Posted inCurrent affairs

Proud to be a Democrat on October 1. Obamacare rocks!

This image says it all. About the difference between Republicans and Democrats these days, the Party of No vs. the Party of Yes. On October 1 the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, started to provide health insurance to the 30 million or so people in this country who live under the fear that they will be unable to get and pay for needed medical care. That same day, Republicans in Congress shut down the federal government in an effort to deny millions of people the health insurance they desperately desire. If you doubt this, read the stories about the Obamacare…
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Posted inUncategorized

New online Oregonian sucks. But could suck less.

Bottom line: one day into the Portland Oregonian's venture into being an online newspaper for subscribers on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, I hate it. The online reading experience sucks. But maybe, just maybe, it could suck less. Here's my reasons for saying this. (1) A digital facsimile of the Oregonian is stupid. The Oregonian's quasi-erotically-named URL for its online version is www.mydigitalo.com. Clicking on that leads to a digital.olivesoftware.com site. So the Oregonian has signed up for an off the shelf Olive Software digital newspaper. It should have been left on the shelf. There's a wonderfully simple and effective way to…
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Posted inDogs Salem

My damn fine reportin’ on today’s Orygun storm

I am one HELL of a stormchasin' reporter. Proved that today with my coverage of what I call an Oregon Stupid Storm (copyright reserved, all that legal stuff, blah, blah, blah). For the technically inclined envious out there, all you need to make professional-quality storm-reportin' videos like this is (1) an iPhone, (2) the way cool Lumify app, and enough stupid in you to keep hauling your unwaterproofed phone out in heavy rain.  
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Posted inHome life

Trying to be positive as DirecTV lacks Pac-12 Network

When I realized that both the Oregon State and Oregon football games today only were being shown on the Pac-12 Network, I leaned toward spending my weekend cursing DirecTV. After all, DISH has come to terms with the Pac-12 Network, along with most cable outfits. This is the second football season I've been irritated, annoyed, and otherwise pissed-off at DirecTV (see previous blog post blasts here and here). My first thought was to come up with more creative curses to direct at DirecTV. Yiddish tradition has some pretty good ones that I could embellish. (Though I was thinking along more…
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Posted inSalem

Creative vision for Salem City Hall and Riverfront Park expansion

I've told Geoffrey James, a noted Salem architect, that he needs to be cloned. One Geoff can keep on with what the original is doing. The clone should be in charge of urban design for the City of Salem.  (See my previous post, "Architect Geoffrey James critiques Salem's lack of urban design.") Last night I was pleased to get an email from Geoff that went to me and many others concerned about development in the downtown riverfront area. More great ideas.  I really like his "Proposal for the Expansion of City Hall and Riverfront Park." As the City should be…
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Posted inWriting/Weblogs

My unfriendly advice for blog comment spammers

Hey, spammer dudes and dudettes, wherever you may be, which pretty obviously isn't in this country given the fractured English you use... I am not at all thrilled when you try to leave comments on my blog posts in order, I assume, to get a better search engine ranking when your spammy URL is included with the comment. But if you're going to pretend to be leaving a cogent observation about one of my posts, I really wish you'd put some effort into it. How about at least taking a quick glance at what I wrote, and attempt to say…
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Posted inSalem

Salemians should vote on downtown parking meter ban

Tomorrow the Salem (Oregon) City Council will decide how to handle the stupendously successful citizen initiative petition that seeks to ban parking meters in the downtown area. It's on the Monday meeting agenda. The staff report notes that almost 9,000 signatures were submitted in just a short time.  The people have spoken. For quite a few reasons, making people pay for onstreet downtown parking is a really bad idea. Stop Parking Meters Downtown explains why.  So let's have a vote in May 2014 on this issue. The City Council should choose that route, rather than putting the initiative into effect…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Craziness of today’s Republican Party is unparalleled

Has any political party in American history been crazier than the current Tea Party-fueled antics of Congressional Republicans? Not in my lifetime. And I'm getting to be damn old (65 next month). Threatening a shutdown of the federal government because of Affordable Care Act hatred, along with holding the nation's economy hostage with a threatened refusal to pay bills Congress already has incurred (a.k.a. not raising the debt limit) for the same reason -- this is new Crazy Territory. Listening to reasonable talk radio today, I heard a historian say that maybe, just maybe, politicians in the mid-1800's acted even…
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Posted inSalem

Architect Geoffrey James critiques Salem’s lack of urban design

Below you'll find a spot-on critique by Geoffrey James of how the City of Salem does urban design. Or more accurately, doesn't.  James is an architect here in Salem. It's fair to say, a noted architect, judging from a portion of his bio: Geoff began his long career in design in 1963 upon graduating as an architect. First licensed in the UK in 1966, he has worked on prestigious buildings around the world from England, Wales, Scotland, and Egypt, to the USA. Licensed in the US in 1979 he has designed buildings in seven states i.e. Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii,…
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Posted inSalem

2009 Pringle Square plan way better than 2013 version

Plans to redevelop the old Boise Cascade property on downtown Salem's riverfront have, thankfully, fallen through. Mountain West Investment's attempted land grab of the Carousel parking lot in public Riverfront Park for a private access road to an apartment complex on the west side of the railroad tracks was met with intense opposition from concerned citizens.  And somehow the development team missed an obvious fact: conversion of the park land to a private use would require National Park Service approval, since federal funds were used to build Riverfront Park. The 6(f) conversion application would take two years to process, or…
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Posted inSalem

Photos: imagine what Salem’s Riverfront Park could become

After Jack Bushek sent me his new vision for Salem's old Boise Cascade property, which became a blog post, last Thursday I took a sunset walk in the south end of Riverfront Park. I wanted to imagine what Riverfront Park could be like if the land west of the railroad tracks was added on to the park, and if the Pringle Creek banks were remade into a cool mixed use area. Also, how the Park would have been changed (for the worse) if Mountain West Investment's original development plan for the Boise Cascade property hadn't fallen through. Here's the photos…
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Posted inSalem

A new vision for Salem’s old Boise Cascade property

With the seeming demise of Mountain West Investment's ill-considered Pringle Square plans, there is a fresh opportunity to make this downtown riverfront area into a place that will elicit a Wow! rather than ho-hum from Salem visitors and residents.  Here's a letter that Jack Bushek, a long-time West Salem resident, sent to me. He has shared it with Salem Weekly, the Statesman Journal, Salem City Council, Mayor, and others. Hopefully it will get the attention that it deserves.  I like Jack's ideas. They fit with the basic vision of the 2006 Urban Land Institute report that analyzed the best uses…
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Posted inSalem Skateboarding

Video: senior citizen skateboarder rolls at Salem Sunday Streets

I had a great time at the Salem Sunday Streets event a few days ago. Well, my experience could have been even greater if I'd gotten the media coverage that I had shamelessly sought in my Statesman Journal press release. Which began with: For immediate super-important stop-the-presses release Salem's Senior Citizen Skateboarder, a.k.a. Brian Hines, a.k.a. me (though I will speak in the third person for greater dramatic effect) will be making an appearance at the Salem Sunday Streets event tomorrow. All available Statesman Journal reporting and photographic resources should be diverted to this locally, stately, nationally, and, arguably, cosmically important event. …
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Pringle Square developers lie in Statesman Journal ad

"Lie" is a strong word. But it is honest. Straightforward. Direct. So I'll use it instead of "untruth," "falsity," or some other term for the supposed First Fact in the Pringle Square developer's "Fact Check" ad in today's Salem Statesman Journal. This is the developer's supposed Myth, which actually is a Fact. There are other ways to access the apartment site. The developer can construct a new railroad crossing or build a bridge over Pringle Creek. This is the developer's supposed Fact, which actually is a Myth. There is no other feasible access to the site. The state has a…
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Posted inSalem

Pringle Square’s Perfect Parking Plan — great cartoon

Yeah, the saying (I just made up) is so true: One cartoon speaks more than a thousand words. Just got this from Elaine Sanchez of the Pringle Square Access group.  Love it! Even with "convenient" spelled wrong. Could be a subliminal message about how wrong the Carousel parking lot access plan is, though.  
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Posted inSalem Skateboarding

Salem’s Senior Citizen Skateboarder makes appearance tomorrow

I just sent a press release to the Statesman Journal. Didn't have the New York Times' email address. Also, probably too late for them to get a news team to Oregon by tomorrow noon. Local newspaper, it's up to you! For immediate super-important stop-the-presses release Salem's Senior Citizen Skateboarder, a.k.a. Brian Hines, a.k.a. me (though I will speak in the third person for greater dramatic effect) will be making an appearance at the Salem Sunday Streets event tomorrow. All available Statesman Journal reporting and photographic resources should be diverted to this locally, stately, nationally, and, arguably, cosmically important event.  Syria will…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Good Statesman Journal story about Pringle Square

If I was a self-promoting, egotistical, I-told-you-so sort of blogger, I'd say about Michael Rose's excellent story in the Salem Statesman Journal, "Federal government could have final say on Riverfront Park easements," you read it here first. So naturally I'll do just that. You read it here first. In my September 3 "Pringle Square development could be delayed 1-2 years." Rose's story makes the same point, without mentioning the time frame that I was given by Michele Scalise, the state coordinator of the federal program that requires the lengthy application process. Salem City Council on Monday will deliberate an apartment…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Pringle Square Access group determined to protect Riverfront Park

Here's a photo that warms my citizen activist heart: Salem-area residents meeting this evening at the Carousel to talk about better alternatives to the ill-advised proposal to convert part of the Carousel parking lot into a private access road to the Pringle Square development. Elaine Sanchez and Hazel Patton, two women who know how to get good things done, organized and led the meeting. I was hugely impressed by them and everybody else who had things to say. Key theme: everyone wants to see the old Boise Cascade downtown riverfront property redeveloped. This isn't a Stop the Development crusade. The…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Stop Parking Meters Downtown gets enough signatures. Yay!

Great news from Carole Smith and the other folks at Stop Parking Meters Downtown (downtown Salem, Oregon, that is). This was an amazing demonstration of democracy in action, citizens doing what their elected officials refused to do: listen to the people of Salem and small downtown business owners. From the Stop Parking Meters Downtown web site: WE COLLECTED ALMOST 9,000 SIGNATURES!  As of Sept 4th, we have enough sigatures to get on the May ballot!   The City Recorder will be taking our petition to city council on Sept 23rd.  They can voluntarily adopt it word-for-word.  If they do not…
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