiz addressed the microphone, “Councilor, I take that to be a rhetorical question…”  (this is an expression he uses when he might otherwise have said, “That’s a stupid question!”)

Of course you know by now the answer:  that the missing “transportation facility” from the plan—the originally planned road—is the West Eugene Parkway.  We had planned for it for decades and we had constructed our residential, industrial and commercial land plan with it in mind.  Now it’s gone—“Dead” as Councilor Zelenka repeatedly tells us—we can no longer build houses and bring jobs to the area it would have served.

Here’s another rhetorical question:  “If it’s dead, who killed it?”

PS:  here’s the answer to the first rhetorical question, asked in the title of this article:  ”Not in the near future!”