Posted inCitizen involvement City of Salem Comprehensive Plan

“Our Salem” workshop laid out an appealing vision for our city

Yesterday I came away more enthused than I expected about Salem's future, because there seemed to be widespread citizen agreement about how our city should grow in a fashion that improves quality of life. Last night I attended a City of Salem workshop at Pringle Hall that marks another phase of the Our Salem project aimed at updating our city's Comprehensive Plan. OK, that sounds geekily boring.  And as I sat at a table at the beginning of the workshop, listening to someone describe what sounded like an overly complex plan for how the two-hour meeting was supposed to go,…
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Posted inCity Council

Place your City Council bets on Sally Cook’s replacement

OK, so far as I know there's no betting odds on who will be chosen to replace Sally Cook on the Salem City Council.  But it's still entertaining to make predictions. Twelve people applied to be appointed to serve as the Ward 7 councilor for the remainder of Cook's term, which ends on December 31, 2020. One person dropped out, which left eleven. According to a City of Salem staff report, on October 10 the Board and Commission Appointments Committee met to discuss the applicants. They chose three to be interviewed at a special meeting of the City Council on…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

Salem River Crossing project officially dead, says ODOT

OK, this is akin to beating a dead horse twice, since I'd previously noted that the Oregon Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration had issued a "No Build" Record of Decision.  But today ODOT sent out a news release that deserves to be commemorated, given the excellent news that it contains. The Billion Dollar Boondoggle that would have saddled Salem with vastly increased transportation costs with no real benefit for downtown rush hour congestion is officially dead. The Salem River Crossing, or Third Bridge, was a terrible idea that took a long time to die. But thanks to steadfast…
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Posted inCity of Salem

Tell City officials you want Battle Creek Park to be left natural

As you can read below, the City of Salem is working on a master plan for Battle Creek Park, which now is undeveloped. Lora Meisner clued me in to what's going on with the 50+ acres. I've shared part of an email where she urges people to express their preference for Option 1: Habitat, since this fits best with the original purpose of this property after the City bought it -- flood control/stormwater retention. As Meisner says, it doesn't make sense to build large impervious features like a skate park and 60 car parking lot, given that this will lead…
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Posted inCity of Salem Trees

Seven strange things about the City of Salem’s “Urban Forestergate”

These days every scandalous revelation pertaining to public officials demands a name that ends in "gate." So I'm calling the tell-all report of an applicant for the City of Salem's (Oregon) Urban Forester position Urban Forestergate. Yeah, not very creative. But it works for me. Yesterday I shared the applicant's report of a three-day visit to Salem from New York at the City of Salem's expense in "Devastating critique of Salem's Urban Forester program by a job applicant." Today I talked with this person by phone and got additional details about their job interview/audition experience in Salem. I found myself…
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Posted inCity of Salem Peter Fernandez Trees

Devastating critique of Salem’s Urban Forester program by a job applicant

It's an open secret to those of us who live here that the City of Salem doesn't treat our town's trees well, to put it mildly. But I was pleasantly surprised that a highly qualified person who applied for the City's Urban Forester position saw through the bullshit of City officials during a three-day job application visit and came to the same conclusion. You can read that person's critique below. It's devastating. Hopefully it will wake up the City Manager (Steve Powers), the Mayor (Chuck Bennett), and city councilors to the fact that Peter Fernandez, the Public Works Director, has…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Warren Binford talks about horror of migrant child detention center

It wasn't the cheeriest City Club talk I've ever been to, but it was one of the most important. Warren Binford, from my seat at a City Club table Today Warren Binford, a Willamette University law professor and children's rights expert, spoke about the history of child separations at the Mexican border and her four day visit to the Clint, Texas Border Patrol Facility. Binford told us that the Clint facility, better termed a child warehouse, was built for about 100 adults, yet housed around 400 children.  When asked "How have you been treated," they started to cry. Binford spoke…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump

I was wrong about the wisdom of impeachment. Go for it, Dems!

Time in this age of Trumpism is a lot like "dog years." It passes seven times (at least) more quickly than what I've been used to in every other presidential administration. Only last Sunday -- which now seems like two months ago, rather than only two days -- I was opining to a friend at our usual get-together at West Salem's Urban Grange coffee house that I hoped Democrats would take the advice of Nancy Pelosi and make the 2020 election an impeachment of sorts. I said the Dems should tell voters, "Here's the horrible stuff that Trump has done.…
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Posted inOregon politics

Oregon Republican Party platform showcases GOP craziness

I'm a firm believer that Republicans here in Oregon are just about as extreme as those, say, in Alabama. Members of the GOP in our state often just try to look moderate, because they know that with only 26% of registered voters in Oregon identifying as Republican, it's an uphill battle for them to win statewide elections. (Democrats are at 35% and Non-affiliated are at 32%). But I think Oregon Republicans should be proud of their extremism. Rock on, crazy conservatives! Don't hide your right-wingless. Flaunt it! To that end, I'm pleased to share some highlights -- OK, for many,…
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Posted inHomeless

Why homelessness is an absurd problem, philosophically

Being human is tough. We're subjective creatures, as are all other animals. Yet unlike our fellow primates with whom we're closely related, us Homo sapiens possess a strong capacity for objectivity -- seeing the world from a perspective largely, though not completely, distinct from our personal viewpoint. Many social problems are difficult to perceive clearly given the often-blurry double vision that comes with our twin capacity for empathetic subjectivity and detached objectivity. Homelessness is one such problem. I got to thinking about this after finishing a book by philosopher Thomas Nagel today, The View From Nowhere. Nagel is more famous…
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Posted in2020 election City Council

City Council shake-up: Sally Cook and Brad Nanke aren’t running again

Today brought some interesting, though not hugely surprising, local political news. The Salem Reporter broke the story that Sally Cook has decided to resign her Ward 7 City Council seat following the death of her husband, Jason. Sally Cook plans to resign her seat on Salem City Council soon, she informed City Manager Steve Powers on Thursday. The 39-year-old councilor said the sudden death of her husband three months ago and reality of being a single mother of two led to her decision. “I need to be able to spend time with my family. It really is a large commitment,…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Political moderation has a place in Salem. So does extremism.

As the saying goes, there's a time and place for everything. Like, being a political moderate. Or, a political extremist. It doesn't make sense to always embrace one or the other.  Sure, it sounds good to hear politicians say, "I want to work with those on the other side of the aisle."  But sometimes those on the other end of the political spectrum aren't interested in compromise and moderation. Barack Obama found this out when Republicans in Congress opposed almost everything he put forward. For example, a lot of time was wasted trying to get the GOP on board with…
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Posted inDonald Trump

Trump is best mocked, not ignored

Donald Trump is a joke of a president. Except, he isn't a funny joke. He's pathetic. Which makes him eminently mockable, because he's clueless about his obvious weaknesses, failings, and insecurities.  If Trump had even a smidgen of self-awareness, if he showed even the slightest bit of compassion for other people, if he even occasionally manifested respect for truth -- then my compassionate Buddha-nature (slim though it is) would look upon Trump somewhat more favorably than I view him now. But since Trump has never shown me anything but incessant narcissism, incompetence, and non-stop lying, I've concluded that mocking him…
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Posted inDowntown Homeless

Check out the City of Salem’s new “sit-lie” proposed ordinance

Something needs to be done about homeless people sleeping on sidewalks during the day, and leaving their belongings on sidewalks. The City of Salem has come up with a proposed approach that seems quite reasonable. Because there's been discussion on Facebook and elsewhere that this amounts to a criminalization of being homeless -- which isn't true -- I'm hoping that people will educate themselves about the proposed ordinance before rejecting it as a bad idea. Below I've copied in the questions and answers from a City of Salem web page, "Salem responds to growing concerns of activities in public right…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump

Donating to Elizabeth Warren is my way of dealing with Trump’s craziness

I watched some of Trump's hugely insane press conference after the G-7 summit on my iPhone. It was deeply disturbing. He made just about zero sense, blabbing on and on, for example, about Putin being kicked out of the G-8 because Obama felt something or other -- completely failing to recognize that Putin was ousted because he took over Crimea in defiance of international law. Then Trump blabbed on and on about how wonderful it was that the United States was extracting more oil, gas, and coal from the ground after being asked about his skepticism regarding climate change, and…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Dear Diary, Trump is batshit crazy. (Sorry for insult, bats)

Dear Diary, first, I realize I'm not actually writing in a diary, but I use my blogs as a kind-of-diary, because that way I can remember really important stuff that happens in my life.  Like today, it dawned on me more than ever before that we've got an exceedingly crazy guy occupying the White House. There's not much of a chance that Donald Trump will get saner before he's removed from office.  Still, just in case today marks the high-water mark for Trump's ascent, or descent, into Unheard Of Presidential Incompetence, I want to jot down what happened this week.…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Rollings resigns from Salem Human Rights Commission in protest of temporary library debacle

Bad decisions have consequences. Daniel Rollings, a member of Salem's Human Rights Commission, resigned his position today after City officials ignored the unanimous statement of the Commission calling for a location other than the Capital Press building owned by the Salem Alliance Church to be used as a temporary public library.                                                          Rollings testifying against using the church-owned building  The Human Rights Commission took that action because the church denies LGBTQ rights, and…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City of Salem

My frustration with City of Salem public records requests

"It shouldn't be this difficult." That's what runs through my mind, too often, when it comes to getting public records from the City of Salem. (Oregon variety; maybe the Massachusetts Salem can conjure up a spell and get records to requestors more easily, given their witch heritage.) Here's a chronology of my current frustration: July 29, 2019. Request submitted. I fill out a Public Records Request form, scan it, and email it to the City Recorder's office, which oversees requests. I ask for: All documents, emails, and other communications relating to the use of the Capital Press building owned by…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

A Trump recession would be utterly unsurprising

This was a nasty day on Wall Street. Also, on Main Street, for anyone who owns stocks or mutual funds. A 3% drop in a single trading session would grab one's attention under any circumstances, as an iPhone screenshot shows. However, these aren't normal economic times. Nothing is normal, so long as Donald Trump is president. Which makes it more likely that a recession is on the horizon, given that everything Trump touches turns to shit. Economic analysts dance around the issue of Trump's massive incompetence by saying things like "trade wars are undermining corporate confidence." A more honest statement…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump National politics

Let’s thank these Salem contributors to the Trump re-election campaign

We here at the world headquarters of the Salem Political Snark blog -- located, appropriately enough, in Salem, Oregon -- strongly believe in citizens being actively involved in politics. One great way to do this is by contributing to political campaigns. So when a fellow patriot shared with me a spreadsheet of Salem donors to President Trump's re-election campaign, information that is publicly available via the Federal Election Commission, I had two strong reactions. (1) I'm so clueless about spreadsheets, it's damn impressive that someone was able to combine donations to the Trump Make American Great Again Committee and the Donald…
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