Posted inChuck Bennett City of Salem

Key questions remain about botched response to Salem’s toxic algae water problem

Today we learned that Salem's water is still unsafe to drink for young children, pregnant women, dialysis patients, and other people with compromised immune systems.  But there's a lot still left to learn about how City and State officials botched their response to last Saturday's test results showing unsafe levels of toxic algae in the water system of Salem and other municipalities sharing that system.  (1) Why the four-day delay in alerting people about the problem? I talked about this in an earlier post, "Salem-area water safety alert could have been handled better." Mayor Chuck Bennett, who is out of the…
2
Posted inCity of Salem

Salem-area water safety alert could have been handled better

Nobody's perfect. But everybody can learn from their mistakes. So from my vantage point, here's what I see could have been handled better regarding the toxic algae warnings in Salem-area water systems that went out yesterday. It sure seems like people should have been notified earlier. A Statesman Journal story reports that City of Salem staff knew last Saturday, May 26,  that unhealthy levels of toxic algae had been detected. (Lacey Goeres-Priest is Salem's water quality supervisor.) Water was sampled late last week and officials received the results of testing the water on Saturday, said Goeres-Priest. The results showed toxin levels…
5
Posted inCitizen involvement City Council Salem Weekly

Great idea: Salem could have a local online paper

The Statesman Journal is doing a poor job of reporting on local news here in Salem. But what's the alternative? Well, an opinion piece in The Guardian is about how people in East Lansing, Michigan formed a local paper, East Lansing Info. About a decade ago, my historic neighborhood was facing the possibility of a giant commercial development being built just down the hill from us by a company known to have a troubled history. Worried about our way of life, the president of my neighborhood association and I started going to city council meetings. Watching our city government came…
No Comments
Posted inCity Council Creekside Golf Course Jackie Leung

Lone Oak Road Reimbursement District debate continues

A few days ago I blogged about newly-elected city councilor Jackie Leung's effort to fulfill a campaign promise by attempting to get the Salem City Council to reconsider its decision to form a Lone Oak Road Reimbursement District. The Reimbursement District would raise money to pay for road improvements by collecting between about $4,000 and $10,000 from lot owners in the south Salem area when a home is built on their property. It's unclear whether the City Council will undertake a reconsideration of the Reimbursement District, which has to be done at next Tuesday's council meeting, because an agenda item implements…
2
Posted inCity Council Creekside Golf Course Jackie Leung

Support fairness. Stop the Lone Oak Road Reimbursement District.

Fresh off her upset victory in the Ward 4 City Council race, Jackie Leung is making good on her campaign promise to work hard on preserving open space in the Creekside neighborhood. She recognizes that unfettered development can't be allowed to diminish the quality of life for Salem residents. So Leung is asking the City Council to reconsider and overturn its recent narrow 5-4 approval of a Lone Oak Road Reimbursement District. The Reimbursement District collects between $4,000 and $10,000 from lot owners in the south Salem area when a home is built on their property, then gives that money…
No Comments
Posted inCreekside Golf Course Larry Tokarski

Creekside HOA letter shows how messy the golf course fight is

It's a real battle going on between the Creekside Homeowners Association and the owners of the Creekside Golf Club, Larry Tokarski and Terry Kelly.  Recently I came across a May 9, 2018 letter that the Creekside HOA sent to its members, describing what was going on with the Association's fight to prevent the golf course from being turned into a subdivision, as Tokarski and Kelly are trying to do. The two-page letter is interesting reading. Here's a copy. Or click here for an online version, Download Letter from Creekside HOA All I know about this legal battle is what I've…
2
Posted inJackie Leung Progressive Salem

Five takeaways from Jackie Leung’s Salem City Council victory

Like I said last Tuesday on election night, Jackie Leung's 53%-46% victory over Steve McCoid in the Ward 4 City Council race warms my progressive heart. Though I used the word "apparent" in that post, Leung has a 237 vote lead over McCoid, which is very unlikely to be erased even though some lingering votes may remain to be counted. There are lessons to be learned from political newcomer Leung's upset victory over an incumbent city councilor, especially when Micki Varney's 48%-52% loss to incumbent Councilor Jim Lewis in the Ward 8 race is considered.  So here's my five takeaways…
No Comments
Posted inCity Council Jackie Leung Progressive Salem

Jackie Leung’s apparent victory over Steve McCoid warms my progressive heart

It's election night. Time for me to say "I told you so!" to those progressives who either thought Jackie Leung couldn't best Steve McCoid in the Ward 4 Salem City Council race, or felt that that McCoid was an acceptable moderate, so endorsed him even though Leung was by far the better candidate. Have a look, Councilors Tom Andersen and Chris Hoy, both of whom endorsed McCoid. Have a look, board members of Progressive Salem, who ignored requests to support the more liberal candidate in the Ward 4 race.  Now, a 184 vote lead in Ward 4 likely will hold…
4
Posted inCity Council Creekside Golf Course Larry Tokarski

Lone Oak Road Reimbursement District staggers across City Council finish line

Watching last night's City Council final deliberation on a Lone Oak Road Reimbursement District reminded me of a demolition derby. The plan that was approved on a 5-4 vote was the last one standing, like a bashed-in car with smoke streaming from its hood, oil leaking all over, fenders missing, dents everywhere.  Not a pleasant sight, but in the eyes of a majority of City Council members, better than nothing. The Council considered four alternatives to the original Lone Oak Reimbursement District plan that landed with a resounding "no thanks!" thud at a public hearing a while back, which led…
1
Posted inStatesman Journal

Statesman Journal seems to be on the track of “How a newspaper dies”

As previously reported, I've heard from a seemingly reliable source that the Statesman Journal, Salem's daily newspaper that's owned by Gannett, will cease being a print publication in 2019. This would mark another milestone in the paper's steady journalistic decline, both in quantity (number of reporters and original stories) and quality (investigative reporting is minimal, especially on the local level). Today I read a Politico Magazine piece, "This is How a Newspaper Dies," that provided some fresh insights into what is happening with the Statesman Journal. The subtitle of Jack Shafer's highly interesting story is It's with a spasm of…
2
Posted inCity Council Larry Tokarski Statesman Journal

Lone Oak Road Reimbursement District is a bad idea

Below is an opinion piece about the Lone Oak Road Reimbursement District that I submitted to the Statesman Journal a month ago. I never heard back from the editorial board one way or the other, which in itself is a sad commentary on how far Salem's so-called "paper of record" has fallen. The Statesman Journal has published exactly nothing about this subject, even though it is a highly controversial issue that's consumed a lot of City Council time, and is of considerable concern to residents of the Creekside area, along with hundreds of lot owners in south Salem who would be…
4
Posted inOregon politics

Dennis Richardson talks about redistricting at Salem City Club

Secretary of State Dennis Richardson is an Oregon anomaly: a Republican elected to statewide office. This probably helps explain why comparatively few Salem City Club members attended his talk about redistricting today, since most members lean leftward. Another reason might be that the recommendations of Richardson's pet project, a Redistricting Reform Task Force, have been politically dead ever since, well, six months before the Task Force issued its final report in October 2017. In April 2017 Oregon Democrats said Richardson's plan was dead on arrival. Which is sort of strange, given that the Task Force recommendations hadn't been released yet. …
No Comments
Posted inCity Council Jim Lewis Statesman Journal

Statesman Journal endorses conservative white men and bridge tolling

Well, if you believe what people in Salem need is more conservative white men on the City Council and being charged a $1.50 each way toll to cross the Willamette River between downtown and West Salem, you'll love the Statesman Journal endorsements for the two contested council races on the May election ballot. Because the newspaper's editorial board -- which is made up solely of three Statesman Journal employees, no community members -- just endorsed the re-election of Jim Lewis and Steve McCoid to the City Council.  So the editorial board said NO to Micki Varney and Jackie Leung. And…
3