Posted inCity of Salem Land use Smart growth

Our local transportation planning organization is fiddling while carbon emissions burn us up

It's embarrassing that the SKATS (Salem-Keizer Area Transportation Study) body, which focuses on transportation planning in our area, has some global warming deniers on it who are mightily resisting connecting a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions with how people should get around via vehicles, mass transit, bicycles, and whatever.  Salem-Keizer Area Transportation Study (SKATS) is the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Salem-Keizer area. A MPO is a federally mandated body for any urban area over 50,000 in population. The SKATS MPO is directed by a Policy Committee composed of elected representatives from the cities of Keizer, Salem and Turner, Marion…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Truth isn’t dead, though Trump wants to kill it

Great timing. This morning I'd just finished Michiko Kakutani's book, "The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump," when a New York Times story popped into my attention: "Giuliani Says 'Truth Isn't Truth' in Defense of Trump's Legal Strategy." Here's an excerpt from the story, which reports on today's Meet the Press interview between Chuck Todd and Giuliani. Mr. Giuliani replied he would not be rushed into having Mr. Trump testify “so that he gets trapped into perjury.” “And when you tell me that, ‘You know, he should testify because he’s going to tell the truth…
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Posted inChamber of Commerce Third Bridge

Salem Chamber of Commerce still pushing billion dollar bridge boondoggle

Yesterday someone sent me a couple of pages from a recent Salem Area Chamber of Commerce publication that boasted about them adding 188 new members last April, which is going to enable the Chamber to keep pushing for a new bridge across the Willamette River. Download Salem Chamber of Commerce pages Here's a close-up of the highlighted part. The payroll tax would have allowed the Salem bus service, Cherriots, to offer evening and weekend bus service. Here's how I described the ill-considered opposition to this tax in an October 2015 blog post about the ballot measure. Opponents of the payroll…
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Posted inSalem Reporter

I report on a talk with a reporter from Salem Reporter

This afternoon I spent an enjoyable hour chatting with Troy Brynelson, one of the Salem Reporter's fresh journalistic faces in this town. Troy got to the Beanery in downtown Salem before I did, and sent me a helpful email saying he was wearing a green shirt, but because I'd carefully studied the photo above, my keen senior citizen eyes were able to pick him out from the three or so people in the coffeehouse when I arrived.  Early on, I assessed Troy for possible mental illness after he told me that he has a journalism degree from the University of…
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Posted inChamber of Commerce Larry Tokarski Salem Reporter

First meeting of Salem Reporter was with business leaders. Bad optics.

I was pleased to be one of the first to fork out $100 for a year's subscription to the Salem Reporter, a new online news source headed up by Les Zaitz that will start publication in September. Right after I subscribed, I emailed Zaitz and the three reporters he's hired, telling them how disappointed I've been that the Statesman Journal (Salem's daily newspaper, owned by Gannett) hasn't run stories that challenge the Powers That Be in this town. I’ll end by observing that in recent years I’ve been frustrated by the failure of the Statesman Journal to do genuine investigative…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Gator Gaynor

Will Alex Jones follow Gator & Denise into Salem talk show oblivion?

Salem is a liberal-leaning city. But local radio stations, with the notable exception of KMUZ, tend to tilt decidedly rightward. KSLM and KYKN seem determined to compete on who can air the most conservative craziness, as I blogged about last April in "KSLM is trying to out-right-wing-wacko KYKN." A show featuring two local conservative commentators, Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke (wife of Salem City Councilor Brad Nanke) has disappeared from the KYKN lineup. I emailed KYKN management, asking why this happened, but never got a response. It could have had something to do with Gaynor and Nanke mocking the Parkland,…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

My Google Images guide to the best 2020 Democratic presidential candidate

Today my habitual Donald Trump depression lifted a bit when I watched Chuck Todd interview the Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas about who Moulitsas thought would be the best Democrat to run against Trump in 2020.  I agreed with Markos (his last name is too tough for me to spell repeatedly) that Bernie Sanders' time had come and gone, though he'd have a role to play in the next presidential election. They joked that Markos would pay for that assessment with a flurry of nasty comments on his web site from fanatic "Bernie bros."  Markos then rattled off the names of…
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Posted inSalem Reporter Salem Weekly Statesman Journal

“Salem Reporter” is a new Tokarski-funded online news site

Here's some interesting news about the news industry in Salem. Read all about it in a Poynter story, "Salem, Oregon is getting a new online news site. 'I'm pretending there's no other media there.'" And they already have a website! Leslie Zaitz is the publisher and editor of the Malheur Enterprise in Vale, Oregon. Larry Tokarski is a businessman and real estate developer with strong connections to Salem.  On Sept. 17, the Salem Reporter will go live with Zaitz as CEO and editor and three full-time reporters who will cover “local government, schools, business, nonprofits and state government,” according to a press…
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Posted inChamber of Commerce City Council Land use

Poetic goodbye to Old Lindbeck Orchard shows what’s wrong with Salem development

I'm sharing a moving opinion piece by Jane Wille in today's Statesman Journal because we need more poetic feeling and less financial greed here in Salem. As you'll read below, Wille is saddened by the loss of the Old Lindbeck Orchard property in West Salem, which she says is to become high-density retirement housing. Last year the Salem Breakfast on Bikes blogger reported that it looked like a fenced gated community apartment complex was planned for the property. This supposedly is progress. I'm not so sure. After Wille's piece, you can read the comment I left on the Statesman Journal…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Police facility

How did the Salem police facility cost balloon 36% in just 18 months?

Last night the Salem City Council, meeting as the Urban Renewal Agency board, failed to ask the right questions about a massive cost overrun on the not-yet-built new police facility. This failure was across the board. Council progressives didn't ask the right questions. Neither did the council conservatives. The Mayor didn't ask the right questions. And City of Salem staff sure didn't either. So I'm going to present some key questions that went unasked.  What bothered me the most about the approval of $2 million in urban renewal funds to fill a hole in the police facility budget wasn't so…
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Posted inCity of Salem Police facility

Three reasons City Council should think twice about adding $2 million to police facility budget

Nine days ago I argued that the Salem City Council should cut costs to bridge a funding gap facing the yet-to-be-built police facility planned for just north of downtown. As noted above, in the $63.9 million plan 9.18% was budgeted for escalation, meaning construction inflation. This totaled $4,503,000. There also was a 9% contingency line item of $4,907,000. So $9,410,000 was set aside for construction cost increases and unforeseen contingencies. It sure seems this should have been enough, so why are City officals asking for $2 million on top of the $9,410,000? (Note: in my blog post I observed that if…
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Posted inStatesman Journal

USA Today Premium Editions a new Gannett scam

Oh, I'm so (not) thrilled to learn via a USA Today postcard that came in the mail today that, as of August 1, 2018, my Statesman Journal newspaper subscription will be charged $3 each time an unwanted Premium Edition is delivered to me.  This is the newest scam being foisted upon us Gannett subscribers, who, here in Salem, Oregon and I presume elsewhere, have had to endure massive subscription rate increases while the quality of the reporting in our local paper steadily declines.  Here's my blog posts about the rate increases:Salem Statesman Journal seems to be scamming subscribersStatesman Journal outrage:…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Today Trump crossed the line into treason

I'm a lifelong political junkie. In eighth grade, I remember being the first name in a Hines-Hart poll that asked my fellow classmates whether they thought we were heading for a nuclear war, the poll being taken in the first part of 1962, six months or so before the super-scary Cuban missile crisis involving Russia and the United States.  (Most thought a war would happen. Thankfully, it didn't.) But I can't recall any presidential action that comes close to the treasonous behavior Donald Trump exhibited at his press conference with Russian president Vladimir Putin today.  Treason is a shocking word…
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Posted inCity of Salem Police facility

Salem police facility should cut costs, not use urban renewal funds

A headline in a recent Statesman Journal story didn't tell the entire truth about a cost overrun on the $61.8 million police facility Salem voters approved in a May 2017 bond measure election. The headline, "Salem officials seek extra $2 million as police HQ construction costs rise," makes it sound as if construction cost inflation is the reason City officials are wanting $2 million to be allocated from urban renewal funds to fund additional police facility costs. But there already was $4.5 million in the police facility budget earmarked for 9.2% worth of cost escalation due to construction inflation. So…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Peter Strzok is an FBI hero. Republicans who attacked him today are cowards.

Today I got obsessed. Then, angry. After that, more obsessed. And then, angrier still.  What got my emotions so fired up was FBI deputy assistant director Peter Strzok's compelling testimony before a House hearing.   The Republicans in charge of the hearing convened by the House Judiciary and Oversight committees sought to undermine the Mueller investigation by making Strzok into a rogue anti-Trump FBI agent, but anyone with an open mind who watched this debacle would have to conclude that they failed abysmally.  Strzok is notorious for exchanging text messages with another FBI employee, Lisa Page, with whom he was…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Liberals, let’s not despair. There’s hope beyond the Supreme Court.

Driving home from my Tai Chi class in downtown Salem, usually after 6 pm I listen to MSNBC on my car's satellite radio. But when I tuned in today I heard President Trump's voice, announcing his second Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh.  I quickly switched channels. The Classic Vinyl station is a good escape for me. I lucked out and heard John Lennon singing "Give Peace a Chance."  Way better than hearing Trump blab on about Kavanaugh's credentials. Ordinarily I'd be interested in listening to a president announce who is being nominated for a Supreme Court seat, but Trump's presidency…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Donald Trump

Salem progressives: Depressing national news should fire us up for local changes

Nationally, it's been a depressing week for progressives like me. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse with 5-4 Supreme Court decisions that ratified Trump's travel ban, gave a green light to gerrymandering, and trashed public employee unions, Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement today.  That gives Trump another crack at appointing a highly conservative justice who would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, thereby allowing states to make abortion illegal. Which surely would happen in many red states. Also, a compliant Supreme Court could refuse to put any check on Trump's authoritarian desires, making the United States a…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Land use

Costco hopes to come to south Salem over neighborhood opposition

It's an all-too-familiar theme here in Salem: people feeling powerless about unwelcome development in their neighborhood that they feel is being pushed upon them by forces they can't control. Before sharing photos of what's planned for the new shopping center where Costco will be the dominant presence, I wanted to show the most surprising aspect of the meeting. Empty chairs. This reflects the failure of Costco Wholesale and PacTrust real estate representatives to have the guts to stand up in front of concerned neighbors and answer their questions about why it makes sense to plunk a gigantic big box store…
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Posted inCity of Salem Land use Trees

Clear-cut of 27 acre urban forest in south Salem makes neighbors angry

So how would you feel if you lived next to 27 acres of untouched forest land just outside the Salem city limits, and one day logging equipment rolls in to clear-cut all of the trees -- firs, white oaks, other species? And when you asked someone in charge why this was being done, they reportedly said, "I'm logging it for timber." Except, it turns out that this really isn't true, because a 46 acre, 212 lot subdivision is planned for the property that's north of Robins Lane SE and west of the I-5 freeway. To cap it off, you later…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Trump tears up documents that have to be pieced together. Wow.

The horror show that is Trump's presidency features daily episodes of astounding corruption, immorality, ignorance, and narcissism. But a Politico story I came across this afternoon, "Meet the guys who tape Trump's papers back together," somehow filled me with more of a mixture of disgust and amazement than countless other Trumpian tales -- even including his astounding tweet storm against Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and his decision to remove the United States from a previously agreed-to  Group of Seven joint statement.  Behold the antics of the fool who occupies the Oval Office: Solomon Lartey spent the first five months…
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