The travel and hospitality industry, long a major economic engine in Lane County, has made a substantial rebound as it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Andy Vobora, Vice-President for Stakeholder Relations of Travel Lane County. In Fiscal 2020, which ended just as the pandemic exploded, the industry generated about $1 billion. While, he said, it took about a 60 percent hit during the pandemic, it is now emerging, in many cases more quickly than in other areas.

That does not mean the future is free from challenges, he added. Hotels suffered perhaps the most from the shutdown. As they begin to return, visitors will find rates have grown markedly. In addition. The room supply has sharply declined with the loss of the Valley River Inn due to fire, and decisions by Lane County to purchase some facilities, such as the former Red Lion hotel, to provide shelter for homeless residents.

In addition, the industry must deal with the typical winter trough when there are marked reductions in visitors, both in the sports area, as well as tourism in general. Travel Lane County has long supported developing a winter demand generator, such as an indoor facility that could host sporting events to help alleviate that trough as well as serve as a conference center. However, it had been anticipated that a significant portion of the Transient Lodging tax collected by Lane County would go to help support debt service on such a facility. Now, with the County considering whether to divert a significant portion to a new outdoor stadium, that revenue source might not be available for some time.

Travel Lane County uses a wide variety of approaches to try to support the industry. Most of this work is not visible to local residents, because it is directed at attracting visitors from other areas. This includes things like aggressively marketing Lane County and its offerings in the San Fracisco Bay area and other locations where they data they collect suggests that residents there could be interested in traveling to Oregon.

The organization does, however, work to create supportive programs in the area. One example Mr. Vobora pointed to is based on the realization that travelers with disabilities often have significant discretionary income, but need to find destinations that can accommodate them. One local example of that support is a grant program created by Travel Lane County which will support installation of hearing aid loops at the front desks of local hotels.  The agency can fund 80 percent of that cost for an effort that has major implications for travelers with hearing challenges. Travel Lane County is also active in trying to develop uniform access information on handicapped access to trails and other facilities so that visitors can make their own determinations on what they can attempt.

In a similar fashion, the organization is working with groups in the Dexter Lake area to improve infrastructure for an internationally recognized rowing venue to stimulate even further growth. Before the pandemic hit, they were working to create information to help visitors connect that multiple bikeways in the area so that it would be easier to travel on more of them. Now that the pandemic has eased, Mr. Vobora expects that effort will be reactivated.

While the University of Oregon has a substantial program in attracting and supporting athletic events, Travel Lane County is also active in helping to support other sports, like the rowing program and volleyball programs, including a national BMX tournament.

To watch the entire presentation, please click on this link: Travel Lane County Program.

After several months of staff work and extensive public outreach, the staff of Willamalane Park and Recreation District has completed a draft update to the agency’s Comprehensive Plan.

The Plan will be released for public comment on June 19 and, following the one-month comment period, will be prepared for submission to the Willamalane Board for consideration in September. On June 1, Kristina Boe, Senior Planner for Willamalane, and Michael Wargo, the agency’s Executive Director, reviewed the preparation of the draft plan with members of

 Springfield City Club. The public may view the draft plan at www.willamalane.org/future. The draft plan includes a list of projects that the agency would hope to accomplish in the future, along with a map identifying the project locations. There will be an opportunity to submit comments during the public review period.

The goal of the plan update is to position the agency to meet its defined goals for the next decade. 

Ms. Boe described in some detail the extensive outreach that has already occurred, including surveys, focus groups and direct outreach to many segments of the community. In that process, she said, the staff learned that people prioritize maintenance and safety in both facilities and neutral areas. She noted that among other things, the amount of natural area managed by Willamalane has grown markedly from about 100 acres at the time the plan was last updated in 2012 to over 700 acres today.

An important concern that the staff investigated was the existence of barriers to use of both facilities and trails. Their work disclosed that while about 25 percent of the district area has adequate service, 55 percent has a somewhat lower level of service and about 20 percent has little or no service. The draft maps show barriers to residents reaching service (like roadways and other barriers) so that as projects are developed and considered the agency can focus on removing or reducing those barriers. In particular, she noted the study disclosed that central Springfield has little access to trails, especially soft surface trails. 

The draft also documents a need for closing a gap in service to adults and seniors. She said the agency must adapt to the changing nature of the demographics of the community, both in terms of an aging population and those areas where language barriers to service exist.

Staff work identified that there are now some areas of the Springfield community where expansion has occurred and created places which are outside the Willamalane district boundaries. Mr. Wargo noted that expansion of the district’s boundaries to address that might occur, but doing so will only exacerbate the challenges of providing adequate staffing and other resources.

Ms. Boe said that once the Board of Directors approves the Plan, it must be submitted to both the City of Springfield and to the Lane County Board of Commissioners for approval so that it becomes an official part of the approved long term land use plans for the area.

To view the Facebook feed of the program, click on this link: Willamalane Plan Update

Ben Gibson, Springfield Surface Operations Manager with the Operations Division will talk about what PW maintenance is all about and also the various programs that are part of Springfield Operations. He will also talk about the City’s apprenticeship program and how it operates with all the training involved.

Ben has been a public employee for the past 23 years.  His career began with the City of Eugene working at the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant while attending school.  He then joined the City of Springfield as a Maintenance Technician Apprentice.  Over the course of 3 years, Ben graduated to Journeyman level and spent the next 4 years performing various tasks such as Emergency Response, Street maintenance and preservation, and sanitary sewer collection system rehabilitation inspections.  Ben’s career progressed to construction inspection with Springfield’s Engineering Division and for the past 6 years has as an Operations Division Supervisor.  Ben was born in Chehalis Washington and moved to Oregon in 1989 and is proud to be a Springfield resident. Ben has 3 wonderful children, he is a former high school football coach, currently his sons little league baseball coach, volunteers as a private security guard, and is one of the newest members of Springfield Twin Rivers Rotary.

Two positions are up for election to the Springfield School Board on May 16. Four candidates filed for election to Position 1: Geena Davis, Ken Kohl, Violet Olszyk and Heather Quaas-Annsa. We understand that Ms. Davis and Ms. Quaas-Annsa have withdrawn. Nicole DeGraff and Anthony Reed have filed for Position 4. Springfield City Club invited all candidates to a forum that was held at Noon on May 4 to give the candidates an opportunity to speak to the voters and answer questions. You m ay view thevid3eo of the forum on the City Club
Facebook page at this link: SCHOOL BOARD FORUM.

The Board of Education for Lane Community College will elect members at the May election. While the Springfield seat is not up for election, three seats are contested. Kevin Alltucker and Bob Baldwin will be seeking to be elected to seat 7. In addition, Lisa Fragala and Kyle Reallon will be seeking election to District 6 and Rich Cunningham, Nick Skelton and Zach Mulholland will be seeking election from District 2. While candidates run from specific districts, all seats are voted on at large. City Club hosted a candidate forum and invited all candidates who filed.

Four of the candidates agreed to participate in the forum: Mr. Alltucker, Mr. Baldwin, Ms. Fragala and Mr. Skelton. Each of the candidates submitted brief statements describing their candidacy. The statements may be found here: CANDIDATE STATEMENTS, A complete recording of the forum is found on the City Club Facebook page: APRIL 20 FORUM.

Disclaimer: This article reflects only the views of the author. It does not reflect the views of either of the participants in the forum or of the Springfield City Club.

On April 6, Sheriff Cliff Harrold, and Mr. Jacob Trewe, of Healing not Handcuffs, discussed renewal of the Lane County Public Safety Levy, a measure that will appear on the May 16 ballot. Sheriff Harrold urged support of the levy renewal and Mr. Trewe urged that renewal be rejected. The levy renewal will be at the same rate as is currently imposed, meaning that there will be no increase in taxes on any property as a result of approval.

Perhaps the most fascinating part of the discussion was how much Sheriff Harrold and Mr. Trewe agreed on the ultimate solution to dealing with one of the major public safety issues facing Lane County. Each agreed that incarceration was not the preferred approach, but rather solutions which created motivations and opportunities to avoid engaging in criminal behavior instead of imprisoning those who commit those crimes. Each suggested restorative justice approaches, improved mental health support, addressing the issue of chronic homelessness, providing ways for individuals to avoid getting caught in the cycle of addiction, and the like.

View the full program either on the City Club Facebook page or by downloading the Zoom recording (Caution, the Zoom recording is almost 900 MB of data.) 

Sheriff Harrold saw the levy renewal as important because without the levy, he believes he would be forced to eliminate the limited amount of those services he can now provide because they do not fall within the narrow ambit of his statutory duty to maintain and operate a jail and arrest alleged offenders. He said he would be obliged to repurpose the general fund money he receives to fund those programs to fulfill the essential statutory duties.

Mr. Trewe suggested that if the levy were to be rejected, the Sheriff’s office could still maintain a limited scale of the Department’s statutory duties and still offer programs which are now funded out of the county general fund.

Both agreed that ultimately the need is to have a conversation with the community and develop a revenue source that can fund a full set of alternative programs designed to avoid incarceration.

The challenge with that approach is best explained by referring to a question posed by someone who attended the forum over Zoom. This individual asked why they, as a Springfield resident, are obliged to pay a tax levied to fund the Springfield jail, as an employee working in Eugene, to pay the Eugene Public safety Tax, and at the same time pay “this third tax” to pay for the Sheriff’s functions. The individual suggested that this tax burden was too great. Focusing on the tax burden, rather than on the need to accomplish the goals of reducing criminal activity, often leads to one conclusion – opposition to any form of taxation, regardless of its purpose.

Representative Val Hoyle was clear about her priorities as a new member of Congress from the 4^th Congressional District: the Coos Bay North Bend container port. In her first visit to the Springfield City Club since her election, she described that project as her “first, second and third priority.” Fortunately, she has positioned herself in the Congress to be a strong advocate for the project. Even though one of the many freshman members of the House, she managed to secure an appointment to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where her predecessor served for many years. It is unusual, she said, for a new member of the House to get such a prestigious committee assignment.

Already, she has spent significant time working on building support for the project. She has been aided by the fact that the private company who would build the project, which involves dredging the Coos Bay channel, building the port, and expanding and improving rail service, is located in the Congressional District of the Republican chair of the Committee. This gives her an opportunity to build bipartisan support for the project.

Even with this project, which she says will create 9000 jobs on the coast as her main focus, she is working to establish a reputation as a congress member who will be willing to work across the aisle when appropriate, by securing support for two amendments to pending legislation which passed with unanimous support. Her focus, she said, “is finding ways to work together with people who want to get things done.”

She was clear, however, that there are significant challenges to working in the present Congress. She reported that while that chair of the transportation committee was clear that he wants the committee to “be boring” and focus on getting work down, her other committee assignment, to Natural Resources, will apparently operate differently. The first meeting of the Committee she said, focused on whether the members could bring guns to the meetings.

One of the first pieces of legislation she has signed on to sponsor is a modification to Social Security which would require high income individuals to resume contributions to the system if they make more than $250,000 a year. (At present no contributions are required on earnings above $160,000.) Were it to pass, which she concedes is doubtful in this Congress, it would stabilize social Security for 75 years as well as support a $250 a month increase in benefits across the board. This is important for this District she said, since over half of the seniors in the district rely on social Security for their retirement income.

Another bill she mentioned is one that tracks her recent experience as State Commissioner o9f the Bureau of Labor and Industries. That bill would offer tax credits to employers who are creative in how they hire and train employees. She focused attention on the apprenticeship model and the successful efforts in Oregon to create certifications in skills that do not require a four-year college degree. She specifically mentioned several of the programs that Lane Community College offers in medical technology, nursing, and traditional trades fields as examples of the sorts of programs that could be developed. It is important she said, “to change the present model where schools are paid for getting butts in the seats” and replace it with models that focus on rewarding successful outcomes.

Asked about the likelihood of success in getting approvals for the Container port project, she pointed to the fact that the current West Coast shipping ports are generally land locked and cannot expand significantly, and that all of them require days to get products from the open ocean to the port facility. “Coos Bay would be 90 minutes from open ocean to port with direct rail connections that could cut as much a s two days off of the supply chain.” She said there was no organized opposition, either in the Congress or locally to the project, unlike the controversial Jordan Cove project, although she acknowledged that work needs to be done to reassure local communities and the fishing industry that the part of the proposal that calls for offshore wind generation of electricity can be accomplished with adverse environmental effects.

Not only would the port project generate jobs by itself, she said, but it would provide an essential stimulation to the housing market. There are simply no homes available, at any level, along the coast. The need to supply housing for up to 9000 new workers would be a massive stimulus to build housing.

Rep. Hoyle was not optimistic about parts of the President’s budget which offer subsidies to help increase pay for child care workers. Unfortunately, she said, the slim Republican majority, and the decision of the speaker to yield much of his power to the extremist element of the Republican Party, make ideas like this, just like the demand for an assault weapons ban, things that are not likely to see success in this Congress.

Springfield Police Chief Andrew Shearer told City Club he felt the department was in a pretty decent spot in terms of staffing. He reported that there are presently nine vacancies in addition to the 69 sworn officers (including the chief). He said the word is getting out that Springfield is a place where you might want to be a police officer. That is fortunate, he said, because the market for hiring officers is extremely tight. One group he would clearly like to increase is the corps of Community Service Officers. These non-sworn employees help relieve the burden on sworn offices by taking a lot of calls that do not require a sworn officer. He also was very happy to have the support of CAHOOTS, which now has a vehicle based in Springfield to relief pressure on patrol officers. The Chief noted that before the pandemic the Department had about 30 volunteers to help;’ now that is down to about 6 and he hopes to restore the level as he can get additional volunteers to step forward. The Department is now developing a Downtown Volunteer Program to help move that goal forward.
Chief Shearer also introduced Deputy Chief Jamie Resch, a recent addition to the staff who comes with 24 years of policing experience in Portland. The Deputy Chief, which is a new position in Springfield, handles day to day operations of the department, making it possible for the Chief to oversee budget, recruitment and hiring, and public information and community outreach.
Chief Shearer reviewed the legislative agenda that the department is following, noting that just that morning the State Senate had apparently resolved the deadlock that had prevented them from achieving a quorum.

Deputy Chief Resch was asked to describe the process for handling a call for an apparently homeless person occupying space near a business. She said that the primary focus would be to try and defuse the situation so that the individual was not a challenge but without needing to take the person into custody. She said that when it becomes necessary to take a person into custody in that situation, the department has few resources to help deal with the situation. They are limited to writing a trespassing report which get referred to the District Attorney for prosecution but that given the volume of more serious allegations of criminal activity, those rarely are prosecuted.
The chief did note that the existence of the municipal jail was a resource that most jurisdictions do not have. The possibility of incarcerating individuals for misdemeanors he described as a tremendous resource to remove people from disruptive behavior.
The chief also described a new program the department has initiated – the Trauma Intervention Program of TIPS. He said that when offices respond to a traumatic event, a crime or even just a natural death, they have had no way to provide support to those affected by the trauma of the event. Now they have a group of experienced volunteers who can be asked to come to a scene and provide support to an individual so that the officers don’t simply show up and then leave an individual to cope with the aftermath.
Chief Shearer was asked about the recently announced Lane Conty Stabilization Center. He responded that there is a large funding gap both in terms of building and operating such a center. A lot needs to be done, he said, before that can become a reality.

 

Jameson T. Auten, the recently appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Lane Transit District, presented an expansive and, to most citizens, novel, view of the role of LTD in the community at the February 16, City Club program. “LTD must move away from being a public transit system,” he said, suggesting that the future of LTD was as an aggregator and facilitator of not only its fixed route system, but also “everything but the bus.”

Mr. Auten, who comes to LTD from the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA), where he served as the agency’s Deputy CEO/Chief Operating Officer, said his professional background in transportation demand management has drawn him to the conclusion that transportation must be “mode agnostic,” offering a wide variety of opportunities in how to get from point A to point B, including those that are not operated by an agency like LTD. He envisions LTD as a mobility space, from where a resident can get access to programs as diverse as bike sharing, car and van pools, pedestrian access, paratransit, many of which would be provided by entities other than LTD, as well as the customary fixed route services.

He envisions that the services LTD provides directly will also shift, in the future, away from the “hub and spoke” model where all service runs through a fixed central station to a service where “micro transit” which could well be an on-demand service, provides connections to a spine like the current EmX line in Springfield. As an example, he wondered if service to Coburg, which now runs as a fixed route from the town of Coburg to the downtown Eugene station, might not be more efficiently provided by offering “micro transit” (which he imagined as “like Uber in a larger vehicle”) as an on-demand service connecting to the EmX line in Gateway.

He was also critical of the current model for paratransit, which operates as Ride Source, because it lacks flexibility and immediacy, forcing those whose abilities necessitate them using the service, to plan travel long in advance with limited time windows. Many communities, he said, are exploring ways to improve their paratransit service and make if more effective as an on-demand service.

Responding to a question of how he would address the common perception that low ridership means the system is not useful, he said LTD must learn to focus public attention not on the ridership statistics, but rather on the outcomes that using public transportation, in all its many forms, facilitates. Transportation is vital to a community he said, not in terms of those statistics but in how it facilitates outcomes in other areas like employment, healthcare, and education.

Creating a new model for LTD will, he said, require extensive community conversations. He noted that the recent Moving Ahead initiative had a bad outcome. That effort is on pause and LTD will over the next several months be soliciting community feedback and developing a “best in class” process to determine the interests of stakeholders. This will include an external steering committee and an evaluation of whether or not the bus system meets the needs of the community and what it might look like if LTD were to rethink what it should look like. He noted that similar conversations are occurring in most communities across the country as society adjusts to the changes that have come out of the pandemic. He hopes that a new business case for LTD can be developed over the next 18 months.

He believes that LTD should not be wedded to the image of 40- and 60-foot fixed route vehicles. Those, he said, are not typically found in communities the size of the Eugene-Springfield area, and are more typical of San Francisco, Los Angelese or Philadelphia. Here the service needs to be tailored to how the community sees that its needs can best be met.

Mr. Auten reported that while before the pandemic fare box revenue made up 15 to 18 percent of total revenue, ridership has fallen and farebox revenue yields about 10 percent, that prompted a question about the desirability of zero fare service. He responded that Kansas City has recent experience with zero fare service, first as an incentive coupled to their development of a Bus Rapid Transit system and then later as all fares were suspended during the pandemic. That experience was not positive, he said. Although their might have been a small economic benefit to riders, behavior problems increased. Mr. Auten said that bus operators had reported similar results when LTD fares were suspended during the pandemic.

LTD should be a complete member of the community he said. He pointed to examples where other jurisdictions had repurposed uses that had ended their service life could be transformed into other useful roles. He cited an example in San Francisco where a bus had been converted into a community showering facility for use by the unhoused and other examples where retired buses had been converted into food pantries.