Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

FAQs about new Salem police facility and Civic Center renovation

Read all about it! How the City of Salem wants taxpayers to pay $128 million for a project that should cost only $64 million. Sound familiar? It should. Salem public officials are notoriously poor at using common sense when it comes to spending other people's money. This is the crew that is pushing an unneeded $400 million Third Bridge to solve seismic and traffic flow problems which can be fixed for hundreds of millions less. Salem Community Vision is working to bring some fiscal sanity to the City's way over-priced proposal for a new police facility and Civic Center renovations. …
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Posted inSalem

Scott Bassett points out absurdities of $400 million Salem 3rd Bridge

I just spent 28 minutes watching Scott Bassett, a candidate for Salem's City Council in Ward 4, discuss the Salem River Crossing project way more intelligently than any current public official has. Have a look. Especially if you live in Salem and aren't thrilled about having your taxes raised by hundreds of dollars a year ($200 for 20 years, on a $200,000 house) to pay for a bridge that is utterly unnecessary.    Bassett pointed out lots of facts that argue against spending more than the $7 million that's already been wasted on this Bridge That Is Going Nowhere. I…
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Posted inSalem

Tom Andersen would be a great Salem City Councillor

Yesterday I went to my first-ever house party for someone running for the Salem (Oregon) City Council. Tom Andersen is a Ward 2 candidate (see here and here).  I don't live in the Salem city limits, though my wife and I have a Salem address. So until recently I didn't pay much attention to City Council goings-on. But now I'm following what City of Salem officials have been up to. Not a pretty picture. Beautiful street trees cut down for no good reason. Trying to build an unneeded, unwanted, and unpaid-for $400 million Third Bridge. Attempting to impose parking meters…
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Posted inHealth Home life

My colonoscopy goes better with propofol and Suprep

Colonoscopies aren't fun. But they're really important to have, because colon cancer is a lot less fun. Yesterday I had my third colonoscopy. It was the most pleasant of all. I'll explain why below.  First, though, I'm pleased to retract what I said five years ago in my post, "Think twice about getting a colonoscopy in Salem (Oregon)." Things have changed for the better at Salem Gastroenterology Consultants.  I had my first (2009) and second (2011) colonoscopies elsewhere after being turned off by Salem Gastro's two-full-day prep period. Also, by not being given a good reason for this unusual protocol…
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Posted inSalem

Gil Penalosa shows Salem how to become a more vibrant city

A week ago noted urban designer Gil Penalosa gave a talk at a Willamette University law school lecture hall that should have gotten a lot more attention than it did. I sat through Penalosa's two-hour presentation thinking, "Everybody in Salem should be hearing what he's saying. But pretty much, only those who already believe in his 8-80 vision are here tonight." By 8-80 is meant: city streets should be designed to be safely and pleasantly walkable/bikable by a child of eight or an elderly person of 80. Along with everybody in between.  I first learned about Penalosa and his brother…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Stupid idea: allowing Oregon cities to ban medical marijuana dispensaries

In this year's abbreviated legislative session the Oregon Senate Judiciary Committee did the right thing when it stripped out a provision that would have allowed cities and counties to ban medical marijuana dispensaries altogether.  (The 2013 Legislature authorized dispensaries, which previously operated in a grey area, and possibly illegally.) But today the House Judiciary Committee voted to put the ability-to-ban back into the bill. The Weed Blog notes the absurdity here: If a ban does ultimately pass, something very ironic to me will happen. Dispensaries had very little enforcement when they were illegal. However, it will only be after they…
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Posted inSalem Sustainability

I ask Salem-area leaders about climate change

"Science isn't political." I applauded inwardly when I heard Jane Lubchenco utter those words yesterday at a Salem City Club meeting.  She mostly talked about her experience as Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA). Lubchenco was appointed by President Obama in 2009 and served until 2013. Currently she is a Professor of Biology and Zoology at Oregon State University. After the meeting I waited around for a chance to talk with Dr. Lubchenco. My question for her related to what I said recently in Time for public officials to "come out"...about climate change. What is more important…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Fact-checking Mayor Peterson’s 2014 Salem State of the City address

Yesterday Salem's Mayor, Anna Peterson, gave a State of the City address. I didn't go. I purposely planned my StreetStrider (outdoor elliptical bike) ride at Riverfront and Wallace Marine parks to coincide with Peterson's talk, figuring that it would be much healthier for me to exercise in nature than listen to some political posturing. Great decision, after reading Mayor Peterson's prepared remarks. There are so many untruths and half-truths in her speech, if I'd been there in person I would have felt like standing up and screaming bullshit! Download Text of the Salem State of the City speech Repeatedly. It'll…
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Posted inBooks Current affairs

Buddhism explains the “angry white men” phenomenon

Happens to me all the time: I say something to a group of people that makes so much sense and is so eloquent, when I stop talking I expect a standing ovation. (Guess I don't have a self-esteem problem.) Last Saturday I made some observations about "angry white men" that filled this bill. It was during a meeting of our monthly Salon discussion group. One of the members, Steve, has been reading Michael Kimmel's book, "Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era." Here's part of the Amazon book description: Kimmel locates this increase in anger in…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Sustainability

Time for public officials to “come out”… about climate change

Global warming is causing massive changes to the Earth's climate. Humans are responsible for most of the warming.  This is the consensus of 97% of the world's climate experts. Anyone who doesn't take these facts seriously is a danger to humanity. Here's a quote from Elizabeth Kolbert's book, "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History." I found it in an Amazon reader review when I was trying to decide whether to order the book. (I did order a copy.) "If you want to think about why humans are so dangerous to other species, you can picture a poacher in Africa carrying an…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Marion County and City of Salem stuck in “Reefer Madness” fantasy land

Here's another great example why the Republican Party, and right-wing conservatism is general, is fading away as a cultural force. The conservative-led Marion County (Oregon) Board of Commissioners and Salem City Council are talking up bans -- or severe restrictions -- on medical marijuana clinics.  Download Marion County takes stances against marijuana clinics Download Salem City Council hears about medical marijuana dispensary plan Wow.  Medical marijuana is legal in Oregon. So are clinics where people with a medical marijuana prescription can buy their medicine without going onto the black market or growing their own (tough to do if you're a…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Marijuana

Blumenauer rips Drug Policy official on marijuana cluelessness

This should be must-viewing for the Salem City Council and Marion County Board of Commissioners, which are considering ill-advised restrictions on medical marijuana clinics -- totally legal here in Oregon, as recreational marijuana also should be. There's a lot of ignorance about marijuana among Patti Milne and other county commissioners. Likely also among city councillors.  Download Marion County takes stances against marijuana clinics Download Salem City Council hears about medical marijuana dispensary plan What's needed is honesty, not clueless prevaricating, like a federal Drug Policy demonstrates in this video. Oregon congressman Rep. Earl Blumenauer does a great job holding the…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Salem’s “State of the City” not as rosy as Mayor Peterson spins it

Today I heard from someone who had some disagreements with a Statesman Journal preview of Salem (Oregon) Mayor Anna Peterson's upcoming State of the City address. Download Salem's spending future You can read what this person said below. I share his/her skepticism. Especially regarding Mayor Peterson's attempt at a "united" spin. Actually, no way has she presided over a collaborative, consensus-building, citizen involvement-based administration. Instead, Mayor Peterson, City Manager Linda Norris, Public Works Director Peter Fernandez, and most city councillors have done their best to ignore public input, facts, and expert advice in favor of top-down bureaucratic policy-making. Five notable examples: …
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Posted inHome life Salem

Behold my astounding senior citizen snow shoveling

I am freaking proud of myself. Snow shoveling-wise. By the powers vested in me by, well, ME, I hereby declare myself the winner of Salem, Oregon's Snowpocalypse 2014 Over 65 Driveway Clearing Championship, Hand-Wielded Snow Shovel Division. Walking around our neighborhood's streets here in rural south Salem, I saw several other cleared driveways. But tractor tracks showed this was accomplished with a mechanized method. Me, I'm old style. The past couple of days we've gotten a bit over 9 inches of snow. That's a lot for the mid-Willamette Valley. We've lived out here for 24 years. I can't remember ever…
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Posted inHome life Salem

Oregon snowstorm turns our yard into Narnia

WIth a little help from my iPhone app friend, Aviary, I captured the Narnia'ish look of our rural south Salem yard late this afternoon, after about two inches of snow had fallen.  Original photo below, for realists. It's been about 23 degrees all day. Not that cold by midwest polar vortex standards, but pretty damn cold for the usually temperate mid-Willamette Valley. Positive side: for obvious reasons I got motivated this morning to finally exchange the bad battery in our Honda generator for the replacement battery that I'd bought quite a few months ago.  Amazingly, after the battery had sat…
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Posted inHome life

Beautiful display of an Oregon mushroom “forest”

I don't know much about mushrooms. Especially wild ones. But I know beauty when I see it. Last November my wife, Laurel, snapped these iPhone photos of mushrooms doing their thing after a tree fell on our rural south Salem property. Most amazing mushroom display I've ever seen. (click image to enlarge)
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Posted inCurrent affairs

CBO: Obamacare will let people decide how much they want to work

The title of this blog post is accurate. But you won't see it on Fox News or other right-wing sound machines, which have been screaming falsities today like, "Obamacare to cost 2.3 million jobs over 10 years." Not true.  The Congressional Budget Office report that has gotten Affordable Care Act haters into such a mad dog frenzy actually has good news for the country: now that most people have access to affordable health insurance that isn't tied to employment, they have more latitude to decide how much to work.  Full-time. Part-time. Not at all.  Matthew Yglesias offers up some fictional,…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Oregon one of most liberal and non-religious states

This is a big reason why my wife and I can't think of any other state we'd rather live in: "Oregon one of country's most liberal and least religious states: Gallup poll" From Jeff Mapes at the Oregonian: Oregon once again has a notable spot on two new charts from Gallup, the venerable polling organization.  The pollster found that Oregonians continue to identify themselves as one of the most politically liberal states in the country -- and one of the least religious. It's not surprising that Oregon would be at the top of one list and at the bottom of the other.  Numerous…
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Posted inSalem

Cafe Yumm! opens in Salem. My yummy! review.

I'm pretty sure today was the Grand Opening of the Cafe Yumm! restaurant at 2755 Commercial Street SE behind the French Press creperie and coffehouse. (Details here.) I saw a tweet from EatSalem that Cafe Yumm! was open. So after my Tai Chi class in downtown Salem finished about 6 pm, I eagerly headed home down Commercial. My wife and I are huge fans of Cafe Yumm! In November 2011 I blogged, 'Visualize a Cafe Yumm! in Salem, Oregon."  Hey, my 2007 "visualize" blog post about Trader Joe's worked -- Salem has a store now. So I'm turning my New Age powers…
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Posted inSalem

Salem is #15 on Best Places to Live. What gives?

Are you freaking kidding me? How much of a payoff from the Salem Chamber of Commerce and Tourist Bureau did it take to get the Livability web site to rank this town #15 in 100 Best Places to Live among small and medium cities in the United States?  The Cherry City of Salem, Ore., earned a cherry ranking on our 2014 list thanks to its many recreational, cultural and natural amenities; easy access to quality and affordable health care; and a population well distributed across age groups to support both. Twenty-five percent of the 154,637 living in Oregon's capital city…
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