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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2019)
10A | WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2019 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Argentine guitar virtuoso Pablo Figueroa to perform in concert with Craig Einhorn Sunday While living in Argentina for several years, Craig Einhorn and Pablo Figueroa met in a folk mu- sic club in Buenos Aires, Argenti- na, called La Peña del Colorado. They became friends and eventu- ally formed a bicultural collabo- ration involving the performance of Argentine music styles as well as other Latin American Styles and American music. During their upcoming May 5 concert in Cottage Grove, they will perform instrumentals and songs including: Tango, Milonga, Chacarera, Zamba, Chamame, Chamarrita as well as popular Tiny from A1 “There are a million Americans who lose their housing every year, evicted simply because they cannot afford their rent,” he said. “And so this is a way to ad- dress this problem.” Providing low-income housing while maintaining quality is a challenge to any affordable housing project, but those involved in build- ing Cottage Village are con- fident they have struck that balance. “This is going to be high-quality. It’s going to be attractive. It’s going to be something the whole com- munity can be proud of,” said Bryant. Architects of the tiny homes were able to maxi- mize the usage of the 200 to 300 square-foot units to equip each house with liv- ing and sleeping areas, full bathrooms and kitchenettes. “Some of our homes we designed specifically with young families in mind,” Bryant said. “They have a loft in them that would be great for one or two chil- dren.” At the staggeringly low price of $250 to $350 per month including utilities, the units are intended to house anybody from single residents to small families in a long-term capacity. Equity-generating oppor- tunities may also be avail- able to future Cottage Vil- lage residents. Another of SquareOne songs in Spanish and/or English. Their repertoire is diverse and includes unfamiliar and familiar genres. Figueroa is a true virtu- oso of the classical guitar with a specific technique that can only be developed in Argentina. Einhrn is a bilingual singer, ver- satile guitarist and percussionist. They will also inform their audiences about Argentine mu- sic and engage them in question and answer opportunities. This is a once-in-a-life time opportunity to experience Ar- COURTESY PHOTO gentine music played by a musi- Pablo Figueroa utilizes a technique developed in Argentina. He will per- cian with deep roots in the Santa form with Craig Einhorn at the Cottage Events Venue on Sunday. Village’s affordable housing projects in Eugene, Emerald Village, is a limited equity co-op, effectively making each resident a shareholder of the village. For their first 30 months, residents there pay a $50 share as part of their rent into a $1,500 as- set that may be cashed out if they leave. This system is intended to be a feature of Cottage Vil- lage as well, though the goal is to present it as an option after residents have had a couple years to settle in. “They will actually build up some equity within the community,” said Bruce Kelsh, chair of CVC. “If you stay here and then want to move somewhere else, you can take that equity with you.” Though some may use such a system as a stepping stone in a pursuit of some upward mobility, the village will serve a range of lifestyle trajectories. “It’s not designed to be a transitional program,” Bry- ant said. “It depends on the household and what their situation is. For that person who lives on a fixed income, who does not really have a chance to be upwardly mo- bile, it’s a chance to live with decency and with dignity.” Such cases can be found at Emerald Village, where resi- dents and applicants tend to be near or at retirement. “For that household, this is probably a long-term, permanent home,” said Bry- ant about Cottage Village housing. “And it’s designed to be that. This is where you could live for 20 or 30 years.” Though construction has begun on the first tiny home, it’s not yet clear when people will begin moving in. Site development is likely to start in June and further progress is somewhat de- pendent on funding. The coalition’s hope is that the first house will in- centivize others to join the effort and see the project through to completion. “We pushed really hard to build this first house be- cause once people see what a really nice quality, safe, well-designed tiny house is like, then they’ll be like, ‘Ah, that’s what you’re talking about,’” said Kelsh. “I think when you see it broken down into doable pieces, that provides the oppor- tunity for organizations to think, ‘Yeah, I think we can do that if we work on it.’” Kelsh said that interest in similar projects had already been shown in places like Florence and Bandon. Since January of 2016, CVC members have met twice a month to realize their vision of Cottage Vil- lage. “It started really because people were saying, ‘We’ve got homeless people in our community; we know these people. What are we going to do about that?’” Kelsh said. “And then it evolved into learning more about the state of homelessness in Lane County.” The need for affordable housing is no secret in cities like Cottage Grove. In the Cottage Grove Hous- ing Needs Analysis released in August last year, the 20- year plan indicated the need for an average of 69 new units to be built per year in order to meet projected de- mand. “Fifty percent of the peo- ple in the county are what they call, ‘asset-limited, in- come-constrained.’ Basical- ly, the working poor,” said Kelsh. Units like those planned for Cottage Village not only fall under the housing anal- ysis’s stated low-income need, but also provide secu- rity for those who are eco- nomically vulnerable to a single expense-laden event that may render them with- out housing. “So, the goal of it is to pre- vent people from becoming homeless,” Kelsh said. Fe province of Argentina. The guitarists will per- form on Sunday, May 5, beginning at 7 p.m. at The Cottage Events Venue, 2915 Row River Road in Cottage Grove. Admission is $10-$15 sliding scale. Beverages and dessert will be avail- able for purchase. For more information, contact Kim Still by email at kimstill@cottageevents. com or 541-942-6888. Funding for the project so far has come from a va- riety of sources including $15,000 from the city to help with system devel- opment charges, a recent $500,000 Housing Improve- ment Program grant from Lane County and numerous other grants and donations. “We’ve been fortunate in people giving us unsolicited grants, which is a real affir- mation of our project,” said Kelsh. Despite the robust sup- port, the coalition is on con- tinuous lookout for fund- ing. In a letter to the City of Cottage Grove, SquareOne Village stated that approx- imately $500,000 is still needed to complete the project. The City of Cottage Grove has scheduled a work session to determine how much can be spent to fur- ther the effort, though it currently remains unclear how much, if anything, can be provided. As site development be- gins for the village, expens- es for paving, construction and utility installation will begin to accrue. “Any help the city can give us toward that would be greatly appreciated,” Bryant said. Community support is also welcomed as the proj- ect moves into its next phase. The coalition will be looking for monetary and material donations, but skilled labor in construction and landscaping fields will also be needed. For Kelsh, perseverance and patience will be key tools in the road ahead. “We’ll just keep plugging away at it until it’s done,” he said. Donations can be made at the SquareOne Village web- site at www.squareonevil- lages.org, where more infor- mation on Cottage Village can be found as well. Cottage Grove 200 Gateway Blvd. Cottage Grove, OR 97424 4 (541) 942-5400 Mon. - Sat. 8am - 9pm Sun. 9am - 8pm Ed & Kori Sowa Independent Owner-Operators facebook.com/CottageGroveGroceryOutlet SAVE 40-70% ON GROCERIES. BEAUTIFUL, HUH? Cottage Grove Roundup HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE Saturday, May 11 — 8am - 2pm We have 2x12 Rough Cut Cedar for Raised Beds in stock! LANDSCAPE AND BUILDING MATERIALS Open 7 days a week! 79149 N. River Road 541-942-4664 Serving Cottage Grove for 13 years We’re moving our counseling office to a new location: 26 N 5 th Street, Cottage Grove South Lane County Fire & Rescue 233 Harrison Ave., Cottage Grove Many common household products contain hazardous ingredients. Anything with a caution label such as Danger, Warning or Caustic can become a pollutant to groundwater and streams. Avoiding these products saves money and protects people, wildlife and our environment. BRING: DON’T BRING: Limit to 35 gallons from each household • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Arts and crafts products Car care products Cleaners Fluorescent tubes Lawn and garden chemicals Paints and solvents Other household hazardous waste Keep products in original labeled container or label known items. Asbestos Drums Electronics Empty containers Explosives Infectious waste Pressurized cylinders Radioactive waste For information about how to dispose of these materials, call (541) 682-4120. Year Round Disposal Options: Paint—visit, www.paintcare.org. Fluorescent Lamps—visit, www.lanecounty.org/lamps. Batteries & Sharps—accepted at all transfer stations. We take most private insurance 541-942-0040 Electronics—accepted at 9 transfer stations or, visit www.oregonecycles.org 1-888-5-ECYCLE (532-9253). For more information on any of the above, visit www.lanecounty.org/hazwaste or call (541) 682-4120 . Accepting new clients! Provided by Lane County Waste Management Division in partnership with the City of Cottage Grove, South Lane County Fire & Rescue. For more information, call (541) 682-4120.