Hinessight

Another day, another worrisome effort by City of Salem officials to demolish our town's history for no good reason.  Recently they overturned a Historic Landmarks Commission recommendation to preserve Howard Hall, the last remaining building on the School for the Blind property. Instead, the City Council voted to tear Howard Hall down. (So Salem Hospital could build an over-sized parking lot.) Now LeBreton Hall, a majestic 1908 structure that was one of the first to be built on the Fairview Training Center property (which used to be called the State Institution for the Feeble-Minded; we've made progress) is on the…

Last night my wife and I enjoyed an Enlightened Theatrics' musical show at Salem's downtown Grand Theatre just about as much as we liked a previous production, "Hair."  "The 1940's Radio Hour" is much different, of course -- a generation apart in setting. Which gave it much of its appeal. I was born in 1948. The Radio Hour show is set in 1942. When I first heard the name of this production, I thought, "That's ancient history, the 1940's; I'm not sure if I want to listen to old-folks music." But when I first heard a mention of 1942 from one…

I hate the illegal signs that have sprouted all over Salem on the public right of way. But today I, and some unknown other Fighter Against Urban Ugliness, struck blows against one of the worst offenders -- Kelly's Home Center. Turning from River Road into Minto Brown Island Park to exercise in the early afternoon, I saw three Kelly's "Big Sale" signs between the road and railroad tracks. This is one of them. Wanting to do my Streetstrider (outdoor elliptical bike) ride first, after I was done I vowed to walk from Parking Lot 1 up to the road and…

Often it's frustrating to live in Salem, Oregon. Nestled in an Uncool Zone between the more with-it towns of Portland and Eugene, our city officials are prone to archaic attitudes that belong more to 1955 than 2015. Case in point: Salem Mayor Anna Peterson believes that marijuana kills brain cells. If this were true it would be bad news for Oregonians, given that medical marijuana has been legal here since 1998, and adult/recreational use was legalized in 2014.  This is what Mayor Peterson said on a local conservative talk show. I'm frankly fed up. It's against the law federally. The science proves…

Like Topsy, a new police facility here in Salem, Oregon just keeps on growing. When it was first proposed by Mayor Anna Peterson and her staff, a 75,000 square foot replacement for the current 48,000 sq. ft. police department was in the works. Now, consultants have recommended a 148,000 sq. ft. facility -- almost twice as large.  I don't want to get much into the tangled web of how planning for this new police facility has unfolded over the past five years. For the next few weeks, you can read all about it on this Salem Community Vision web page.…

This weekend my wife and I made a quick trip to Olympia, Washington. Well, our focus was Lacey, a smaller town adjacent to Olympia -- sort of comparable to Salem and Keizer, I guess. Laurel and I went to take a look at Panorama, a retirement community in Lacey. But that isn't my focus in this post.  Rather, I want to share some impressions of Olympia -- which is, of course, Washington's capital, just as Salem is the capital of Oregon.  Olympia is quite a bit smaller, about 50,000 population versus Salem's 160,000. But the population of the urban area…

Salem, Oregon is steadily strengthening its reputation as the city where public officials are either incompetent or uncaring when it comes to our trees.  Today I talked with an anonymous reputable source (love that term! makes me sound like an investigative blogger!) who told me some disturbing tales about the black walnut trees being cut down on the State Hospital campus.  A black walnut tree Here's an excerpt from a recent Statesman Journal story by Tracy Loew, "Historic Salem trees felled due to new disease." Six century-old black walnut trees on the Oregon State Hospital campus are being felled this week due to…

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 --…