Posted inDaniel Benjamin Donald Trump

Daniel Benjamin looks on as black guy gets threatened at Trump rally

If this is how ex-Salem city councilor Daniel Benjamin is working on rehabilitating his image after being unanimously censured by the Ciry Council for racial insensitivity on Facebook, he needs to rethink his approach.  Below is a video of a recent pro-Trump rally at the Capitol that drew counter-protesters to a Stand For Love rally. A Statesman Journal story, "Trump rally, protests turn violent at State Capitol," describes what's shown in the video: Cameron Whitten, a Portland activist, being threatened, cursed at, and generally treated nastily by the Trump supporters. Cameron Whitten, 25, live streamed the environment leading up to the…
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Posted inCommunity roast

Salem should have an annual political roast: “A Mingling of the Tribes”

Nationally, politics is really divisive. Less so in Oregon. Here in Salem, we're kind of at a middling state of political tension. Intense nastiness rarely is overt, but under the surface irritations fester. Conservatives, progressives, and everybody in-between (or something else) never are going to hold hands and sing kumbaya together.  But I've got a more realistic goal: Local politicians and other community leaders get together annually for a good-hearted roast of each other and, equally importantly, themselves.  A couple of things would be essential for this to be a success. #1, a copious amount of alcohol. Beer, wine, mixed drinks.…
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Posted inStatesman Journal

Salem Statesman Journal seems to be scamming subscribers

I've been a Statesman Journal subscriber for 40 years. Recently I got a notice that my 7-day subscription price will go up from $36/month to $41/month. At first that didn't bother me. Yeah, it's a 14% increase in an economy where inflation is running under 3% a year. And I was paying only $205 a year back in 2009, which translates into a Statesman Journal subscription price of $17/month.  So that's a 140% subscription increase over eight years, an average of 17.5% a year.  I was curious to see if the $41/month our subscription was going to cost starting in…
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Posted inPolice facility

Four reasons to vote NO on Measure 24-420, the second-try Salem police facility bond

Today I updated the Salem Can Do Better web page to reflect our new campaign: urging a NO vote on the $62 million police facility bond measure on the May ballot. Because even though the rejection of last November's hugely overpriced $82 million bond measure forced City officials to reduce the size and cost of the proposed police facility -- a win for Salem citizens -- the $62 million second-try bond still suffers from some major flaws: Notably, (1) an excessively high cost per square foot, and (2) a continued failure to realize that saving the lives of everybody at City…
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Posted inChuck Bennett City of Salem

I won the Tree City USA photo contest! Mayor Bennett won’t like my acceptance speech.

Woo-hoo! My poignant photo of a citizen's flower memorial placed on a stump belonging to one of the U.S. Bank trees that were needlessly cut down in 2013 won the City of Salem's Tree City USA photo contest. Well, let's say that I'm virtually sure that I won, given the announcement on a rather obscure Facebook page belonging to the City, City of Salem Public Works Water.  Since my photo was the largest, and my name was mentioned first, I'll accept a win on behalf of the five beautiful Japanese Zelkovas that were killed for no good reason by clueless…
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Posted inHomeless

Straight talk about Salem’s homeless problem: answer is more money

Yesterday I learned a lot about our local homeless problem via a Salem City Club program, "A Profile of Salem's Homeless Population: Our Unique Challenges."  Jimmy Jones (Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency) and Ron Hays (Community Resource Trust) presented a lot of interesting information about how many people are homeless in Salem/Marion County, and why they're in this dire situation. I'll share some of those facts below.  First, though, I'll get to the bottom line of what I grasped from the talks by Jones and Hays, and some follow-up Googling into the broader question of what really works to help…
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Posted inCity Council

How will Chris Hoy’s victory affect the Salem City Council?

It was a happy night for Salem progressives yesterday. Chris Hoy won the special election for the Ward 6 City Council seat left vacant by Daniel Benjamin's resignation last year. Hoy's large margin of victory over the other candidates -- including Greggery Peterson, the "establishment" pick endorsed by current Mayor Chuck Bennett and previous Mayor Anna Peterson -- was aided by the enthusiastic support of volunteers from Progressive Salem, who put in a lot of time canvassing for Hoy. Here's a photo of the Hoy election night party at La Margarita Express, courtesy of a Facebook post by Geoff James.…
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Posted inDaniel Benjamin Public Safety

Daniel Benjamin’s right-wing “compassion.” No sidewalks in your part of Salem? Just move.

A couple of weeks ago Mary Nikas shared this photo in a post on the Salem City Council Facebook page (a private page which isn't associated with the City of Salem). She said: "Photo taken this morning on Oakhill Road in SE Salem. Can we start spending our community development money on sidewalks now, please?!" When I saw the photo of a woman having to ride an electric wheelchair in the road, I thought This is terrible, Salem needs sidewalks everywhere so people can get around safely.  Just about everyone who left comments on the post felt the same way. But…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City Council

City of Salem strategic planning effort seems to be going backward

Showing that I'm either (1) crazy, (2) got too much time on my hands, (3) a glutton for punishment, or (4) a dedicated citizen activist blogger (I like this choice!), I just spent two hours of my remaining lifetime watching a Salem City Council work session on its strategic planning effort that was streamed live on Facebook. One of the most interesting comments came from Mayor Chuck Bennett when he said, "I'm tired of planning" and "We don't need to sit around and talk about it." Understand: these sentiments were expressed during a meeting of City officials who have been…
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Posted inCity Council Gator Gaynor

Salem right-wing talk show hosts Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke decry Inclusive City resolution

Last Monday the Salem City Council unanimously approved an Inclusive City resolution after hearing highly emotional, and also highly reasoned, testimony from 45 citizens -- all but two of whom supported the resolution. Person after person talked about the fear being experienced by both undocumented and documented immigrants after Trump announced stepped-up deportation efforts. They urged passage of the resolution to show these immigrants that Salem cares about them and will support them. But as I blogged about in "Citizens strongly support Salem 'Inclusive City' resolution. Conservatives not so much." there was both subtle and not-so-subtle resistance to the resolution…
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