Skinners Butte Columns

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Hugh Paterson III

This is the first time she went to the top!

Capital Hill PUD Thoughts

Posted on December 10, 2021 by Hugh Paterson III

I can see Capitol Hill from my house. As a matter of personal preference I would not like my view of Capitol Hill to change.

However,

What if:
* The Capital hill PUD was capped at 14 new houses? What if the tree cut count was amended and lowered?
* One of those properties was used to buy out a Fairmont neighbor?
* Assume that the bought out Fairmont neighbor’s property was contiguous to the university?
* Then the University and Fairmont both donated 50% of the land needed to build a parking garage.
* A trust was set up to be jointly owned by the University and Fairmont Neighbors Association, and the trust owned the parking garage.
* Parking would be free for students, and would charge for events. Feeded parking would be used to offset maintenance cost of the garage.
* Other parking on the streets of Fairmont would be reduced to residents and their guests.
* Ask the architecture school at the U of O to submit designs - pro bono. As for designs that would integrate form and function and be within the character of the fairmont neighborhood estetic.
* Ask the Knight Foundation and the U of O alumni association to sponsor it.
* What size parking garage would be needed? 500 spaces? More?
* How many duplexes are in the planned PUD? How many ADUs?

I think our challenge as neighbors is not to simply oppose the Capital Hill PUD, but rather to come up with alternative economic options which preserve our ecological values and also help the current land owner realize the most from his economic investments. Rather than just “no” what alternatives have been proposed?

Identifying as female

Posted on September 23, 2021 by Hugh Paterson III

This week Becky called FredMyer and place an order for pickup.

She sent me to pick up the order.

I arrived and called the required number and said that that I was here to pick up the order for Rebecca Paterson.

The order was rather large so the two male clerks came out with the two carts and proceeded to load the content into the minivan. One of the clerks proceeded to verify the content of order with me via his iPad. Several times he asked: “you’re Rebecca Paterson?” So finally I said: “Yes, I’m just not identifying as female today.” “And given the length of my beard, I don’t identify as female most days.”

Date time!

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Hugh Paterson III

I took Katja to Falling Sky Delicatessen. It was great. I love having my little girl around.

Eugene socio-political resources

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Hugh Paterson III

This is just a list of links to help me keep track of all the different kinds of web resources in Eugene politics. Point of view is not important to this list, and listing is not an endorsement. What is important is that they relate to local government in some way.

Neighborhoods

http://www.fairmountneighbors.org
https://www.amazonneighbors.com

Other

http://checks-balances.org/faq.html
http://www.cityclubofeugene.org
https://eugeneneighborhoods.wordpress.com

Running for office

https://www.runoregonrun.org/where-to-run
Petition with the city for office - one needs only 25 signatures https://www.eugene-or.gov/518/Elections
Registering a PAC or candidate committee: http://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Pages/campaigncommittee.aspx
In Oregon one needs to register with the Federal IRS first: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/political-organizations/filing-requirements-1
Then register with the state via ORESTAR: Running for office in Oregon For Finances
Find a Financial services solution: https://www.onpointcu.com/

Missing bear found!

Posted on March 4, 2018 by Hugh Paterson III

Blue bear, which is actually a dog… has been found. Blue bear is Katja’s special companion. He goes everywhere. Last Sunday he decided to stay the week at South Eugene High. It was a rough week without him — especially at bedtime. Katja would tell us that blue bear was sleeping in his sleeping bag. However, this Sunday he was found and returned! Things are looking up.

Great Resources for Property owners in Eugene Oregon

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Hugh Paterson III

There are at least three resources for records on real estate properties in Eugene (though there could be more as well). These three are

Eugene City Records
Lane County Records
Eweb Records

Eweb is the local electricity, water, and sewage provider.

Useful links for public information

There are a couple of things to check, these include any open permits at either the county or the city, an closed permits (to know what improvements were actually permitted), past ownership of the property and what was paid for the property (sales history), any deed restrictions, and any social history of the property.

Sewer Plans for properties: http://pwe.eugene-or.gov/PWESewerConn/SewerConnImageSearch.aspx - Splash Page
Complaints which have been field with the city since July 1998: http://pdd.eugene-or.gov/CodeCompliance/ComplaintSearch
Older complaints and their context must be ordered from the city via a records request. The fee for this is $20.
Permits (requests and grants) which have been field with the city since July 1998: http://pdd.eugene-or.gov/BuildingPermits/PermitSearch
Older permits must be requested from the city. There is generally a $20 fee for this, but having this history can be a great aid when looking at buying a property.
Property class and information for the sales of property for the last three years:
Deeds and Title Search:
Zone and urbanization plan Map: http://lcmaps.lanecounty.org/LaneCountyMaps/ZoneAndPlanMapsApp/index.html
Soil Map: (also here is a 1925 survey.)
City Zoning Map (but not historical zoning):https://www.eugene-or.gov/1951/Zoning-Map
Tax Record
Tax lot records: https://lanecounty.hosted.civiclive.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=3585881&pageId=5145461

City Pointers

City code: https://www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/Index/283 - Splash Page
Residential Permits: https://www.eugene-or.gov/858/Residential Things that the city requires a permit to repair.

General Pointers

City records are generally organized by address.
County records are generally organized by map & taxlot number.
I have found this blog article generally informative: https://craigtomlinson.biz/2013/03/04/buying-and-selling-duplexes-in-eugene-springfield-lane-county-oregon
One way to indirectly evaluate contractors is to look at their closure rates on city permits. That is, how many permits have they successfully closed and is that typical for a contractor? How many have they left open?
Past sales: http://lcmaps.lanecounty.org/lanecountymaps/propertysales/index.html?esearch=1803054300400&slayer=0&exprnum=3
Zoning: http://lcmaps.lanecounty.org/LaneCountyMaps/ZoneAndPlanMapsApp/index.html?esearch=1803054300400&slayer=0&maptype=WL

Reading tax records and RLID

When reading the building classification code this PDF explains the codes used.

Generally helpful documents if leasing your home in Eugene

ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 53-05-02-F
https://www.eugene-or.gov/845/Rental-Housing-Code
ORS CH 90

Office Server Now Functioning

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Hugh Paterson III

One metric to determine how moved I am is when I have set up my server. I have two servers and two Reel-to-Reel machines. Generally my office set-up includes both of these. I basically took them down the week of June 9th when we bought our house in Eugene. Now 244 days later, I was able to turn my MacMini server back on. It has been a while. Hello MacMini - Now just to get you up and running with the latest software...

The Living Room

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Hugh Paterson III

When we bought our house in June of 2015, we knew there were several thing which needed to be done to make the place livable. One of those was to fix the leak around the chimney into the fireplace area in the living room. The leak was bad enough to cause discoloration, mold and mushrooms to grow. It required pulling down some 50 year old Douglas Fir paneling and finding a replacement. Here are some photos with dates to show how the project proceeded.