Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

Here’s some of what I told the KATU reporter about the Salem data center that didn’t make it into her story

Having done quite a few interviews with local television news reporters over the years, I've learned that I should feel fortunate if a few seconds of my much longer brilliant observations on some subject make it into the televised story. After all, they only have a few minutes to tell the entire story, and I'm just a small part of that much bigger picture. So one of the last things I said to Jennifer Singh, the KATU (Portland) reporter who interviewed me yesterday about a major new development in the Salem data center saga, was something like, I really enjoyed…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

Salem data center’s three-year property tax abatement seems suspicious

Verrus, the corporation wanting to build a 75 acre, $5.1 billion data center at the Mill Creek Corporate Center in Salem, has already received a three-year property tax abatement. Meaning, if the data center is built, for three years neither the City of Salem nor other taxing districts would receive any property tax revenue from the project. However, there's a special meeting of the Salem City Council next Monday, August 3, where a moratorium on data centers will be discussed. If this applies to the Verrus project, the property tax abatement may be a moot point. Still, I want to…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

Opposition to Salem data center is justified, but shouldn’t be wild-eyed crazy

Kudos to the Salem Reporter for providing live updates on the City Council meeting underway at the moment (9;30 pm), having started at 6 pm with a packed house, drawn by an agenda item about the five billion dollar Verrus data center planned for the Mill Creek Corporate Center. The council president, Linda Nishioka, said they expected five hours of public testimony. Most of it will be in opposition to the data center. Which is to be expected, since nationally about 70% of Americans are against them, with Republicans, Democrats, and independents all on the same page on this issue.…
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Posted inDonald Trump

Trump gives boring speech at White House Correspondents’ Dinner

I can't stand Trump. But usually my anger at his antics keeps me interested in what he's saying. Last night was different. His hour long speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner was so boring, it should be sold as a sleep aid. Thankfully, I'd recorded it on CSPAN. So after twenty minutes or so of watching this Lesson in How to Make Your Audience Wish They Were Watching Paint Dry Instead of You, I started pressing the 30 second advance on my remote in a vain attempt to find some genuine humor or even just some fresh insults. Didn't work.…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

How to comment on the Salem data center proposal (and make your comment count)

We all want to be heard, listened to, taken seriously. But when it comes to commenting on a development project that falls under land use, zoning, and similar sorts of rules, some usual tendencies should be kept in check. Like getting too emotional. And being too general. Both of which I'm prone to, as most of us are. I understand why so many people oppose the Oakline at Mill Creek data center planned to be built in the Mill Creek Corporate Center. Often this stems from a hatred of AI, artificial intelligence, and from horror stories regarding data centers elsewhere…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

Salem data center encountering same resistance as data centers elsewhere

It's a tough time for a corporation seeking to build an AI data center anywhere in the United States. Resistance is stiffening. So it's no wonder that Oakline at Mill Creek, the data center Verrus is proposing to build here in Salem, is trying to project a warm and fuzzy image. This is a tongue-in-cheek editing (by an AI, naturally)  someone sent me of the Verrus mockup of what the data center would look like. The deer peacefully grazing on the grass in front of the building is a nice touch. How noisy could the data center be if deer…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

I urge Salem City Council to rule on Betsy Vega’s qualification to be a Ward 6 city councilor

Here's my open letter, which will become an open email, to the nine members of Salem's City Council. My subject is whether Betsy Vega meets the requirements in the city charter to be a city councilor. *************************************************************** Dear Mayor Hoy and councilors Paul Tigan, Linda Nishioka, Shane Matthews, Deanna Gwyn, Irvin Brown, Mai Vang, Vanessa Nordyke, and Micki Varney: As you're aware, the City of Salem has issued a statement regarding Betsy Vega's eligibility to be on the November 2026 General Election ballot after she was certified as the winner of the Ward 6 city council race in the May…
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Posted inCity of Salem Data centers Environment

Data center proposed for Salem has both potential benefits and problems

Like most things in life of this sort, a data center proposed to be built on 75 acres in Salem's Mill Creek Corporate Center is more complex than avid proponents and opponents are willing to admit. Depending on who is speaking for or against the project, Oakline at Mill Creek would either be a boon to Salem's economy and tax base, or a giveaway to a giant corporation that will wreak havoc on its neighborhood and the environment. (Caption under image above says Digital rendering shown for illustrative purposes only – subject to change.) According to a Salem Reporter story…
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Posted inDonald Trump International issues

Trump is tolling the Strait of Hormuz to prevent Iran from tolling the Strait of Hormuz

I just checked. Sadly, The Onion satirical news site doesn't seem to have a story yet about Trump announcing today that he plans to charge ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz a 20% toll after the United States takes control of the Strait, because Trump is upset that Iran has been seeking to charge ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz a smaller toll when they had control of the Strait. This absurdity would be funny if it wasn't so deadly serious. After all, Trump's Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said just a few weeks ago: No country is…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Here’s what ChatGPT says about whether Betsy Vega is qualified to be a Salem city councilor

In my previous post I criticized the legal opinion by Eugene attorney Truman Stone of whether Betsy Vega meets the qualifications to be a Salem city councilor following her victory over Ward 6 incumbent Mai Vang in the May 19 primary election. My main concern was that Stone downplayed the language in Section 25 of the city charter that says: A councilor shall have resided in the ward the councilor represents during the 12 months immediately before being elected or appointed to the office. Stone considered that domicile was the correct term for judging whether Vega met that residency requirement,…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

City officials ignored Salem charter in wrongly qualifying Betsy Vega as Ward 6 city councilor

When I learned today that the City of Salem had issued a public statement about a decision that Betsy Vega was qualified to serve as the Ward 6 city councilor despite a challenge by Paige Barton, the campaign manager for incumbent councilor Mai Vang, who Vega defeated, I was surprised. After all, Barton had presented evidence that Vega (photo above)  hadn't lived in Ward 6 for the twelve months prior to the election -- regardless of whether "election" means the May 19, 2026 primary election at which Vega got over 50% of the votes, or the November 3, 2026 general…
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Posted inDonald Trump International issues

Trump screws up World Cup soccer by interfering in red card decision

I should have known. Not to say to people, "I'm enjoying the World Cup, in part because soccer is one place where Trump isn't mentioned." Except now he is, having interfered in FIFA's, the soccer (football to the rest of the world) federation's, decision to issue a red card to a star American player that disqualified him from the United States team's match in the round of 16 against Belgium tomorrow. Trump screws up everything. So I guess it isn't surprising that he has screwed up the World Cup. It's just another reason for the rest of the world to…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Patriotism means seeing the United States as it is — both flawed and fabulous

I don't have an American flag. I'll stand for the Pledge of Allegiance but I don't say the words. For me the Fourth of July means our dog is going to be scared by fireworks, nothing more. I'm proud to have never served in the military, having gotten a high lottery number in Vietnam War days. Yet I consider myself patriotic. Not because I think the United States is the best country in the world. Because I love our country in spite of its many flaws. Which I'm confident is how non-Americans view their own countries: they love India, Brazil,…
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