Posted inCity Council Jim Lewis

Salem City Council embarks on investigation into “Sign-Up-Gate” scandal

Oh, man. Last night the Salem City Council passed a motion to investigate me and two other people. Shit! THIS IS F@#KING SERIOUS! So serious, it deserves a scandal-worthy name: Sign-Up Gate. The three of us being investigated, naturally, are The Sign-Up Gate Three.  I've made an annotated photo of myself that can be used by investigators, local media, and the New York Times (once this inquiry goes national, as it deserves to, given its importance). We can credit (if that's the right word) Councilor Jim Lewis with laying bare the details of this scandal (if that also is the right…
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Posted inPolice facility

Salem Can Do Better: Vote “No” on $82 million police facility bond

Tonight the Salem City Council is expected to ask voters to approve an $82 million bond measure to build a new police facility. This is a bad proposal. It deserves to be rejected in the November election. In this web page, made with Adobe Spark, I give five good reasons (plus a bonus reason) why Salem Can Do Better. I'm planning to testify during the public comment period at tonight's City Council meeting. One thing I want to say is that just as someone can be a strong supporter of our armed forces and still be opposed to wasteful military…
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Posted inStatesman Journal

Statesman Journal gets fooled by misleading Republican poll

Shocker! Or so it seemed at the time.  "Poll: Richardson leads Secretary of State race." That link is to a Google cache version of a story that has been taken down by the Salem Statesman Journal.  I read the story online last night. It really surprised me that supposedly Republican Dennis Richardson was leading Democrat Brad Avakian 47% to 38%. A Republican hasn't won a statewide office in Oregon for a long time. And the story by reporter Gordon Friedman said: The numbers suggest the first time in nearly a decade that a Republican has led in polls in a…
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Posted inHumor

“Angry Owl” is on Twitter, saying satirical stuff about Salem

Birds are smart. I'm not surprised that "Angry Owl" has established a nest on Twitter, where he/she tweets out funny observations about Salem. I'm the dumb one, because it's taken me this long to explore Angry Owl's Twitter feed (which hatched in February 2015; tagline is "Protecting the nest, helping joggers run a little faster"). This was the tweet that caught my attention recently. My @oregonbrian Twitter handle was included in it, since Angry Owl knows how much I enjoy humor directed at the City of Salem. (Some of my blog posts also provided material for Angry Owl.) That tweet led…
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Posted inPolice facility Public Safety

Salem can do better… than an over-priced $83 million police facility

The flip side of NO is YES. Saying No to one thing often is the prelude to saying Yes to a better thing. So I'm proud to be a naysayer to plans for an $83 million police facility here in Salem, because rejecting a bond for this over-sized and over-priced Police Palace in the November 2016 election will open a YES door to a better approach -- one that meets the needs of the Police Department plus other needs that currently are being ignored by City officials. Here's what I mean: Cost is too high. Salem can do better... because not…
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Posted inPublic Safety Statesman Journal

Statesman Journal editorial about Orlando killings irritatingly silent on solutions

After so many tragic mass shootings in this country, I've got no patience left with the "thoughts and prayers" crowd -- unless their thoughts and prayers are accompanied by a strong call for action. This is why I found a recent Statesman Journal editorial so irritating. A few years ago I wrote about this in "Why I don't like 'Our thoughts and prayers are with you.'" After the [Boston] bombing I came across a Twitter Tweet by someone I follow, "scriptdave" here in Salem. He's a screenwriter with a great sense of humor. Also, some wise observations. He tweeted: I…
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Posted inCity Council Police facility

Salem City Council meetings are unduly scripted

Scripts are for plays, movies, and TV shows where the plot, including the outcome, is laid out ahead of time. Public hearings aren't supposed to be scripted.  After all, what's the point of inviting citizens to express their opinions on an issue if members of a government body -- in this case, the Salem City Council -- have already made up their minds?  But as you can read below, this was the reaction of several people who attended last Wednesday's City Council hearing on a proposed new police facility: Mayor Peterson and the eight city councilors weren't open to new…
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Posted inPolice facility Public Safety

To save lives, in November vote NO on Salem police facility bond

Last night the Salem City Council decided to press on with an unwise $83 million plan for an over-priced and over-sized new police facility.  Sadly, this means making the Library and City Hall earthquake-safe likely won't happen for many years, if ever. Reason: the hugely costly police facility proposal, which has doubled in cost and square footage from $36 million/75,000 sq. ft. to $83 million/148,000 sq. ft., has squeezed out the money that previously was going to be spent on seismically retrofitting the Civic Center so lives aren't lost when, not if, the Big One Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake hits…
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Posted inPolice facility

“Make Salem’s Library Earthquake Safe” video

I'm deeply disturbed -- no, let's make that pissed off -- at how making the Library and City Hall earthquake-safe is being ignored by the Salem City Council. Mayor Peterson and the eight councilors are focused on an ill-considered $83 million plan for a new over-priced 148,000 square foot police facility. A few years ago City officials were fine with a 75,000 square foot, $40 million police facility.  But after some Chicago consultants came to town, the size doubled along with the cost. And that made money for urgently needed seismic upgrades to the Library and City Hall go bye-bye,…
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Posted inCity Council Police facility

New Salem police facility seems to be on shaky voter ground

Well, after attending a 2 1/2 hour Salem City Council work session last night, I can report that six years of planning for a new police facility appears to be on track to end up as dysfunctional as it began. (See here for documentation of the messy process.) Which is too bad. The police department needs a new facility. But I observed the work session thinking, "Man, here's another reason voters probably will reject a bond measure in the November 2016 election." (For a comprehensive and readable analysis of this project, check out the Salem Community Vision position paper, "Salem's…
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