Posted inCreekside Golf Course Larry Tokarski

Is Larry Tokarski the developer of Creekside?

Yesterday I got a letter from an attorney representing Larry Tokarski. The letter also went to A.P. Walther, the publisher of Salem Weekly. It was in response to the opinion piece I wrote for Salem Weekly, "Larry Tokarski leaves the public with a $7.5 million development bill." Here's the letter: Download Letter from Tokarski attorneyThe gist of the letter is an assertion that Tokarski isn't the developer of Creekside. Well, let's look at some evidence that argues otherwise. My point in doing this is to show that a reasonable person, namely me, is justified in calling Larry Tokarski the "Creekside developer."…
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Posted inChuck Bennett Gator Gaynor

Gator & Denise hate radio show mocks Florida shooting survivors

Hate radio is despicable wherever it comes from. And when its being broadcast from right here in Salem, there's even more reason to condemn it.  Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke (wife of city councilor Brad Nanke) took to the KYKN airwaves on Tuesday to mock the Parkland, Florida high school students who survived the massacre that claimed the lives of 14 classmates and three adults. How sick is that? Really sick.  I learned about this latest episode of the hate radio series that goes by the name of the Gator & Denise show via a Facebook post put up by…
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Posted inUncategorized

Gallup says Oregon is non-religious, liberal, and dislikes Trump

OK, the "headline" of this blog post isn't surprising news.  Still, political junkies like me love to pour over the statistics Gallup shared in a State of the States report, which is based on 2017 data. Below are screenshots for Oregon, the nation as a whole, Washington, and California.  Here's some key takeaways: Trump approval. Only 36% of Oregonians approve of  Trump, just a bit less than the 38% for the nation as a whole. Of the three West Coast states, California is the least approving of Trump at 29%, with Washington at 34%. Republican vs. Democrat leaning. Only 36%…
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Posted inChamber of Commerce

I have a pleasant talk with two Salem Chamber of Commerce staff

The title of this blog post admittedly sounds boring. What makes it wonderfully boring is that during all of my local liberal activism, I'd never had an hour-plus talk with someone from the Chamber of Commerce, much less two someones.  My primary connection with the Chamber has been criticizing its political positions, which lean decidedly toward the right. So when Natalie Jasinski, the Member Services staffer, asked if I'd like to get together to chat about how I see Salem, I jumped at the chance. We met at the Beanery in downtown Salem. Natalie brought along Kate Gillem, the recently-married…
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Posted inCity of Salem Downtown

Streetscape open house shows need for downtown streets to lose lanes

Last night the City of Salem held a second open house on the Downtown Streetscape project. I came away enthused about emerging ideas for improving the downtown area, but in an advance post about the meeting the Breakfast on Bikes blogger encapsulated the Big Problem with this project: The second Open House for the Downtown Streetscape project starts tomorrow, Tuesday the 13th, at 5:30pm. The project team hasn't published any new materials, so there's not much to say yet - other than to continue to push the City for changes to carspace. Until we grapple with the disproportion and zoominess…
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Posted inCity of Salem Creekside Golf Course Larry Tokarski

Salem City Council reconsiders making public pay for Lone Oak Road improvements

A citizen win! Last night the City Council voted unanimously to reconsider their decision to have the public pay for two extensions to Lone Oak Road in south Salem, rather than the developers who really should be footing the bill.  The impetus for the reconsideration was a letter from the South Gateway Neighborhood Association. Here's a screenshot of how it starts out. Download SGNA - Reconsideration of Lone Oak Reimbursement District There will be another public hearing on a Lone Oak Road Reimbursement District at the council's March 26 meeting, if I recall the date correctly.  This is a complex…
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Posted inCity Council Creekside Golf Course Larry Tokarski

Neighborhood association asks City Council to reconsider Lone Oak Road decision

Good news! There's a chance Larry Tokarski, the Creekside developer, won't be able to walk away from his obligation to build an extension of Lone Oak Road after all.  The South Gateway Neighborhood Association has sent a letter to Mayor Chuck Bennett, Councilor Steve McCoid, and the other members of the City Council asking that the council reconsider its 7-2 decision to form a Lone Oak Road Reimbursement District.  Download SGNA - Reconsideration of Lone Oak Reimbursement District Instead, as shown in the image above, the letter proposes an intriguing alternative idea. If Tokarski comes out on top in a…
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Posted inOregon politics

Pharmaceutical companies are behind full page ad opposing HB 4005

Don't be fooled by the full page ad in today's Statesman Journal opposing HB 4005, a bill that would require pharmaceutical companies to disclose pricing information about drugs they sell.  The group behind the ad, Caregiver Voices United, is a front for the pharmaceutical industry. Sure, you won't save at the pharmacy counter as a result of HB 4005 because the bill doesn't directly regulate drug prices. Rather, it brings some much-needed transparency into the price-gouging that pharmaceutical companies are notorious for. Here's an excerpt from an Oregonian opinion piece, "Oregon should force Big Pharma to fork over pricing info."…
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Posted inDowntown

Nordstrom space in Salem Center mall should become a “town square”

The Nordstrom store in downtown Salem is closing on April 6, according to a Statesman Journal story, "Nordstrom to shutter its store in Salem Center mall." A Rapid Response question in the newspaper about what should replace Nordstrom elicited a bunch of diverse answers. Like, another major retailer; a lot of small shops; a bookstore; a new City Hall; a homeless shelter.  None of these ideas made me go WOW! But that's what downtown needs, places that have a Wow Factor. We shouldn't be content with simply replacing Nordstrom with more of the same. This is an opportunity to refashion the…
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Posted inCity of Salem Creekside Golf Course Larry Tokarski

Larry Tokarski leaves the public with a $7.5 million development bill

It took me about two seconds to say "Yes" when the publisher of Salem Weekly, A.P. Walther, asked me via an email if I'd be interested in writing a story about the unbuilt section of Lone Oak Road that the City Council is asking the public to pay for, after the developer, Larry Tokarski, walked away from his obligation to make the road improvements. The front page story appeared in this week's issue of Salem Weekly. You can read it online. Here's a PDF file of the story as I sent it off to Walther. Download Salem Weekly Lone Oak…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

It’s time to be really scared about Trump

Reading "How Democracies Die" right now is akin to watching a scary movie at home by yourself, then hearing what sounds like footsteps in the kitchen. I'm terrified at what could happen, yet ignoring the danger isn't an option. The authors of How Democracies Die, Stephen Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, are Harvard professors who, according to the book jacket,  "have spent more than twenty years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America."  They consider that our American democracy is in danger -- from President Trump and his willing Republican co-conspirators. I've only finished three chapters of their…
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