City Takes Back Control: The City of Corvallis gave up local control over funds available through the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Action Plan in hopes it would help the city access additional funding via grants offered through the State of Oregon. Those grants didn’t land in Corvallis, so the City Council voted unanimously to take back control of the funds in order to better serve the housing needs of the community.
Traber Read at Indigenous Peoples Day: On Monday, October 10, Mayor Biff Traber will be reading the proclamation for Indigenous Peoples Day as part of the celebration at Oregon State University’s LaSell Stewart Center, located at 875 SW 26th St. The event, organized by Dr. Luhui Whitebear, will run from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Find more details here.
Parking Decisions: In order to comply with Governor Kate Brown’s Executive Order 20-04 – directing state agencies to take action to reduce greenhouse gasses in an effort to slow climate change, the City of Corvallis was required to look again at its bus system and parking mandates.
For a city the size of Corvallis, there is an excellent overall transit system, however it doesn’t reach all of the people in all of the town. Therefore the City Council had to determine what parking mandates they would apply to the city, as those mandates must be in place by the end of the year. The options made available were to either “eliminate all minimum vehicle parking requirements City-wide”, to “eliminate all minimum vehicle parking requirements along frequent transit corridors” or to adopt “state mandated parking requirements.”
The Councilors voted unanimously to eliminate all minimum vehicle parking requirements, as they found this to be the most equitable choice for people across income levels.
Pandemic Update: Subvariants of the Omicron Covid virus are still of concern across the state. Those of specific concern right now include BA.2.75 strains, BA.5, and BQ.1 strains. Benton County will continue to offer bivalent vaccination events, although this new vaccine has been delayed to a degree. Also of concern is the upcoming flu season as most people are no longer wearing masks and more people are leaving their houses.
Local pharmacies have been making the effort to go to long-term care facilities to bring Covid and flu vaccines to the residents. In recent weeks, the bivalent vaccine has been given to eight people over the age of 100 in Benton County.
By Advocate Staff
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