Under construction Dec 9
The following account is a partly FICTIONAL story based on Eugene, Oregon. There are several intentions of the story.
1] To describe what some aspects of paradigm shift CAN look like in real life.
2] To describe what taking early aspects of paradigm shift to a higher level COULD look like based on real life
occasions, actions and events.
3] At the same time, to show how hundreds of millions of dollars spent on highways COULD have been spent instead on behalf of paradigm shift
4] To suggest re directing money now spent on the consumer culture to paradigm shift
5] Again, to refrain, people can make many of these purposeful changes in their own lives with their own time and money, even better with others
All is not lost. There is still enormous amounts of time, money and expertise for paradigm shift. We have simply squandered a lot up to this point. The level of urgency has increased considerably because we have squandered so my much up to now, allowing familiar problems and trends to worsen even more. Most towns and cities have their own version of this account, both the opportunities lost but also many paradigm shift opportunities remain.
The story further below is fiction but there are numerous examples of urban and suburban social, residential and land use innovation in real life. The fiction story refers to these innovations and extrapolates on them.
Note, to help clarify for this story, real events and circumstances are indicated with this color. Fiction is indicated with this color.
Certain real aspects of Eugene that relate to the story.
Eugene is known as being a comparatively progressive small city but it is still typically suburban and spread out, but with a somewhat confined periphery, thanks to Oregon's state land use laws and their required urban growth boundaries. Downtown Eugene is an entertainment zone rather than a place to buy shoes, flowers, books or hardware. Eugene has some neighborhood splitting divided highways but did avoid a lot more car based damage thanks to citizen push back dating to the 1960's and 70's and more recently as well. There is a considerable level of homelessness with city and non profit efforts to address it.
Eugene has a city managed neighborhood program with about 25 identified neighborhoods, most with active neighborhood associations with "mainstream" progressive tendencies. There is a small but appreciable interest in permaculture and sustainability expressed in a variety of ways all over town. The city has been moderately permissive to slide on a number of not so conventional residential "initiatives." Eugene has an appreciative amount of bicycle infrastructure, lots of bike shops and a public transit system sizable for a metro population of 250,000. That transit system even includes several bus rapid transit lines. The University of Oregon is an important part of the community. City policy has been to encourage more dense residential development including downtown. There is civic awareness, if not adequate action, to push back on suburban sprawl and cars.
This writing below is FICTION but based on real life aspects as mentioned above - "what could have been" account IF
1] the city had pursued promising land use re development initiatives over the years
2] various progressive community based initiatives had replicated
3] money that could have been spent on major highway projects that were stopped or un funded had been made available to address transportation, housing and public safety needs in a different way
4] various public players such as local non profits, faith and citizen groups had asserted themselves over the years in a more robust ways in regard to social equity, city policy, transportation and land use.
The potential remains for creating more positive outcomes in Eugene. Again, it depends on how to prioritize time and money at the community wide scale and that calls on civic leadership that has gained/maintained a fair degree of immunity to generations of social engineering.
The Story
The year is 2030. Imagine you have noticed messages in local media, from a couple friends, a mention at work in casual conversation. You are also aware making ends meet is a concern to a growing number of people, even people you know from your middle class + world and even a bit yourself and family. Your 13 year old daughter raves about her school garden and through her being a Scout, she is involved in the local Youth Corps. You've seen more front yard gardens around the neighborhood and have even talked with some people looking after the gardens.
You even had a note on the door from someone asking about turning your front yard into a garden and sharing the produce. Your wife says why not. She's been telling you about changes she's seen around Eugene since the city wide educational campaign that started fifteen years ago and is actually generating even more results. Like your wife selling her car. And having a hard time finding anyone to buy it.
The occasional message from the neighborhood association describes content about preparedness, something called permaculture, work parties doing this and that. You know about some new levies over the past few years and new taxes to pay for community programs about the environment and building social skills. There was mention in the news that finally, the new development of the four acre Santa Clara Square Parking lot. This project had been in the works for the past decade. The money that was meant for widening Belt Line, an enormous highway expansion, had become available to Eugene.
That was a remarkable outcome of citizen push back on the state and federal government. The huge widening was stopped and representatives from Oregon and public clamor shamed the US Congress into scripting an unprecedented exception to highway law. The near 500 million intended for Beltline widening was granted to Eugene, with focus on River Road and Santa Clara. Instead of more highway, this money could be used in a way related to transportation. The Feds were persuaded to award a large chunk of that money, along with other sources, to building a mixed use commercial and residential, some say, a micro downtown to serve the nearby neighborhoods in a way that would diminish use of cars. So you are here to learn about this greening of Eugene.
Your own focus on work has left you with limited time and interest in whats going on around you but now, finally to your daughter and wife relief, you have come to this meeting to catch up and learn more about this surging community movement. You along with few hundred others.
Greetings and thank you for joining us tonight. We have al lot to cover and I am sure many in the audience will be saying, "I didn't know that" as we talk about the many innovative changes happening in recent years. For your information, we have been hosting these kinds of learning sessions for the past ten years. We are very pleased to welcome you to the update session and hope you will be inspired to participate in these exciting times in Eugene. Everyone can find a way to be involved.
There are two important avenues towards sustainability. One is by policy and government, the other is citizen driven. Its best when these two work together. Over the past 15 to 20 years, we have seen in Eugene the movement towards sustainability has been citizen driven. Even more, while there have always been patrons of sustainability in more official and elected places, we have to admit, government sponsored sustainability was more words than substance.
For example, the so called triple bottom line, promoted as cutting edge 25 or 30 years ago is now seen by many as quaint and even green wash. A strong economy is not of equal standing to a healthy environment. Overcoming this kind of thinking has been an uphill task these years. The well being of the natural world is the top priority. Its only in the past 15 years or so government has been catching up and that because of citizen pressure but also at local levels, the election of more progressive candidates.
This transformation is still in the early going but even critiques of the System have to admit, there has been more forward movement than many had thought possible. The challenges conventional thinking and policy have left us with through the first decade plus of this century left little place to hide given the level of homelessness and people needed food assistance and other social services. We are now seeing an actual decrease in need for social support.
The primary, you could say breakthrough, for these encouraging actions and trends is when the many public interest organizations and non profits came to realize they were all on the same team. How could they not have realized the reason almost all of them existed to repair the damage caused by enormous eco footprints pushed by the consumer culture. Comments in a public place like this would have been unthinkable 15 years ago. There were fringe voices calling out the System but they were isolated to the fringe. Now that thinking is far more common.
Local non profits and progressive have been working far more effectively together. There is no small group at the top of some pyramid of decision making. Rather there has been a substantial change in consciousness so messaging to the broader public has simply become logical and what many would have to say, more critical of the the growth based, high consumption economic system. Even now, many are shy of saying capitalism - its concentration of wealth, economic and political power is the source of our problems.
We are far more speaking together in all kinds of realms of public interest from affordable housing to climate change. Those problems and most of the others have the same source. We have become much bolder and now recognize earlier movements like occupy, black lives matter, de growth, indigenous sacred places, women and more are all on the same team.
Its like some kind of spell has been broken.
So this breakthrough became obvious 15 to 20 years ago and is still taking place. We are hoping still in the early going but those of us who have been in non profit work like this can testify to the shift. The results are hard to miss. And thats what we are here for this evening to do a show and tell of these changes because we want to impress those present, that the more people working together to take action and to support those actions is essential for moving further towards sustainability and uplift. We have a lot of work to do and that work will probably never end.
What we will see is how strong citizen initiative has been the driver of a steepening of an essential part to where we are today. Safe to say, without strong citizen and public participation, much of what we have to show and tell would not have happened. Many of these initiatives are citizen driven while others have been with the help of local, state and federal government officials.
We want to recognize different areas of community interest but, of course, they are all related. We will touch on schools, transportation, business, residential and citizen participation. Yes, the trends we knew about 50 years ago are still with us. Eugene is now a solid 9a climate zone and moving towards what Chico, Cal was like 40 years ago. Our population has grown because of increased in migration from areas now too hot and dry to support their previous populations.
Still, our UGB has scarcely moved. Our neighborhood associations have taken on much more responsibility in regard to land use and planning. We are grateful for the production of local farms. Remarkably, for example, grass seed farming is now almost non existent. Those farms are growing beans and grains. Some even planting limited acres of olives. Many social issues even 25 years ago have been contained if not resolved. Again, we emphasize the collaborations between grass roots and city.
So let's start with a review of what has been accomplished and how those accomplishments came to be. A recurring theme in all these changes has been to reduce our individual and collective eco footprints. That includes everything we do. As it turns out, reducing eco footprints addresses a lot of other issues too. One major indicator, levels of obesity are in decline, especially for young people. Those Youth Corp groups are putting a lot more kids into active mode.
Our first reference goes back to the 1980's and a city initiative with the name block planning. The city contracted and consulted with a private planner and architect. A block plan is a land use process, usually residential, where the residents and property owners on a block come together to re work the block to achieve outcomes those involved are interested in. A block plan does not make rules and regs go away but the BP allows for changes to the block and properties that a single property would not have access to on its own. A block plan can allow performance compliance rather than prescriptive compliance.
That means rather than a set literal action to satisfy code, in a BP, applicants can explain how they will satisfy code in perhaps a more creative way in terms of setbacks, landscaping, traffic and parking, density, small business and more.
In the 1980's the consultant worked with several blocks of neighbors and property owners in Eugene but unfortunately, none lead to a fully complete and lived in block plan.
Fast forward to the end of the century, deepening social, economic and environmental trends gave us new and even more urgent reasons to give block planning another try. The city designated a staff person to become a block planning expert, including some personal instruction from the first consultant. Lessons were learned. There was citizen input to help and the many neighborhood associations took up the cause of block planning as well.
Later in the program we will hear about how many of these green initiatives were paid for but suffice at the moment to say, Eugene was granted an unprecedented source of funding. Several large highway projects were cancelled or downsized and the money that would have been used for expanding highway capacity was made available for projects that might reduce the need to drive or to support transit. Given the large amounts typically spent without question on highways that became available for these other uses, the staff time for block planning amounted to spare change. Those freed up tens of millions became source money for other non highway projects in Eugene we will hear about later.
This time around, there was a more ready audience for block planning. Block planning interest came from lots of directions. The city wide outreach and education campaign organized by a wide range of community organizations and lead by local faith groups had an enormous effect. The campaign really resonated with the public with its focus on reducing eco footprints as an action that fits what was called, the "wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions." Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha and others get assists for repairing the urban landscape.
So 30 years later, there are several dozen block planning communities. They typically occupy the same block, perhaps sharing an alley. Perhaps adjunct members across the street. Many driveways have been removed. There are car shares, garages turned into living space or small businesses. One back yard often becomes a kid space. A cooperative tool share is frequent. Often there was shared garden space. Emergency preparedness was another common aspect of block plan members. A block plan provided access to all kinds of benefits and amenities unavailable to homes on their own.
Each group has its own priorities, practices and peculiarities but still had to go through the same lengthy process. Property remains private but the purpose of the block plan is to make better use of block's assets. So there is, by definition, a great need for skilled facilitation to zero in what everyone wants and how to make the best plan possible. Each block plan is unique but still has to follow guidelines. EB could be thought of as low budget co housing.
Early participants in block planning had a model in East Blair Housing Co-op. A real life housing co-op dating back to 1984, the same time period for the first block planning effort. East Blair is a legal co-op. Members rent, the co-op owns the 8 properties and 40's era houses. There were 4 town house unites built added to the 6 or 7 two story homes usually subdivided into several apartments. There was a community meeting space, shared washing machines, a tool share, a shared sauna. Members in the town homes could find garden space elsewhere on co-op property or at one of Eugene's community gardens.
East Blair required participation of it members. There are several committees that take care of various co-op needs. Members typically learned all kinds of social skills for working with others and physical skills for the up keep of the buildings and grounds. One of the most popular actions at EB was removing a ten car parking lot. Without asking the city, members depaved the area and over time, it became an outdoor social space with a pik nik table and sunken fire pit. There was edible landscaping all around and an espalier of fruit and grapes creating a screen from the alley. There was a waiting list to join the co-op's 50 or so members.
Starting in the first 2 or 3 years of the new century, permaculture site tours became a summer staple in Eugene. It was at that time a small number of innovative property transformations began. Before long, theses permaculture projects were scattered all around Eugene, mostly south or west of the River but there were several neighborhoods that counted enough of these places close enough to each other for easy access with bikes.
One site in River Road was the subject of a 30 minute video tour and interview about 2006. This video was put on a very new Youtube and was the first video on Youtube under the heading suburban permaculture. Twenty years later there are hundreds. The site tours visited dozens of properties over the years in about half of Eugene's neighborhoods. River Road, Friendly and Amazon Neighborhoods have hosted the most site tours over the years.
For a time in the
economics is the act of connecting people with the products and services they need, employment/jobs to produce those products and services and earning the means to buy those products and services.
The following account is a partly FICTIONAL story based on Eugene, Oregon. There are several intentions of the story.
1] To describe what some aspects of paradigm shift CAN look like in real life.
2] To describe what taking early aspects of paradigm shift to a higher level COULD look like based on real life
occasions, actions and events.
3] At the same time, to show how hundreds of millions of dollars spent on highways COULD have been spent instead on behalf of paradigm shift
4] To suggest re directing money now spent on the consumer culture to paradigm shift
5] Again, to refrain, people can make many of these purposeful changes in their own lives with their own time and money, even better with others
All is not lost. There is still enormous amounts of time, money and expertise for paradigm shift. We have simply squandered a lot up to this point. The level of urgency has increased considerably because we have squandered so my much up to now, allowing familiar problems and trends to worsen even more. Most towns and cities have their own version of this account, both the opportunities lost but also many paradigm shift opportunities remain.
The story further below is fiction but there are numerous examples of urban and suburban social, residential and land use innovation in real life. The fiction story refers to these innovations and extrapolates on them.
Note, to help clarify for this story, real events and circumstances are indicated with this color. Fiction is indicated with this color.
Certain real aspects of Eugene that relate to the story.
Eugene is known as being a comparatively progressive small city but it is still typically suburban and spread out, but with a somewhat confined periphery, thanks to Oregon's state land use laws and their required urban growth boundaries. Downtown Eugene is an entertainment zone rather than a place to buy shoes, flowers, books or hardware. Eugene has some neighborhood splitting divided highways but did avoid a lot more car based damage thanks to citizen push back dating to the 1960's and 70's and more recently as well. There is a considerable level of homelessness with city and non profit efforts to address it.
Eugene has a city managed neighborhood program with about 25 identified neighborhoods, most with active neighborhood associations with "mainstream" progressive tendencies. There is a small but appreciable interest in permaculture and sustainability expressed in a variety of ways all over town. The city has been moderately permissive to slide on a number of not so conventional residential "initiatives." Eugene has an appreciative amount of bicycle infrastructure, lots of bike shops and a public transit system sizable for a metro population of 250,000. That transit system even includes several bus rapid transit lines. The University of Oregon is an important part of the community. City policy has been to encourage more dense residential development including downtown. There is civic awareness, if not adequate action, to push back on suburban sprawl and cars.
This writing below is FICTION but based on real life aspects as mentioned above - "what could have been" account IF
1] the city had pursued promising land use re development initiatives over the years
2] various progressive community based initiatives had replicated
3] money that could have been spent on major highway projects that were stopped or un funded had been made available to address transportation, housing and public safety needs in a different way
4] various public players such as local non profits, faith and citizen groups had asserted themselves over the years in a more robust ways in regard to social equity, city policy, transportation and land use.
The potential remains for creating more positive outcomes in Eugene. Again, it depends on how to prioritize time and money at the community wide scale and that calls on civic leadership that has gained/maintained a fair degree of immunity to generations of social engineering.
The Story
The year is 2030. Imagine you have noticed messages in local media, from a couple friends, a mention at work in casual conversation. You are also aware making ends meet is a concern to a growing number of people, even people you know from your middle class + world and even a bit yourself and family. Your 13 year old daughter raves about her school garden and through her being a Scout, she is involved in the local Youth Corps. You've seen more front yard gardens around the neighborhood and have even talked with some people looking after the gardens.
You even had a note on the door from someone asking about turning your front yard into a garden and sharing the produce. Your wife says why not. She's been telling you about changes she's seen around Eugene since the city wide educational campaign that started fifteen years ago and is actually generating even more results. Like your wife selling her car. And having a hard time finding anyone to buy it.
The occasional message from the neighborhood association describes content about preparedness, something called permaculture, work parties doing this and that. You know about some new levies over the past few years and new taxes to pay for community programs about the environment and building social skills. There was mention in the news that finally, the new development of the four acre Santa Clara Square Parking lot. This project had been in the works for the past decade. The money that was meant for widening Belt Line, an enormous highway expansion, had become available to Eugene.
That was a remarkable outcome of citizen push back on the state and federal government. The huge widening was stopped and representatives from Oregon and public clamor shamed the US Congress into scripting an unprecedented exception to highway law. The near 500 million intended for Beltline widening was granted to Eugene, with focus on River Road and Santa Clara. Instead of more highway, this money could be used in a way related to transportation. The Feds were persuaded to award a large chunk of that money, along with other sources, to building a mixed use commercial and residential, some say, a micro downtown to serve the nearby neighborhoods in a way that would diminish use of cars. So you are here to learn about this greening of Eugene.
Your own focus on work has left you with limited time and interest in whats going on around you but now, finally to your daughter and wife relief, you have come to this meeting to catch up and learn more about this surging community movement. You along with few hundred others.
Greetings and thank you for joining us tonight. We have al lot to cover and I am sure many in the audience will be saying, "I didn't know that" as we talk about the many innovative changes happening in recent years. For your information, we have been hosting these kinds of learning sessions for the past ten years. We are very pleased to welcome you to the update session and hope you will be inspired to participate in these exciting times in Eugene. Everyone can find a way to be involved.
There are two important avenues towards sustainability. One is by policy and government, the other is citizen driven. Its best when these two work together. Over the past 15 to 20 years, we have seen in Eugene the movement towards sustainability has been citizen driven. Even more, while there have always been patrons of sustainability in more official and elected places, we have to admit, government sponsored sustainability was more words than substance.
For example, the so called triple bottom line, promoted as cutting edge 25 or 30 years ago is now seen by many as quaint and even green wash. A strong economy is not of equal standing to a healthy environment. Overcoming this kind of thinking has been an uphill task these years. The well being of the natural world is the top priority. Its only in the past 15 years or so government has been catching up and that because of citizen pressure but also at local levels, the election of more progressive candidates.
This transformation is still in the early going but even critiques of the System have to admit, there has been more forward movement than many had thought possible. The challenges conventional thinking and policy have left us with through the first decade plus of this century left little place to hide given the level of homelessness and people needed food assistance and other social services. We are now seeing an actual decrease in need for social support.
The primary, you could say breakthrough, for these encouraging actions and trends is when the many public interest organizations and non profits came to realize they were all on the same team. How could they not have realized the reason almost all of them existed to repair the damage caused by enormous eco footprints pushed by the consumer culture. Comments in a public place like this would have been unthinkable 15 years ago. There were fringe voices calling out the System but they were isolated to the fringe. Now that thinking is far more common.
Local non profits and progressive have been working far more effectively together. There is no small group at the top of some pyramid of decision making. Rather there has been a substantial change in consciousness so messaging to the broader public has simply become logical and what many would have to say, more critical of the the growth based, high consumption economic system. Even now, many are shy of saying capitalism - its concentration of wealth, economic and political power is the source of our problems.
We are far more speaking together in all kinds of realms of public interest from affordable housing to climate change. Those problems and most of the others have the same source. We have become much bolder and now recognize earlier movements like occupy, black lives matter, de growth, indigenous sacred places, women and more are all on the same team.
Its like some kind of spell has been broken.
So this breakthrough became obvious 15 to 20 years ago and is still taking place. We are hoping still in the early going but those of us who have been in non profit work like this can testify to the shift. The results are hard to miss. And thats what we are here for this evening to do a show and tell of these changes because we want to impress those present, that the more people working together to take action and to support those actions is essential for moving further towards sustainability and uplift. We have a lot of work to do and that work will probably never end.
What we will see is how strong citizen initiative has been the driver of a steepening of an essential part to where we are today. Safe to say, without strong citizen and public participation, much of what we have to show and tell would not have happened. Many of these initiatives are citizen driven while others have been with the help of local, state and federal government officials.
We want to recognize different areas of community interest but, of course, they are all related. We will touch on schools, transportation, business, residential and citizen participation. Yes, the trends we knew about 50 years ago are still with us. Eugene is now a solid 9a climate zone and moving towards what Chico, Cal was like 40 years ago. Our population has grown because of increased in migration from areas now too hot and dry to support their previous populations.
Still, our UGB has scarcely moved. Our neighborhood associations have taken on much more responsibility in regard to land use and planning. We are grateful for the production of local farms. Remarkably, for example, grass seed farming is now almost non existent. Those farms are growing beans and grains. Some even planting limited acres of olives. Many social issues even 25 years ago have been contained if not resolved. Again, we emphasize the collaborations between grass roots and city.
So let's start with a review of what has been accomplished and how those accomplishments came to be. A recurring theme in all these changes has been to reduce our individual and collective eco footprints. That includes everything we do. As it turns out, reducing eco footprints addresses a lot of other issues too. One major indicator, levels of obesity are in decline, especially for young people. Those Youth Corp groups are putting a lot more kids into active mode.
Our first reference goes back to the 1980's and a city initiative with the name block planning. The city contracted and consulted with a private planner and architect. A block plan is a land use process, usually residential, where the residents and property owners on a block come together to re work the block to achieve outcomes those involved are interested in. A block plan does not make rules and regs go away but the BP allows for changes to the block and properties that a single property would not have access to on its own. A block plan can allow performance compliance rather than prescriptive compliance.
That means rather than a set literal action to satisfy code, in a BP, applicants can explain how they will satisfy code in perhaps a more creative way in terms of setbacks, landscaping, traffic and parking, density, small business and more.
In the 1980's the consultant worked with several blocks of neighbors and property owners in Eugene but unfortunately, none lead to a fully complete and lived in block plan.
Fast forward to the end of the century, deepening social, economic and environmental trends gave us new and even more urgent reasons to give block planning another try. The city designated a staff person to become a block planning expert, including some personal instruction from the first consultant. Lessons were learned. There was citizen input to help and the many neighborhood associations took up the cause of block planning as well.
Later in the program we will hear about how many of these green initiatives were paid for but suffice at the moment to say, Eugene was granted an unprecedented source of funding. Several large highway projects were cancelled or downsized and the money that would have been used for expanding highway capacity was made available for projects that might reduce the need to drive or to support transit. Given the large amounts typically spent without question on highways that became available for these other uses, the staff time for block planning amounted to spare change. Those freed up tens of millions became source money for other non highway projects in Eugene we will hear about later.
This time around, there was a more ready audience for block planning. Block planning interest came from lots of directions. The city wide outreach and education campaign organized by a wide range of community organizations and lead by local faith groups had an enormous effect. The campaign really resonated with the public with its focus on reducing eco footprints as an action that fits what was called, the "wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions." Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha and others get assists for repairing the urban landscape.
So 30 years later, there are several dozen block planning communities. They typically occupy the same block, perhaps sharing an alley. Perhaps adjunct members across the street. Many driveways have been removed. There are car shares, garages turned into living space or small businesses. One back yard often becomes a kid space. A cooperative tool share is frequent. Often there was shared garden space. Emergency preparedness was another common aspect of block plan members. A block plan provided access to all kinds of benefits and amenities unavailable to homes on their own.
Each group has its own priorities, practices and peculiarities but still had to go through the same lengthy process. Property remains private but the purpose of the block plan is to make better use of block's assets. So there is, by definition, a great need for skilled facilitation to zero in what everyone wants and how to make the best plan possible. Each block plan is unique but still has to follow guidelines. EB could be thought of as low budget co housing.
Early participants in block planning had a model in East Blair Housing Co-op. A real life housing co-op dating back to 1984, the same time period for the first block planning effort. East Blair is a legal co-op. Members rent, the co-op owns the 8 properties and 40's era houses. There were 4 town house unites built added to the 6 or 7 two story homes usually subdivided into several apartments. There was a community meeting space, shared washing machines, a tool share, a shared sauna. Members in the town homes could find garden space elsewhere on co-op property or at one of Eugene's community gardens.
East Blair required participation of it members. There are several committees that take care of various co-op needs. Members typically learned all kinds of social skills for working with others and physical skills for the up keep of the buildings and grounds. One of the most popular actions at EB was removing a ten car parking lot. Without asking the city, members depaved the area and over time, it became an outdoor social space with a pik nik table and sunken fire pit. There was edible landscaping all around and an espalier of fruit and grapes creating a screen from the alley. There was a waiting list to join the co-op's 50 or so members.
Starting in the first 2 or 3 years of the new century, permaculture site tours became a summer staple in Eugene. It was at that time a small number of innovative property transformations began. Before long, theses permaculture projects were scattered all around Eugene, mostly south or west of the River but there were several neighborhoods that counted enough of these places close enough to each other for easy access with bikes.
One site in River Road was the subject of a 30 minute video tour and interview about 2006. This video was put on a very new Youtube and was the first video on Youtube under the heading suburban permaculture. Twenty years later there are hundreds. The site tours visited dozens of properties over the years in about half of Eugene's neighborhoods. River Road, Friendly and Amazon Neighborhoods have hosted the most site tours over the years.
For a time in the
economics is the act of connecting people with the products and services they need, employment/jobs to produce those products and services and earning the means to buy those products and services.