Posted inCitizen involvement City Council City of Salem

Human Rights Commission stand on library relocation rests on secular faith

I'm a proud atheist. But for 35 years I was religious, having been an active member of an Indian organization led by a guru considered to be God in human form. So I understand how powerful religious faith can be. I also know that secular forms of faith are equally powerful and deserve just as much respect.  In fact, more so, as I'll explain below. This is why I admire the stand of Salem's Human Rights Commission, which recently unanimously voted to oppose the City of Salem paying the Salem Alliance Church for use of a church-owned building to temporarily…
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Posted inBroadway Commons City of Salem

Human Rights Commission rejects plan for library to use church building

Thanks to quick work by staff of Salem's Human Rights Commission, today I got draft minutes of two meetings that I requested. This allows me to sound like CNN's Wolf Blitzer and intone, Breaking news! Happening now! Human Rights Commission says "No" to City officials' plan to lease space from the anti-gay Salem Alliance Church to temporarily house library. As noted in yesterday's blog post, "City officials may pay anti-gay church to house library," this controversial proposal was addressed by the LGBTQ Rights Task Force of the Human Rights Commission on June 26, and by the full Commission on July…
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Posted inBroadway Commons City of Salem

City officials may pay anti-gay church to house library

This seems horrible to me. How does it strike you? I've heard from several sources that officials at the City of Salem are seriously considering paying the Salem Alliance Church to use the old Capital Press building that the church owns as a temporary public library while the library building at the Civic Center undergoes renovations. Here's the problem with this: the Salem Alliance Church is notoriously anti-gay. Meaning, anti-homosexual, anti-LGBTQ, anti-anything that their archaic view of sexuality considers a sin. So if this ill-considered scheme comes to pass, taxpayer money would be going to an organization that flaunts the…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

City Council should stop library from discarding books needlessly

The Big Weed is up for discussion at next Monday's City Council meeting (July 8, 6 pm). Unfortunately, this agenda item isn't about a garden horror or a massive marijuana plant.  It concerns the needless removal of books from the Salem Public Library.  Jim Scheppke, who spent 20 years as the State Librarian for Oregon before he retired, is aghast at how Salem's library has been allowed to deteriorate. He's amassed a lot of convincing arguments, backed up by solid data, in hopes that even though the library's ill-considered book removal policy is shown as only an information item for…
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Posted inKate Brown Oregon politics Salem Reporter

Gov. Brown and Salem Reporter shine in climate bill saga

After being deeply upset with how Democrats and Republicans behaved in the walkout of GOP members of the state Senate over HB 2020, a cap and trade climate bill, it's great to find some bright spots in this saga -- Governor Kate Brown and Aubrey Wieber, a Salem Reporter journalist. Governor Kate Brown has earned back my admiration after she responded to the first May walkout of Republican senators by agreeing to kill two bills that were opposed by the GOP, being Democratic priorities  (a pro-vaccine bill and a gun control bill). I thought this bad move would encourage Republicans…
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Posted inOregon politics

Oregon democracy threatened by Senate GOP walkout

It wasn't pleasant, but I forced myself to read How Democracies Die by two professors of government at Harvard University, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.  This is a scary book that, when I read it, seemed like it contained warnings for the United States as a whole in our age of Trumpism, with Oregon being immune from the worst of the ways democracies die. But the current walkout of Senate Republicans from the state legislature is a clear and present danger to Oregon democracy. This was a message of the recent rally at the capitol by supporters of the climate…
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Posted inOregon politics

Salem Climate Rally — photos, video, commentary

Here's inspiring photos of the Climate Rally in support of HB 2020 that I took yesterday on the capitol steps, plus a video of Gov. Brown's remarks. Even though Democratic leaders have declared the bill to be dead, I and other supporters of reducing carbon pollution and creating renewal energy jobs still have hope. Senate Republicans need to end their walkout temper tantrum and vote on HB 2020, along with other legislation they're holding up.
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Posted inOregon politics

Climate bill is dead. So are Oregon Democrats, to me.

It's time for me to face reality. Democrats here in Oregon aren't willing to fight for what they believe in. So why should I remain an active Democrat? That's a question I'm grappling with after Governor Kate Brown, Senate President Peter Courtney, and other Democratic leaders in the state legislature unilaterally surrendered to Republicans on a top priority for Dems, HB 2020, a cap and trade bill that would have put Oregon in the forefront of efforts to combat the carbon pollution that is wreaking havoc on our planet. Shortly before noon today I arrived at the steps of the…
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Posted inUncategorized

City Council needs to start work on Climate Action Plan

Hopefully, tomorrow the Salem City Council will take a big environmental step forward by approving $50,000 in the FY 2020 budget (begins on July 1, 2019) to start work on a climate action plan. The $50,000 was discussed at length at the council's June 10 meeting. Councilor Tom Andersen made a motion to amend the proposed FY 2020 budget to include what amounts to a down payment on a full climate action plan, since $50,000 apparently wouldn't be enough to complete the plan. Draft minutes of the June 10 meeting show a curious division of votes on Andersen's motion. Four…
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Posted inOregon politics

Walkout of Senate GOP gives Oregon bragging rights

I'm trying to find a bright spot in the irritating walkout of eleven Republican members of the state Senate. They're opposed to a bill that has a pretty damn good rationale behind it: preserving our one and only Earth for human habitation.  But since these ignoramuses in the GOP view carbon pollution and global warming as a good thing -- plants grow faster! summer all year long! -- they're determined to give the finger to democracy and prevent a Senate vote on the Oregon Clean Jobs bill for as long as possible. About the only good thing I can find…
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Posted inOregon politics

Walkout of Senate Republicans shows weakness of Oregon Democrats

What a complete non-surprise. Eleven Republican members of the Oregon Senate have walked out to deny Democrats a quorum needed to pass House Bill 2020, much-needed legislation to reduce carbon pollution in this state.  Many, if not most, have travelled out of state, which puts them outside the reach of state troopers Governor Kate Brown has ordered to bring them back.  Back in May I predicted bad things would happen after GOP members of the Oregon Senate pulled the same stunt, minus the going out of state part. I was so irritated at how the Democrats caved, agreeing to kill…
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Posted inCity Council Steve Powers

City Manager Powers lying about Climate Action Plan

Infuriating. That's the least profane word I can come up with to describe how Steve Powers, Salem's City Manager, is acting toward a Climate Action Plan that is one of the City Council's priorities, yet Powers is doing his best to kill. Steve Powers In a staff report for Monday's City Council meeting, where the budget for the next fiscal year will be discussed, Powers describes the Climate Action Plan in a way that shows he is either astoundingly clueless about what it is, or he is deliberately lying.Download City of Salem Budget Supplemental Report Given what follows, lying seems…
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Posted inJobs Oregon politics

I hope the Clean Energy Jobs Bill makes me pay more at the pump

We Oregonians aren't paying enough for the gasoline that fuels our cars and trucks. Hopefully Oregon's Clean Energy Jobs Bill, also known as cap and trade, will pass in this legislative session and increase the state gasoline tax to a level that comes a heck of a lot closer to reflecting the long-term costs of the carbon pollution that is fueling global warming to increasingly dangerous levels. A recent story in the Portland Oregonian has some good news on this front: Almost three quarters of the revenues expected from the bill would come from increases in transportation fuel prices. The…
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Posted inProgressive Salem Salem-Keizer school district

School board election losses dismaying to progressives

About three weeks ago I was deeply upset when each of the Salem-Keizer school board candidates endorsed by Progressive Salem lost to conservative candidates. And not by a little. Marty Heyen defeated Raul Marquez 53% to 47%. Satya Chandragiri defeated David Salinas 52% to 48%. Danielle Bethell defeated Chuck Lee 54% to 46%. Sure, turnout was just 20% of registered voters. But it's hard for progressives like me to look upon the result of the May 21 Special District Election as anything but an ass-kicking by conservatives. I'm not sure why this happened. It's easier for me to come up…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Salem’s city officials ignore danger of global warming

Salem can be a deeply irritating place to live when a comparison to other cities in Oregon screams Salem sucks!  A notable example is how Portland, Corvallis, Eugene, and other cities all have climate action plans aimed at reducing greenhouse gas polllution, while Salem doesn't. Because of the leadership of the current progressive majority on the City Council, a draft greenhouse gas inventory for the Salem area has been developed, though.  Recently Tracy Loew of the Statesman Journal wrote a great story, "Salem's per capita tailpipe emissions highest among biggest Oregon cities." (title of online version) Here's how it starts…
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Posted inDowntown Salem Main Street Association

Salem could have a real downtown association soon

There's some great news in the May issue of the Salem Cherry Pits free newsletter (previously known as Downtown Cherry Pits; see here and here for past issues). There's an effort underway to form a real downtown association. Currently several groups claim to represent downtown, notably the Salem Main Street Association.  But as I've written about several times, that association -- referred to in Salem Cherry Pits as the Salem Lame Street Association  -- in no way represents downtown businesses and property owners. See: Salem Main Street Association is a failureHere's some problems with the Salem Main Street Association The…
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Posted inCity of Salem Peter Fernandez

Salem Public Works Director doubts science of climate change

A few days ago our local chapter of 350.org, 350 Salem OR, called out Peter Fernandez, the Public Works director of the City of Salem, for appearing to doubt the reality of human-caused climate change that is causing our one and only Earth to warm dramatically and dangerously. When 350 Salem OR said it is "very troubling" that Peter Fernandez is unwilling to embrace the clear scientific consensus that climate change is happening, we humans are causing it, and reducing carbon emissions is a necessity, that's an understatement. Fernandez oversees Public Works, which probably is the largest department in the City…
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Posted inCarole Smith Downtown Homeless

A perspective on how homeless people are hurting downtown

I've said it before, and I want to say it again: We've got to get over a reluctance to talk honestly about downtown's homeless problem. It's possible to both (1) feel compassion toward homeless people and (2) feel bad about how homeless people are making downtown Salem less pleasant for visitors, residents, and business owners. Downtown Court Street in the morning Yesterday Carole Smith, who lives downtown and owns property there, sent me the message I've shared below.   In an email to the Salem City Council, Smith describes how a prospective tenant backed out of signing a lease because…
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Posted inCity of Salem

Salem water getting $40 million ozone treatment system

Yesterday the Salem City Club learned how officials at the City of Salem are planning to prevent a repeat of last year's horrendous toxic algae infestation in the water supply. Horrendous, because city officials delayed notifying people about the cyanotoxins that had entered the water supply following a toxic algae bloom in Detroit Lake. This led to a lot of anxiety among both vulnerable populations and the rest of the citizenry that largely could have been avoided with more transparency from city staff. City Manager Steve Powers was appropriately contrite in his opening remarks, before he introduced the speakers who…
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Posted inKate Brown Oregon politics

Gov. Brown makes Oregon an anti-vaxx paradise

A few days ago I wrote "Oregon Dems surrender to Republicans like scared little mice." Now I'm even more irritated at what Governor Kate Brown and her spineless cronies in the state legislature (notably Sen. Peter Courtney and Rep. Tina Kotek) did -- needlessly killing much-needed bills to enhance vaccination rates and control guns in a misguided effort to entice Senate Republicans to end their short walkout, which denied a quorum in the Senate. I'll let excerpts from some newspaper stories do the explaining for why this was such a bad idea. I've boldfaced parts for emphasis. (1) Nigel Jaquiss'…
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