Posted inPolice facility

Salem, vote “NO” on the $82 million police facility bond measure

Public debate on a controversial Salem police facility is on the starting blocks. Today I saw that the City of Salem has filed Measure 24-399 with Marion County Elections.  So, as expected, this November Salem voters will be asked whether they want to approve $82,088,000 in general obligation bonds to pay for a new 148,000 square foot police headquarters on the old O'Brien auto dealership site just north of downtown. I'm urging a "NO" vote on the bond measure for a simple reason: Salem can do better. There are very good reasons to reject the City of Salem's poorly-thought-out, overpriced, oversized…
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Posted in2016 election National politics

An idealistic ex-flower child has some thoughts for diehard Bernie supporters

Let's bridge a generational gap, Berniacs. Many, if not most, of you are about the age I was in my most revolutionary period: circa 1966 to 1971, my college years at San Jose State (the Berkeley of the South Bay in my decidedly deluded imagination). Here I am, in my 1970 yoga-and-meditation-dude guise. If I look more than a little messianic, that's because I was. I thought I was well on my way to grokking the deepest secrets of the cosmos. Guess what... (as the old saying goes, you've got two guesses, and the first one doesn't count). That didn't…
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Posted inChuck Bennett Police facility

Day 1 of Mayor-elect Chuck Bennett’s “put up or shut up” challenge

Time for some summer fun: I'm challenging Salem Mayor-elect Chuck Bennett (currently a city councilor) to "put up or shut up."  Namely, either put up demonstrable evidence that I and other members of Salem Community Vision have been distorting facts about the $82 million City of Salem police facility proposal that will be voted on via a bond measure this November, or shut up about our supposed false statements.  Today Bennett forced this challenge when he left this comment on a Salem Community Vision Facebook post about Bennett's own statements about the police facility: Unfortunately for the truth of all…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

Salem City Council trying to sneak through billion dollar Third Bridge

Here's some juicy City of Salem gossip I heard today which has a ring of truth -- because it fits with the habitual secretive modus operandi of the Mayor and her right-wing city council majority:  Do the public's business as far outside of public view as possible, because that way it's easier for special interests like the Chamber of Commerce to wield their influence on Salem's local politicians.  What I was told by a usually reliable source is that City officials are hellbent to get local government approvals for the billion dollar Third Bridge boondoggle as far along as possible before January…
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Posted inCity Council Smart growth

Bend sets goals for climate change. Salem’s City Council sits on its butt.

As a long time Salem-area resident, I'm used to having my town's environmental reputation kicked in the ass by more with-it Oregon cities like Eugene, Corvallis, and Portland.  But now also Bend? Geez, Bend is in Deschutes County, central Oregon, which used to be reliably Republican. And hence, not much concerned with supposedly optional niceties such as protecting the livability of our one and only planet Earth.  With a lot of new people moving to Deschutes County, though, the gap between Democratic and Republican voter registration has shrunk considerably in recent years.  So this helps explain why today's Bend Bulletin…
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Posted inNational politics

A plea to Sanders supporters to remember 2000 and vote for Clinton

I'm both an avid Bernie Sanders fan and a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton. If Sanders had won the Democratic presidential nomination, I would have unhesitatingly jumped on board the Bernie Train, hoping that it would lead to the White House. So it's been painful and perplexing for me to peruse my Facebook feed now that Sanders has dropped out of the race and formally endorsed Clinton. I keep seeing posts from Salem-area Berniacs along the lines of "Hillary should have been indicted," "Sanders had the nomination stolen from him," and "Keep the dream alive, vote for Jill Stein." Stein, of…
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Posted inChuck Bennett Citizen involvement

Mayor-elect Chuck Bennett wants to ban “negativity” about Salem

Jokes can have a serious side. So when I heard Mayor-elect Chuck Bennett laughing about the need to pass a law to ban negativity about Salem, I didn't think this was very funny.  Bennett, who currently is the Ward 1 City Councilor, was being interviewed by KYKN talk show hosts Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke. (She is the wife of Ward 3 City Councilor Brad Nanke.) Someone sent me this audio clip. Naysayers Should Move I've made a transcript of the last part of the interview, which followed a discussion of how absolutely wonderful downtown Salem is. It's pretty clear…
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Posted inSmart growth

Salem only town in Oregon that bans tiny houses

Ah, Salem. I so look forward to the day when the name of my home town isn't regularly mentioned after someone says, "The last town in Oregon to not allow [some cool thing] is..." Tiny houses are an example. Salem bans them. Along with only one other city in the northwest. A 2014 Statesman Journal story said: Tiny houses. Everyone loves them. Cute, inexpensive, and eco-friendly, tiny houses are popping up all over the Northwest. Portland, which just relaxed its permitting rules, is seeing a boom, and even boasts a tiny house hotel. But don’t look for them in Salem.…
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Posted inPolice facility

Great critique of November’s $82 million police facility bond measure

Today the Statesman Journal published an excellent opinion piece by local architect Geoffrey James, "Proposed Salem police facility too large, too expensive." I've shared it below in its entirety, along with the links inserted by newspaper staff, since soon the piece will disappear into the Statesman Journal's archives. I agree with James that the $82 million police facility bond measure on the November ballot likely will fail. I just go one step further and say, "It SHOULD fail."  A few weeks ago I put up a Salem Can Do Better web page that lays out five reasons to vote "No"…
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Posted in2016 election

Democrats a clear majority in Salem

Here's a good analysis of political trends in Salem from my friend and fellow citizen activist Jim Scheppke, who posted this on Facebook. The days when this town was controlled by an overly conservative, keep-things-the-same, special-interest-favoring Mayor and City Council do indeed seem to be numbered. I look forward to the time when Salem becomes progressive in the best sense of this term: creative, forward-looking, and fair-minded, with a commitment to making our city a great place to live for EVERYBODY -- not just a few. "Salem has an undeserved reputation as being a conservative Republican city. Maybe it's because…
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