Upcoming Election Information
Roughly one in three registered voters in Lane County submitted ballots for the May 21st Primary Election and the processing went smoothly. That’s according to Lane County Clerk and Elections Director Dena Dawson. The Elections division has made the transition to preparations for the November 5th General Election with 105 days remaining. In a report to the Lane County Board of Commissioners last week, Dawson said the Presidential Election landing page is already posted on the Lane County website. Candidate filings for many local races opened last week, with the deadline for completed submissions August 27th. The online portal to submit a candidacy is also online. Dawson says she anticipates creating and proofing ballots by the first week in October. New voter registrations will be accepted up until Tuesday, October 15th. If you’re currently registered and wish to make changes, she says you can do that up until 8 PM Election Day. Ballots to local voters are set to be mailed October 16th, the same day that ballot drop sites in various places around the county will be opened.
Food Share To Repair Parking Area
A major priority for Florence Food Share this summer is to make repairs to the parking lot outside the emergency food pantry. Executive Director Colin Morgan says the parking lot is about 30-years old and was built with “unreinforced” concrete. After three decades it is definitely showing signs of wear.
“Where it’s deteriorated in particular is that strip right in front of our building, even beyond that our parking lot’s starting to wear down. And so it’s going to be about a 60-to-80-thousand dollar project, which is expensive but unfortunately unavoidable.”
Food Share leases the parking lot from the adjacent New-Life Lutheran Church, but Morgan’s governing board agrees that it is Food Share’s responsibility. Some grant funding has been secured from three foundations, the Three Rivers; Autzen Family; and the Western Lane Community. But, that still leaves a way to go.
“We’re at about 20-thousand. But that still leaves a significant chunk that we need to get funded.”
It is his hope that they’ll be able to raise enough funds so that they can complete the work before the end of summer. When they do begin it will likely have some temporary impact on day to day operations, but he stresses that they’ll be as flexible as possible in order to continue providing what he calls a “critical service”.
Fire Restriction Notices
The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department has temporarily banned campfires at most Oregon State Parks due to dry conditions and the strain on firefighting resources burning across the state. Campfires and other open flames are off-limits at all state parks east of the Cascades, but they’re also restricted at other “high risk” areas on the west side. Several coastal sites have restrictions, but the popular Honeyman State Park three miles south of Florence, along with Carl G. Washburn, 12 miles north, still allow campfires for now, but that could change if temperatures rise and humidity falls. Several campgrounds on the south coast are on the ban list or have restrictions. Umpqua Lighthouse and Tugman parks, just south of Reedsport still allow fires, but only in designated fire rings. Further south in Coos County, there are complete fire bans at Cape Arago State Park, the Coquille Myrtle Grove Natural Site, and the Bandon State Natural Area. A complete list of fire restrictions can be found at stateparks-dot-oregon-dot-gov.
Power of Florence
This weekend is the Power of Florence the annual gathering of community to do volunteer projects across the city. This year 7th grader Giovanna Flossi and her brother freshman Luka Flossi will be spearheading the campaign. Their mom Vanessa says they would welcome all this Saturday.
“but if individuals in the community would like to be a part of that we welcome everyone to come out and help.”
Volunteers will gather at the grocery outlet parking lot at 11 am. There are several projects that individuals or groups can participate in including a SOS clothing drive, highway cleanup and a park cleanup as well as scotch broom removal.