Hinessight

Mind-opening. Intuitively persuasive while being counter-intuitive. An appealing vision for what downtown Salem (Oregon) could be, but isn't now. A walkable streetscape where it is tougher to get around by car than at present.  That's one of the counter-intuitive lessons I learned from a great Breakfast on Bikes post about Jeffrey Tumlin's talk at the Salem Library on walkable cities. I'd never thought about car transportation in this way before.  The Traffic Engineer v. EconomistOne favorite idea was to underscore in a table the difference between the way an economist looks at the value captured by a congested roadway full of people on…

I haven't been much involved with the debate over whether Salem needs a third bridge over the Willamette River. I've read newspaper stories, followed posts on the always-interesting Salem Breakfast on Bikes blog, and talked with people who have some insider perspectives on what's going on. However, I was pretty much a blank slate when I fired up CCTV's stream of Monday's City Council meeting, which featured a continuation of a public hearing on the Third Bridge Project. It took about an hour and a half to get to that agenda item, which struck me as bad form. Lots of…

Excellent Earth Day timing by my attorney and me. At 3 pm today Sean Malone emailed me a letter to hand-deliver to Pete Fernandez, City of Salem Public Works Director, and Ryan Allbritton, US Bank Regional President.  The letter notifies the person who authorized five beautiful Japanese Zelkova trees to be cut down, and the person who requested the trees be removed, that I'm filing an appeal of the decision. Download Appeal letter to Fernandez and Allbritton Download Exhibit A -- Appeal letter I had just enought time before my Tai Chi class in downtown Salem to wish one of…

I've gotten some lawyerly confirmation of what I said in the "Looks like US Bank trees were cut illegally" post written three days ago. Not being an attorney, I asked Sean Malone, who is, to offer an opinion about whether opponents of the tree removal application submitted by US Bank and approved by the City of Salem had the right to appeal the decision -- which City staff have been telling me isn't allowed by Ordinance Chapter 86, "Trees and Shrubs." After reviewing the ordinance, my analysis of the issue, and emails I'd gotten from City staff laying out their…

Last night I blogged about how surprised I was that nobody appealed the screwy decision by the City of Salem to allow five beautiful mature downtown trees to be removed after US Bank asked for permission to kill them. I've learned a likely reason: opponents of the tree-cutting weren't notified of the City's decision to approve to tree removal until April 5. And when did the document they got say the deadline for an appeal to be filed was? April 5. It looks to me like the City of Salem screwed up. Big time.  If timely notice, which I believe is…

After reading more closely the City of Salem document dated March 12, 2013, non-pithily titled "Background, Findings and Decision regarding the removal of the State Street Trees (302 State Street S: Ladd and Bush Building -- US Bank)," my initial opinion expressed yesterday hasn't changed: My wife and I are long-time land use activists. We've been involved in quite a few land use decisions at the Marion County level. We're familiar with ordinances, findings of fact, hearing officers, and, yes, how public officials are swayed by "political" considerations -- using that word in a broad sense. After a first reading…

Today I received a PDF file of the City of Salem Public Works decision that allowed US Bank to cut down five large beautiful Japanese Zelkova trees that have graced State Street in downtown. Download US Bank State Street Trees decision I'll have more to say about the report in tomorrow's blog post. Read it yourself, and I think you'll agree with me that this seems like a pre-determined "kill the trees" decision in desperate search of flimsy facts/ordinance interpretations to justify it. My wife and I are long-time land use activists. We've been involved in quite a few land…

Losing five large beautiful trees in downtown Salem is bad enough. How this travesty occurred is equally disturbing. The full story remains to be fleshed leafed out.  (The chapters so far are described in previous blog posts, here, here, and here.) Still, during the past week I've gotten a pretty good feel for how the needless tree-killing came about. One of my reputable sources is my wife, who spoke with a US Bank manager about why the bank wanted the trees to be removed. She didn't get the name of the manager, who was a man. What we do know,…

Today I got an excellent comment on my blog post, "U.S. Bank kills large downtown trees. Don't bank with them."  It's the best explanation that I've seen so far about how this (one of five trees that has been, or will be, needlessly cut down by U.S. Bank)... Became this... The story of how this happened is disturbing. I'll talk more about what this sorry tale says about Salem politics and Chamber of Commerce influence-peddling in a following post.  Here's the comment from Cherry City Blogger, with a few misspellings, typos, and links cleaned up for easier reading. If you…

Yesterday the U.S. Bank tree killing spree began in Salem, Oregon. Three of five large Japanese Zelkovas, which have beautified downtown Salem for about fifty years, were cut down for no good reason. The other two trees are on the chopping block. Innocents, their only crime being that some U.S. Bank executive didn't like them, they await their turn to be changed from this... To this... I was disturbed about this two days ago when I wrote "Downtown trees destroyed: shame on U.S. Bank and City of Salem." That was before the trees were cut down. Today I visited the…

Who doesn't love trees? Well, yesterday and today the Statesman Journal ran stories about two Salem entities which don't: U.S. Bank and the City of Salem. (photo by me and my iPhone; taken this afternoon while trees are still standing) Tuesday some tree lovers protested the decision to allow U.S. Bank to remove five beautiful trees that grace the street in front of the downtown Ladd and Bush branch. A city decision to permit the removal of five Japanese Zelkova trees on the north side of the Ladd and Bush branch of U.S. Bank prompted protest Tuesday at Commercial and…

I'm a frequent critic of the town I've lived in or near for 36 years, Salem. Us cynical old-timers like to call it, So-Lame. Compared to Portland, Corvallis, Eugene, Ashland, Bend, and other Oregon cities with a lot more creativity, energy, coolness, and vision. But yesterday I attended a meeting of the Salem City Club where speakers brought us up to date on the status of the long-planned bridge from the downtown Salem riverfront to Minto Brown Island. Annie Gorski, project manager for the City of Salem, showed slides of what the bridge will look like. Way cool! Something I…

My daughter stuck a (figurative) knife in my heart today. Well, make that in my stomach.  I'd just finished five miles of longboard land paddling at Minto Brown Island Park here in Salem, Oregon. I was pleasantly tired. Also, not-so-pleasantly hungry.  Checking my iPhone, I saw that Celeste, who lives in Studio City, California, had sent me a text message. We've been talking about us coming down for a visit. Guess she wanted to entice me and my wife, health-conscious vegetarians that we are. Just discovered a new veggie restaurant in the valley you guys will love! I asked what…