Capstone has finished its first phase of construction and now has 380 residents, mostly students, but Capstone leases individual rooms and does not require that residents be students. Residents can request who will be their roommates. Phase II will take another year and when completed, the Capstone project, named 13th & Olive, will house about 1,300 people and sport another big parking garage. We wrote in our Aug. 29 issue about complaints we’ve heard about that big ugly concrete wall at Capstone. Turns out that wall will eventually get covered by a stack of apartments in the next phase. What won’t be fixed is the lack of green space, a pocket park or even wide sidewalks. Profitable design for Capstone, missed opportunity for increasing livability downtown. Will Olive Street next to the project reopen to traffic during Phase II? Probably not unless contractors get pressure from the city staff and downtown businesses.

EWEB’s Greenpower program, in which customers pay a premium to subsidize the higher costs associated with EWEB’s purchase of wind and other alternative power, has dropped its Green-e Energy certification, leaving some customers to wonder about the fate of the program. But we hear from Monica Shovlin of EWEB that the additional level of certification was “useful as a marketing tool in the early days of the program,” but it became a “redundant expense” given the state of Oregon’s Renewal Portfolio Standards rules plus the Renewable Energy Certificate reporting that EWEB participates in. Shovlin says there’s no impact on where EWEB gets its power, how it’s managed or the cost to customers. 

Mother Goose Resale is a new store at 443 W. 11th Ave. in a storefront previously occupied by Black Box. The franchise, which opened Sept. 13, is owned by Rachel Bretbrunner and specializes in pregnancy and children’s clothing and items sold exclusively on consignment. Consigners can get 40 percent of the selling price as cash or store credit. A different Mother Goose Resale store in Springfield recently closed. Find the Eugene store on Facebook or call 343-1300. The store is open from 10 am to 5:30 pm Tuesday through Saturday.

Xylem Clothing in Eugene is celebrating 10 years in business and has moved into a new warehouse at 495 Hwy. 99 N. that includes a design studio, cutting and sewing facilities and a showroom. Founders are Danielle Brodsky and Jazzi Januari, who say they are “committed to transform the fashion industry from the ‘inside’ out by focusing solely on using only the finest organic fabrics.” Xylem has grown to become one of the largest clothing manufacturers in Oregon. Find them on Facebook or at xylemclothing.com. 

Pet Time at 3141 W. 11th Ave. in the Marketplace West mall will celebrate its 20th anniversary from 10 am to 7 pm Saturday, Oct. 5, with giveaways, live music, raffles, free samples and discounts. The store, one of the oldest in the valley, is in the same complex as Jalisco and the Oregon Community Credit Union. 

We hear volunteers picked 8,406 pounds of apples at King Estate Sept. 21 for FOOD for Lane County. FFLC is trying to collect 25,000 pounds of apples for processing this month. The fruit can come from commercial or home orchards, but must be picked from trees and not from the ground due to concerns of E. coli contamination. Call 343-2822.