Posted inCity Council Tom Andersen

Tom Andersen: progressivism is alive and well in Salem

I'm a proud progressive. I'm a member of Progressive Salem. I enjoy hearing City Councilor Tom Andersen speak. And I like the food at the Marco Polo restaurant a lot.  So today it was great to mix those pleasures together and listen to Andersen talk about the past, present, and future of local progressivism at the first Progressive Salem Power Lunch meeting while munching on a tasty Marco Polo buffet meal. If you're a conservative wondering if I'm going to share any inside political secrets, I'm sorry to disappoint you. But I hope you'll read this blog post anyway. Andersen did…
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Posted inCara Kaser Chuck Bennett Jim Lewis

Third Bridge talked about in three acts last night

Driving home from the West Salem Neighborhood Association meeting last night, I pondered the weirdly wonderful discussion of how the City Council killed the Third Bridge on February 11, and what to do next about downtown-area traffic congestion. Troy Brynelson of the Salem Reporter wrote a good story about the meeting, "After splitting on third bridge, councilors seek common ground in West Salem." Excerpt: Salem City Councilors Cara Kaser and Jim Lewis bridged some political differences Monday night, pledging to work together to solve the city’s congestion woes after staking opposing views last week about the Salem River Crossing. The…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

Salem Bridge Solutions should think twice about recalling city councilors

Well, notwithstanding the title of this blog post, actually Salem Bridge Solutions should think more than twice about the wisdom of attempting to recall the six progressive members of the City Council who voted to kill the Salem River Crossing project last Monday. I'll describe the more-than-two reasons below. First, though, let's look at some evidence that Salem Bridge Solutions, a group that's pushed hard (fanatically, even) for a Third Bridge across the Willamette truly is seriously considering embarking on recall efforts.  A post on the Salem Bridge Solutions Facebook page brings up the subject of recall elections. One person…
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Posted inCara Kaser Chuck Bennett Jim Lewis

Time for Chuck Bennett and Jim Lewis to do some bridge building

Let's be clear: By "bridge building" I don't mean constructing a Third Bridge in Salem across the Willamette River. That project died last Monday night when the City Council voted 6-3 to kill it.  What I'm talking about in the title of this blog post is what happens next in Salem. Ideally, those fervently in favor of the now-defunct Salem River Crossing project and those fervently opposed to it will come together to work on ways to reduce rush hour congestion in the downtown area that don't involve spending upwards of half a billion dollars on another bridge.  This effort…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City Council Third Bridge

It took a village to stop the Third Bridge

After I watched the Salem City Council kill the Salem River Crossing or Third Bridge project last night, my first reaction was to feel deeply thankful toward the six councilors who did the right thing by saving Salem from this Billion Dollar Boondoggle. But with a bit more reflection, my thankfulness expanded to include many hundreds, in fact many thousands, of people who stopped the Third Bridge.  Most broadly -- and in some ways most importantly -- everybody who worked so hard to elect the six progressive councilors on the nine-member City Council. The Third Bridge would have continued on with…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge Tom Andersen

Killing the Third Bridge was a wise move

Anyone who doubts that the City Council did the right thing by killing the Third Bridge on a 6-3 vote last night should spend 10 minutes and watch Councilor Tom Andersen's eloquent explanation of why the Salem River Crossing project deserved to die. This video starts (hopefully) at the beginning of Andersen's remarks. He points out that the official bridge reports show that a Third Bridge wouldn't reduce congestion, would be environmentally unsound, would displace many homes and businesses, likely wouldn't stand up in a major earthquake, would require tolling on both the current bridges and new bridge, and would…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

The dirt on the missing Third Bridge dirt

If City Councilors want more reasons to vote NO at their meeting tonight on whether to keep the Salem River Crossing (Third Bridge) project alive, here's disturbing information on missing dirt from the area where the west bridgehead would be located.This morning I received this "dirt on the missing dirt" from a trusted source, who said: ----------------------------------------------- Here is documentation that the Salem River Crossing project management team is misleading the Salem City Council by withholding and misrepresenting information about the costs of the bridge and seismic safety.     What is the foundation of all bridge planning?  The ground…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Third Bridge

“Post-mortem” inquiry called for after Third Bridge dies

Obviously we can't be certain that the Salem River Crossing (or Third Bridge) project will die a well-deserved death tomorrow at the February 11 City Council meeting.  But since the six progressives on the nine-member Council all were elected after promising to fight what I like to call the Billion Dollar Boondoggle, smart money would bet on this draft letter being sent by the Mayor to the Federal Highway Administration and Oregon Department of Transportation on Tuesday.Download No Further Action PDF (City of Salem staff have another draft letter ready to go if, against all odds, the City Council were…
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Posted in2020 election Homeless

Seeing Salem’s homeless sleeping outside stirred up these feelings

Yesterday I walked around downtown Salem before and after my 6 pm Tai Chi class. On Court Street I saw several people lying on sidewalk benches, completely covered in gray blankets that I assume had been given out in anticipation of the next round of cold, snowy weather. On Commercial Street I saw others in sleeping bags lying on the sidewalk in the doorways of businesses that had closed for the day. My core feeling was, How can it be that the United States is so uncaring about citizens living on the street?  It just seems so wrong, so very…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Pelosi’s smirk made watching State of the Union worthwhile

I've never skipped a State of the Union address, but this year it crossed my mind. Well, just a few seconds of Trump's overly long and mostly boring speech made me glad that I watched it live. Nancy Pelosi's closed-eyes smirk of condescension, which was preceded by some eloquent eye-rolling, was a memorable moment. It followed Trump's ridiculous claim that the only thing standing between us and prosperity is... investigations into wrongdoing by Trump and his cohorts. “An economic miracle is taking place in the United States — and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics…
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Posted inCity of Salem Downtown Homeless

Salem’s homeless problem is hurting downtown businesses

Below you'll find a opinion piece about Salem's downtown homeless problem written by Carole Smith. She and Eric Kittleson live downtown and lease space to several Court Street businesses. So they have an up-close and personal perspective on how homeless people are impacting Salem's urban core. Smith submitted the piece as a guest opinion to the Statesman Journal, which declined to publish it. I have no idea why, since what she wrote is timely, provocative, and based on both her own direct experience and that of her tenants.  I'm also sharing a video Kittleson took on a Sunday morning around…
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