JULY 2020 Volume 19, Issue 1

River City Briefs A publication of the City

Independence Drive-In Movies Series: Thursdays, June 18th-July 16th

The Independence Drive-In Movie Series continues Thursdays in July! This summer, movie-goers can now join in on the fun safe-ly from their vehicles, enjoying each week’s movie on a large drive-in movie screen with personalized sound brought to you via your car radio. Movies will begin at dusk each week, starting approximately between 9:15 and 9:30 pm. We will start allowing vehicles in at 7:30 pm, giving you plenty of time to settle in and

find your spot before the movie begins! We will be limiting the number of vehicles to 150. Each week, on Monday morning at 9:00 am we will release and post the reservation form for the cur-rent week's Drive-In Movie on the Facebook event page, https://www.facebook.com/events/681072882690867/, or on our online community calendar, https://www.ci.independence.or.us/calendar/month/2020-07. Only one reservation needed per vehicle. If a reservation is successfully booked, you will receive a confirmation email with further details within 48 hours. Reservations go quick once released, so be ready!

Open for Business

As COVID restrictions loosen, local businesses are adapting and ad-justing their processes to serve the community safely. Shop small when you can and help support local by keeping your dollars close to home. Many retail professional service businesses have re-opened under the phase 1 guidance. To see what restaurants are open and offering dine-in/to-go options, check out the Independence Down-town Association’s Restaurant Resource Guide, https://www.downtownindependence.com/covid-19restaurantresourceguide.

Riverview Park Plaza

Our upper park plaza in downtown’s Riverview Park has changed a little! We’ve added extra lighting and new picnic tables in an effort to give the com-munity more outdoor seating options when dining downtown. Now you can pick up your favorite meals and treats from our local businesses and enjoy them in the fresh air, on the plaza!

4th of July Parade Although the annual Mon-mouth-Independence Grand Parade is canceled for this year, the Independence Days Commission is working on holding smaller, neighborhood parades.

The M-I Rotary has put to-gether a video slideshow of previous parades—take a look! https://www.youtube.com/w a t c h ? v = q T k W l Y -BuE4&feature=youtu.be..

You can get up-to-date infor-mation on the parades and other Independence Days ac-tivities on the city’s Facebook page. www.facebook.com/IndependenceOregon.

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS UPDATE Several items move through the Independence Community Development Department in any given month. This section of the River City Briefs is an attempt to showcase some of the projects that are occurring in the community.

Transportation System Plan Update – The City is working to update its Transportation System Plan – a doc-ument that considers how to best shape the community to support travel by pedestrians, cyclists, and auto-mobiles. Initial goals for the project as well as an inventory and analysis of existing conditions, are available on the project website: http://independencetsp.com. Please sign up for updates on the site if you would like to stay informed about the effort.

In addition to the Transportation System Plan, the Community Development has been working on the follow-ing projects:

Independence Apartments – Construction on the Independence Apartments project is ongoing. The townhouses along Osprey Lane are nearly complete, the clubhouse has been insulated and is expected to be finished soon, and the northern apartment building will get a roof within the next couple of weeks.

Liberty Place – The plat (the legal document that creates developable lots) for Phase 2 is nearly record-ed. New home construction in the 31-lot phase is expected to begin soon. Engineering for Phase 3, the final phase of the development, has been submitted and is being reviewed.

Brandy Meadows – Phase 1 of the subdivision, which has a total of forty lots, is nearly built out. Many of the homes have sold. Engineering for Phases 2, 3 and 4 is expected to be submitted soon. If you have any ques-tions about the projects or anything else, please contact Fred Evander, Community Planner at (503) 837-1168 or by email at fevander@ci.independence.or.us.

LOCAL HISTORY

Trips to the Oregon Coast

In the 1800’s, it was much more difficult to travel to the Oregon Coast. Many of the trails and wagon roads had large potholes and deep ravines, thick mud, overgrown bushes and trees. There was even the possi-bility of coming across a wild animal like a bear, wolf or cougar. Traveling by water would have been easier at this time if you could arrange it. When railways were built passenger trains ran from Eugene to Florence and Coos Bay, and between Tillamook and Portland. Not until 1921 was there a good highway to travel the Oregon Coast, U.S. Hwy. 101. This coincided perfectly with the lower price of a vehicle. Model T’s could be bought for $250 in 1921 and many families could now afford them.

Governor Oswald West fought for public ownership of Oregon’s beaches and in 1913 the Beach High-way Law passed which declared the entire Pacific coastline a public highway. It wasn’t until 1967 under Gover-nor Tom McCall, however, that the Beach Bill passed which kept Oregon beaches public and free for all to en-joy. In 1971, the Bottle Bill passed which helped clean up not only beaches but places all around Oregon.

NOTE: The photos in this article are from the glass plate negative collection of Albert Clinton Moore and were taken between 1900-1915. AC Moore was a co-owner of Craven Moore store and former Mayor of Independ-ence. Children pictured are Ramona (b. 9106) and Dan (b. ca. 1908).

City of Independence

City Hall: 503-838-1212

Police Dept: 503-838-1214

Website: www.ci.independence.or.us

Facebook: www.facebook.com/IndependenceOregon

Twitter: @IndependenceOR

Want to Recycle?

Brandt's Sanitary Service offers 2 ways to recycle:

1. at their 24-hour recycling center, located at 158 Pacific Avenue South; or

2. curbside recycling. For more information, call Brandt’s at: 503-838-0464.

COVID-19 Check out the City’s website: www.ci.independence.or.us /emergency-management for up-to-date infor-mation regarding the coronavirus response—business resources, latest updates from the CDC, OHA, etc.

FOR ALL AGES: Summer reading challenges. Sign up and download the program sheet for your level on our Facebook page. Programs for babies, kids, teens, and adults! July 6 -25: Family Sidewalk Chalk Art Contest: Deco-rate your sidewalk & send us pictures of your crea-tions! FOR YOUTH: Online on the Library’s Facebook page – these programs will post at 8 am the day of the pro-gram: Family Story Time: Every Wednesday a new Sto-rytime with Miss Jo is posted - stories, songs, finger-plays, crafts and more. This program is designed to meet the developmental needs of children ages 3-5. Cuentos en Español con el Sr. Martinez: Cada jueves visite nuestra página de Facebook para ver los pro-grama. Monday Kid’s Summer Reading Craft Time: Follow along with Miss Jo’s video for a craft you can make at home. July 13: Bubble Snakes!

July 27: Coffee Filter Butterflies Maker Monday Programs:

July 6: Pantographs! July 20 Cotton ball Launchers!

Virtual Summer Reading Events: July 8: Jugglemania with Rhys Thomas – An online

program – let Rhys dazzle you with his improbable juggling and unique comedy. Access the link on our Facebook page.

July 22: Engineer It! – Explore Ancient Technology. An online program presented by the Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon - access the link on our Facebook page.

FOR TEENS (Kids going into 6th grade and Up) AND ADULTS: Teen/Adult DIY: Posted every Friday on our Facebook page: July 10 : Tie-dye Fun – Registration required – (Take

it and Make it supply bags will be available at the li-brary on Thursday, July 9 for patrons to curbside pick up).

July 17 : Suncatchers! July 24 : Rock Painting! July 31 : Garden Art! FOR ADULTS: Virtual Mystery Book Club. – Thursday, July 9th at 6 pm. Register on our Facebook page.

THIS MONTH AT THE INDEPENDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY—

IMAGINE YOUR STORY Virtual Summer Reading Continues – check the Library’s Facebook page or call the library at 503-838-1811 to sign up and for program details.