Author: EW Staff

Biz Beat 4-7-2016

Biz Beat

 • Café Soriah at 384 W. 13th Ave. has expanded into the former dress shop next door, adding another dining room with 40 more seats. Owner Ib Hamide tells us Soriah plans to open for lunch Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays starting April 13,  from 11:30 am to 2 pm. The lunch menu will bring back much of what  Hamide served at Casablanca when it was in the 5th Street Public Market, he says, including falafel, shawarma, tabbouleh, hummus “as well as a few interesting and popular additions to complement the Mediterranean menu.”  Continue reading →

Activist Alert 4-7-2016

Activist Alert

• A discussion on “Why Aren’t There More Black People in Oregon? A Hidden History Conversation Project” will be from 6:30 to 8:30 pm Friday, April 8, at the Cottage Grove Community Center, 700 E. Gibbs Ave. Speakers include PSU adjunct professor and author Walidah Imarisha. Sponsored by Cottage Grove Blackberry Pie Society, the Cottage Grove Library, the Rural Organizing Project and Oregon Humanities. Email blackberrypie@gmail.com for more information. Continue reading →

Biz Beat 3-31-2016

Biz Beat

 • Saturday Market and Farmers Market will open their seasons Saturday, April 2, at the Park Blocks downtown. This hub of community activity will feature artisans, chefs, musicians and community members gathering to celebrate art, life and veggies in the southern Willamette Valley. Saturday Market will be open 33 Saturdays, more than 400 artisans will sell more than $1.5 million worth of handcrafted wares, nearly 500 local musicians will play on the stage and around the market, and 15 food booths will draw hungry crowds. Continue reading →

Activist Alert 3-31-2016

Activist Alert

• The Cottage Grove Blackberry Pie Society will host Lane County Sheriff Byron Trapp and Cottage Grove Interim Police Chief Scott Shepherd from 6:30 to 8 pm Thursday, March 31, in the Reception Room at the Cottage Grove Community Center, 700 E. Gibbs, Cottage Grove. Free and open to the public. Email blackberrypie@gmail.com for more information.  Continue reading →

Slant 3-31-2016

Slant

 The growing cost of building a new City Hall is no surprise; we reported on the seismic and cost changes back in January and the lack of offices for city councilors in February, but the issue goes back even further. When the city manager and his hired architects argued in 2014 that we could tear down the old City Hall and build a high-tech, energy efficient new City Hall for $12.5 million (plus demolition and design costs), we were skeptical. The cost per square foot did not pencil out for such high-quality construction. Continue reading →

Lane County Area Spray Schedule 3-31-16

Spray Schedule

• ODOT will soon be spraying roadsides. Call Jim Gamble at ODOT District 5 at 744-8080 or call (888) 996-8080 for herbicide application information. Hwy. 101 north of Dunes City and Florence was recently sprayed.  • Rosboro LLC, 736-2100, plans to spray their roadsides in Lane County with triclopyr, aminopyralid, glyphosate, metsulfuron methyl, Dyne-Amic, Induce, Syl-Tac and/or R-11, See ODF notification 2016-781-03793, call Dan Menk at 935-2283 with questions. Continue reading →

Slant 3-24-2016

Slant

• Bus tickets to ship off homeless people? We hear the city of Portland is looking at allocating $30,000 to buy one-way bus fares for indigent residents who are stuck in Portland and want to go home, or at least to a place where they have the support of family or friends. San Francisco has a similar program called Homeward Bound. At first glance, this seems like a cynical way to get rid of “problem” people and pass them along to other cities. Continue reading →

Activist Alert 3-24-2016

Activist Alert

• A weekly “Food Not Fences” community lunch series will begin at noon Thursday, March 24, at the newly constructed fences at Washington Jefferson Park on 1st and Jefferson. Organized by Badass Freedom Fighters and Humanity First, the gatherings are in solidarity with “our unhoused community members and in search for solutions.” Email ourhumanityfirst@gmail.com or cryswebb1975@gmail.com. Continue reading →

Biz Beat 3-24-2016

Biz Beat

• The Jazz Station at 124 W. Broadway has a jazzy new neon marquee that makes the all-ages music venue easier to find downtown. The sign was built by Neal Conner of Neon Latitudes with funding by a Lane County Cultural Coalition grant with matching funds from the nonprofit Willamette Jazz Society. Rich and Marilyn Linton, the current WJS president and his spouse, contributed financially to the project as well as providing oversight. The Jazz Station, a project of WJS, promotes touring musicians and bands, local talent and youth performers and provides rehearsal space. Continue reading →