Posted inCity Council City of Salem Homeless

Arta Potties SOS! Why isn’t Salem embracing public portable restrooms?

Rebecca Maitland Courtney is frustrated with her home town. She has a right to be. After coming up with the idea for Arta Potties, artistically-decorated portable toilets that serve both the homeless and ordinary people, she's finding that other cities are giving her a lot more love than Salem.  I just spent an enjoyable hour talking with Courtney. She's a caring, creative woman who can't understand why it is so difficult for people in Salem to come together and embrace a great idea: making restrooms a right for all in downtown, rather than a privilege for those who have the money…
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Posted inCity Council Donald Trump

Salem City Council should do away with the Pledge of Allegiance

Every Salem City Council meeting begins with the Pledge of Allegiance. Whenever I'm at a council meeting, I'll stand for the pledge, but I don't say it or put my hand over my heart.  The whole idea of the Pledge of Allegiance just strikes me as decidedly creepy.  From what I can tell by some Googling, North Korea is one of the few other countries in the world that are so enamored of a pledge of allegiance.   Of course, in North Korea the pledge is to the Supreme Leader. Here, the first mention of allegiance is to the United States…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City of Salem

Salem Climate Action Plan top priority at Strategic Plan open house

T0night the City of Salem asked people to express their top priorities for actions in the Strategic Plan that's under development.  I took these photos in the Broadway Commons meeting room at about 7:15, more than halfway through the 6-8 pm Strategic Plan Open House. The crowd was pretty thin at that point -- probably as many city staff and officials were in the room as concerned citizens.  So the top priorities might have shifted a bit over the next 45 minutes. But by the time I left, the #1 priority action was a Climate Action Plan. (Every person who…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

Great video discussion of why Salem needs to ditch the Third Bridge

Whether or not you believe Salem needs to spend more than $400 million on another bridge across the Willamette River, this CCTV interview between Ken Adams and Bob Cortright will help you understand what's going on with the Salem River Crossing project. Sure, I know a 26 minute video can seem like eternity in these days of 30-second social media attention spans. But Adams and Cortright do a great job of digging into some details that everybody in Salem should know about.  I jotted down some notes as I watched the video while eating breakfast this morning. Here's ten things…
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Posted inChuck Bennett City Council Tom Andersen

Salem moves closer to a Climate Action Plan

Because the Trump administration has a head-in-the-sand approach to global warming, cities like Salem have to help fill the federal void when it comes to the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Otherwise, devastating wildfires, persistent drought, supersized hurricanes, massive flooding, and other manifestations of human-caused climate change are going to keep on worsening.  Fortunately, today I learned that Salem is making good progress on having a citywide Climate Action Plan -- thanks to the efforts of our local 350.org chapter, 350 Salem OR, and supportive city councilors such as Tom Andersen, Cara Kaser, Sally Cook, Chris Hoy, and…
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