Hinessight

When I started to get involved in City of Salem issues back in 2013, I was immediately struck by how top City officials didn't care about what citizens had to say. Their disdain for public participation in policy-making was obvious. Since, I've heard lots of people express the same frustration: during the reign of Queen Mayor Anna Peterson (2011-2016), City Hall has been run in a highly top-down fashion. Decisions are made behind closed doors, then attempts are made to foist a fait accompli onto citizens by their so-called "public servants." Not surprisingly, this results in a lot of controversy rather…

I have a new citizen activist obsession: Doing everything I can, from now until it happens, to convince Salem's Mayor, City Manager, city councilors, and general citizenry that making the Civic Center buildings earthquake-ready is a moral necessity. For several years I and others have been advocating this. See: "Earthquake readiness: will the Salem City Council choose to save lives?""Salem citizens: save lives by sending an email to the City Council""Why a new Salem police facility could cost many lives""Open letter to Salem's Police Facility Task Force" But today I went over an earthquake-readiness tipping point after looking over a…

I just got home from a fund-raiser for Cara Kaser that was held at the south Salem McMenamins. I'm flying high on visions of what a great city councilor she will be -- and that's not the Terminator Stout talking (well, maybe just a little bit). Kaser is seeking to be elected to the Salem City Council Ward 1 seat -- which currently is occupied by Chuck Bennett, who is running for Mayor. The fund-raiser was organized by Scott Bassett, who is known throughout the universe as being McMenamins #1 "Cosmic Tripster." Since, Bassett has done the Cosmic Tripster thing…

Here's the post I put up a little while ago on my Strange Up Salem Facebook page while I sat in the City Council chambers and listened to a lot of people testifying about the City of Salem's proposal for a new $80 million, 150,000 square foot police facility.------------ O'BRIEN SITE ROCKS. BLOCK SOUTH OF LIBRARY SUCKS. This is the clear message of the many people who are testifying at tonight's Salem City Council public hearing on a new police facility. Great turnout. Lots of impassioned testimony. People who live and work at the block south of the Library (Leslie…

I readily admit that I've rarely, if ever, voted in the Salem Statesman Journal's annual Best of the Mid-Valley contest -- the 2016 version of which is underway now. If memory serves me (chancy at my age, but I think I'm correct about this), Olive Garden won "Best Italian Restaurant" some years back. That soured me on viewing Best of Mid-Valley as a genuine reflection of business/organization bestness.  Rather, the Best of Mid-Valley rules are clearly pointed toward a popularity contest, rather than a quality contest. We rely on our audience to supply us with the names of outstanding people, businesses…

Well, we finally know how much City officials want Salem residents to pay for a new police facility: $80 million. This is the cost estimate consultants presented at tonight's City Council work session in the Library's Anderson Room.  Bottom line -- this is way too much. The cost should be half that, or even less. Salem Community Vision (I'm a member of the SCV steering committee) has been hammering on this point for several years. Read all about it in the group's position paper, "Salem's New Police Facility: The Best Way to Achieve It." Here's a PDF scan of the…

Salem has lots of unmet needs. This isn't a rich town. Many people are struggling financially. Our City Hall and Library almost certainly are going to collapse when the Big One earthquake hits.  So why is Mayor Anna Peterson and her right-wing City Council majority pushing so hard for a supersized new police facility that is double the size and cost it needs to be? Not long ago, in 2014, they were happy with a proposal for a 75,000 square foot police facility. And with seismically retrofitting the Civic Center buildings so lives of staff and visitors won't be lost…

How much smaller and more pathetic can Salem's so-called "community newspaper" get? I suppose it can shrink to almost zero on the Journalistic Quality scale and still keep on publishing.  But what's the point of that? In The Incredible Shrinking Man movie... Scott accepts his fate and is resigned to the adventure of seeing what awaits him in even smaller realms. He knows he will eventually shrink to atomic size; but, no matter how small he becomes, he concludes he will still matter in the universe because, to God, "there is no zero." This thought gives him comfort and ends…

Mark Wigg is a marvelous advocate for multi-use cycling and pedestrian paths here in Salem. A few days ago, in a post I shared a video of his testimony at a City Council meeting where he persuasively argued for a Salemtowne to Downtown path in West Salem -- which would be built largely with volunteer labor if City officials would simply approve the right of way for it. At the meeting Councilor Jim Lewis, who represents West Salem, asked Wigg a skeptical question about how many people would use a Salemtowne to Downtown path.  Wigg gave a good answer at the…

Wow, what a non-surprise. The Salem Chamber of Commerce's BIG PLAN to fund improved bus service in Salem by a means other than a payroll tax is dead as the proverbial doornail (yeah, I'm old; people used to say that frequently). So says local state Representative Bill Post, who got the unenviable job of trying to convince legislators to fulfill the impossible dream of Salem getting a pot of money from State coffers so Cherriots could offer weekend and evening bus service. HB 4078 (link will  take you to the actual bill) is now dead in committee. I had hoped…

Last night's Salem City Council meeting showed how badly planning for the unneeded, unwanted, and unpaid-for Salem River Crossing project, a.k.a. the 3rd Bridge, is hurting this town.  This billion dollar boondoggle is nowhere near being built -- hopefully it never will be -- but the remote prospect that it might be constructed someday is causing problems. Agenda item 3.3c dealt with purchases of right of way that would be paid for from 2008 Streets and Bridges General Obligation Bond funds. Some of these purchases would be on the east side of the river in the Highland neighborhood, the location…

Today Salem Community Vision released it's long-awaited position paper, "Salem's New Police Facility: The Best Way to Achieve It." That link takes you to the Scribd document, which is an easy way to read a PDF file without Acrobat Reader. Here's the PDF version. The formatting is a bit cleaner on the PDF file, but the Scribd version is completely readable. Download Police Facility Position Paper Final PDF I said "long-awaited" not because other people have been waiting for the position paper (nobody outside Salem Community Vision knew we were working on it), but because I volunteered to write it…

Oh, man. Here we go again. City officials here in Salem, Oregon are trying to do what happens so often in this town: screw over citizens with very little public notice in a fashion that goes against the will of the people. At next Monday's City Council meeting, February 8, the agenda has an Action Item that is difficult to decipher -- which is the goal when you're trying to do something sneaky. (c)  Marine Drive NW, Urban Growth Boundary, and Streets and Bridges Bond Funds – Wards 1, 8 – Councilors Bennett, Lewis – Highland, West Salem (PW)Recommended Action:…