Salem

Today Dick Hughes, the editorial page editor of Salem's daily newspaper, used half a page in the Statesman Journal for his "My Top 10 list for helping, improving the community."  Here's a suggestion that you missed, Dick: Start close to home. Improve the increasingly worthless Gannett Corporation paper that you work for.  I've been, and will continue to be, a relentless critic of the Statesman Journal -- a paper that I've subscribed to and read every day of the 38 years I've lived in the Salem area. It's gone so far downhill, I'm not sure if there's much journalistic ground remaining for…

Yesterday I decided to investigate whether the powers-that-be at our local daily newspaper, the Gannett owned Salem Statesman Journal, were correct when they told me that readers wouldn't be interested in the complaint I filed with the IRS against Salem Health, the parent company of Salem Hospital.  Below is the post I put up on my Strange Up Salem Facebook page, followed by the comments I've received in just one day. (Some of the comments were made on the post that I shared on my personal Facebook feed.)Statesman Journal staff were wrong. Lots of people here in Salem DO want…

Today I was having lunch in the Court Street Venti's restaurant when Dino Venti, the owner, came over to my table and said he'd like to talk with me. After a conversation that was as tasty as the food I ate, I said "Let's have someone take a photo of us. I'll use it in a blog post and Strange Up Salem posting."  Dino had some gripes regarding some things I've written about him. But that wasn't the most important thing we talked about. Which was... Our agreement that people in Salem -- which naturally includes Dino and me --…

Please, Salemians, let's all vow to never again say these words: "This is Salem, not Portland." Or the variant, "This is Salem, not Portland or Eugene."  My minor gripe about those sayings is that they're obvious. Of course, Salem isn't Portland or Eugene. In the same fashion, I'm not you; a cat is not a dog; coffee is not tea. Things that are different aren't the same. Simply as a matter of logic, I'm sure we can agree on that. My major gripe is more important. It concerns the usual underlying message of someone saying This is Salem, not Portland…

How Salem's city officials treat trees tells us a lot about how they treat people. That's the main message from last night's City Council meeting, where a popular, carefully thought-out proposal for an Urban Tree Commission ran into the chainsaw of Mayor Anna Peterson and six complicit councilors. Councilor Tom Andersen was the only one to stand up both for Salem's trees and citizenry. He ended up on the short side of a 7-1 vote to reject an Urban Tree Commission. Today's Statesman Journal story, "Salem City Council axes Urban Tree Commission," tells part of the irritating tale. The Salem…

Being non-religious, I don't see Pope Francis as possessing any special divine inspiration. However, there's no doubt that the Pope is a wise, caring, compassionate person, with messages we here in Salem should take to heart. After learning about Pope Francis' remarks at the White House yesterday, and at the joint meeting of Congress today, I got to thinking about how some policies of Salem's Mayor, City Council, and other leaders in this town stack up against papal views. There's a lot to unpack and consider in what Pope Francis said. Here's three "one liners" that offer a beginning for…

So what should I call a false statement by a public official, in this case Salem City Councilor Warren Bednarz? "Misstatement"? "Falsehood"? "Untruth"? These are fine words, and sometimes they are the best to use. But in this case I feel justified in using "Lie" in the title of this blog post. As you can read below, I got a report that Councilor Bednarz spent several minutes at a Salem neighborhood association meeting criticizing me and this blog -- claiming that I spread "half truths" on it. That got me fired up. I do my best to be accurate in…

Ah, it feels so good to have called out Salem City Councilors Brad Nanke and Jim Lewis about their erroneous assertion at a recent council meeting that I got things wrong about early sales of recreational marijuana in this town. I was confident that I was right, and told them so in my testimony at the August 31 meeting. You can see me speaking truth to power in a video Salem Community Vision made of my remarks at the contentious meeting, where citizens were disrespected, big time. But I didn't want to leave it there. It deeply irked me that Nanke…

I always enjoy talking with Ken Adams, host of the Willamette Wake-Up show on Salem's KMUZ community radio. Here's a link to a podcast of our recent interview/conversation about prohibiting or allowing early sales of marijuana in Salem, which was on the agenda of the August 31 city council meeting. http://kmuz.org/willamette-wakeup-09072015-brian-hines-interview/ Ken has a knack for saying things that usually blend perfectly with the remarks I was contemplating for my next side of the conversation. Here's a photo of Ken and Salem Weekly publisher A.P. Walther. I ran into them, figuratively, at last month's Salem Sunday Streets event. I just…

Here's photos of, and commentary on, the third Salem Sunday Streets event that was held August 28. I'm a big fan of Salem Sunday Streets, where some downtown roadways are closed to traffic and opened for the sole use of cyclists, walkers, and other human-powered ways of getting around. I'm also a big fan of Portland Sunday Parkways, as I wrote about in "What Salem Sunday Streets can learn from Portland Sunday Parkways."  Over time I hope and expect that our local open streets event will become more like how Portland does things. This isn't really a criticism of Salem…

A friend sent me photos of a very old (maybe 500 years?) White Oak that the City of Salem cut down recently. It was near the intersection of Fir and Bush streets. Since the City has a habit of removing street trees for no good reason -- see here and here -- I'm determined to find out if this was another case of "get out the chainsaws first, ask arborist questions later." What I was told is that several weeks ago a woman who lived near the tree asked that some limbs be trimmed because she was worried about branches falling…

While I was checking our VISA statement against our credit card receipts this evening, a task that doesn't consume all of my cognitive assets, I was idly thinking about what I'd like to say to the Salem Mayor and City Council the next time I testify at a council meeting. (Yeah, I know, I'm weird.) Wanting to throw in some positive observations and advice about the City's often-shaky P.R. and communications efforts, I was mentally rehearsing some lines regarding how postings on the City of Salem Facebook page have improved.  But then another thought came to mind: No, wait. They…

As the saying goes, there can be a universe in a grain of sand. Likewise, those attending last night's Salem City Council meeting got insights into how things at City Hall are generally going. In short: not well. Not for those of us concerned about government transparency, trust, and citizen participation. The three go together. Transparency. Trust. Citizen participation. For example, when people feel like the Mayor, city councilors, and other officials are being open and honest with them, trust is fostered. When people trust that what they say will be listened to, and can make a difference, they're more…