Posted inCity of Salem Police facility

New police facility doesn’t fit with City of Salem “North Downtown Plan”

Here's another reason to vote against Measure 24-420, the second-try $62 million police facility bond measure on the May 2017 ballot: Building a police facility in the north downtown area (on the old DeLon/O'Brien auto dealership site) goes against longstanding plans for how this area should be developed. Salem Can Do Better lays out four other good reasons to vote NO, but this is a fairly fresh idea that just came to light for me.  I've heard criticisms of putting a large 115,000 square foot tax-exempt police facility on a prime piece of downtown land. But until someone mailed me several…
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Posted inDaniel Benjamin Donald Trump

Daniel Benjamin looks on as black guy gets threatened at Trump rally

If this is how ex-Salem city councilor Daniel Benjamin is working on rehabilitating his image after being unanimously censured by the Ciry Council for racial insensitivity on Facebook, he needs to rethink his approach.  Below is a video of a recent pro-Trump rally at the Capitol that drew counter-protesters to a Stand For Love rally. A Statesman Journal story, "Trump rally, protests turn violent at State Capitol," describes what's shown in the video: Cameron Whitten, a Portland activist, being threatened, cursed at, and generally treated nastily by the Trump supporters. Cameron Whitten, 25, live streamed the environment leading up to the…
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Posted inCommunity roast

Salem should have an annual political roast: “A Mingling of the Tribes”

Nationally, politics is really divisive. Less so in Oregon. Here in Salem, we're kind of at a middling state of political tension. Intense nastiness rarely is overt, but under the surface irritations fester. Conservatives, progressives, and everybody in-between (or something else) never are going to hold hands and sing kumbaya together.  But I've got a more realistic goal: Local politicians and other community leaders get together annually for a good-hearted roast of each other and, equally importantly, themselves.  A couple of things would be essential for this to be a success. #1, a copious amount of alcohol. Beer, wine, mixed drinks.…
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Posted inStatesman Journal

Salem Statesman Journal seems to be scamming subscribers

I've been a Statesman Journal subscriber for 40 years. Recently I got a notice that my 7-day subscription price will go up from $36/month to $41/month. At first that didn't bother me. Yeah, it's a 14% increase in an economy where inflation is running under 3% a year. And I was paying only $205 a year back in 2009, which translates into a Statesman Journal subscription price of $17/month.  So that's a 140% subscription increase over eight years, an average of 17.5% a year.  I was curious to see if the $41/month our subscription was going to cost starting in…
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Posted inPolice facility

Four reasons to vote NO on Measure 24-420, the second-try Salem police facility bond

Today I updated the Salem Can Do Better web page to reflect our new campaign: urging a NO vote on the $62 million police facility bond measure on the May ballot. Because even though the rejection of last November's hugely overpriced $82 million bond measure forced City officials to reduce the size and cost of the proposed police facility -- a win for Salem citizens -- the $62 million second-try bond still suffers from some major flaws: Notably, (1) an excessively high cost per square foot, and (2) a continued failure to realize that saving the lives of everybody at City…
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Posted inChuck Bennett City of Salem

I won the Tree City USA photo contest! Mayor Bennett won’t like my acceptance speech.

Woo-hoo! My poignant photo of a citizen's flower memorial placed on a stump belonging to one of the U.S. Bank trees that were needlessly cut down in 2013 won the City of Salem's Tree City USA photo contest. Well, let's say that I'm virtually sure that I won, given the announcement on a rather obscure Facebook page belonging to the City, City of Salem Public Works Water.  Since my photo was the largest, and my name was mentioned first, I'll accept a win on behalf of the five beautiful Japanese Zelkovas that were killed for no good reason by clueless…
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Posted inHomeless

Straight talk about Salem’s homeless problem: answer is more money

Yesterday I learned a lot about our local homeless problem via a Salem City Club program, "A Profile of Salem's Homeless Population: Our Unique Challenges."  Jimmy Jones (Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency) and Ron Hays (Community Resource Trust) presented a lot of interesting information about how many people are homeless in Salem/Marion County, and why they're in this dire situation. I'll share some of those facts below.  First, though, I'll get to the bottom line of what I grasped from the talks by Jones and Hays, and some follow-up Googling into the broader question of what really works to help…
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Posted inCity Council

How will Chris Hoy’s victory affect the Salem City Council?

It was a happy night for Salem progressives yesterday. Chris Hoy won the special election for the Ward 6 City Council seat left vacant by Daniel Benjamin's resignation last year. Hoy's large margin of victory over the other candidates -- including Greggery Peterson, the "establishment" pick endorsed by current Mayor Chuck Bennett and previous Mayor Anna Peterson -- was aided by the enthusiastic support of volunteers from Progressive Salem, who put in a lot of time canvassing for Hoy. Here's a photo of the Hoy election night party at La Margarita Express, courtesy of a Facebook post by Geoff James.…
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Posted inDaniel Benjamin Public Safety

Daniel Benjamin’s right-wing “compassion.” No sidewalks in your part of Salem? Just move.

A couple of weeks ago Mary Nikas shared this photo in a post on the Salem City Council Facebook page (a private page which isn't associated with the City of Salem). She said: "Photo taken this morning on Oakhill Road in SE Salem. Can we start spending our community development money on sidewalks now, please?!" When I saw the photo of a woman having to ride an electric wheelchair in the road, I thought This is terrible, Salem needs sidewalks everywhere so people can get around safely.  Just about everyone who left comments on the post felt the same way. But…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City Council

City of Salem strategic planning effort seems to be going backward

Showing that I'm either (1) crazy, (2) got too much time on my hands, (3) a glutton for punishment, or (4) a dedicated citizen activist blogger (I like this choice!), I just spent two hours of my remaining lifetime watching a Salem City Council work session on its strategic planning effort that was streamed live on Facebook. One of the most interesting comments came from Mayor Chuck Bennett when he said, "I'm tired of planning" and "We don't need to sit around and talk about it." Understand: these sentiments were expressed during a meeting of City officials who have been…
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Posted inCity Council Gator Gaynor

Salem right-wing talk show hosts Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke decry Inclusive City resolution

Last Monday the Salem City Council unanimously approved an Inclusive City resolution after hearing highly emotional, and also highly reasoned, testimony from 45 citizens -- all but two of whom supported the resolution. Person after person talked about the fear being experienced by both undocumented and documented immigrants after Trump announced stepped-up deportation efforts. They urged passage of the resolution to show these immigrants that Salem cares about them and will support them. But as I blogged about in "Citizens strongly support Salem 'Inclusive City' resolution. Conservatives not so much." there was both subtle and not-so-subtle resistance to the resolution…
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Posted inCity Council

Citizens strongly support Salem “Inclusive City” resolution. Conservative city councilors, not so much.

I hugely enjoyed watching a passionate parade of people testify in support of an Inclusive City resolution at last night's Salem City Council meeting. (An "Inclusive City" is a lot like a "Sanctuary City," but not quite, for reasons I'm unclear about.) Download Resolution 2017-22 Councilor Cara Kaser said she counted 45 people who testified. I'm pretty sure only two opposed the resolution. The rest talked forcefully and eloquently about the danger, fear, stress, anxiety, and uncertainty caused by President Trump's misguided efforts to build a wall and kick out undocumented Latinos who are already in this country, most of…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Police facility

Why I’m urging a NO vote on the new Salem police facility plan

I'm a positive guy. My wife often says, "You don't worry enough." (She does much of my worrying for me, like whether I'm eating enough cruciferous vegetables.) So I would have much preferred to say Yes to the second-try $62 million City of Salem police facility plan than No.  But I can't do this. Because I wouldn't be able to live with myself, and I'm not aware of any way to move out of my own mind. I led the fight against Measure 24-399, the first-try $82 million plan that was defeated by voters last November. So it made sense…
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Posted inCity Council Police facility

I’m trying to stop the City Council from making a big mistake on a new police facility plan

Here's a little 2,000 + word message, which some might call a rant, that I just emailed to Mayor Bennett, City Manager Powers, Police Chief Moore, city councilors, and other City of Salem officials. I'm trying to help them understand why what the City Council seems poised to do about a PLAN B for a new Police Department headquarters is the wrong way to go. This is one blunt part of my message: IMPORTANT: Keep in mind that the John Hawkins-led group, mostly composed of conservatives and “Powers That Be” types, recommended at the previous Council work session that a proposal for a…
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Posted inChamber of Commerce

Chamber of Commerce’s Create Jobs PAC late on filing penalty for late filings

A sharp-eyed citizen who, like me, loves political irony sent me this screenshot of a transaction filed by the Salem Chamber of Commerce's Create Jobs PAC. This is public information available by searching the Secretary of State's ORESTAR system. As noted in red, on January 18, 2017 the Create Jobs PAC filed a transaction report about a $60 payment to the Secretary of State for penalties assessed against the Create Jobs PAC for late filings. These penalties totaled $4575.05, as reported in a February 7 Statesman Journal story, "Chamber of Commerce-backed PAC hit with campaign finance violations." A political action…
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Posted inPolice facility

Why “regret” is key to passing a new Salem police facility bond measure

Along with my Salem Community Vision colleagues, I'm an avid supporter of the plan SCV released at last Monday's City Council meeting for a new $66 million bond measure that includes $46 million for a 115,000 square foot police facility, plus $20 million for lifesaving seismic retrofitting of City Hall and the Library. Now, there are other PLAN B options that will be considered by the City Council at a February 21 work session. There's been quite a bit of talk among some councilors that making City Hall and the Library earthquake-safe shouldn't be part of a new police facility bond…
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Posted inCity Council Police facility Tom Andersen

Video of disturbing Salem City Council machinations about new police facility plan

[Update: I've gotten a message from City Manager Steve Powers that is reassuring. He says that all police facility options are still on the table for the February 21 City Council work session. Brian, Thank you for your email.  Council has not taken the library and civic center/city hall seismic work  out of consideration for a May 2017 bond measure.  The action that Council took Monday night was to add for discussion at the February 21 work session an option that would have the City proceed with a ballot measure for a police facility in May followed by a later…
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Posted inChuck Bennett City of Salem Third Bridge

Mayor Bennett doubles down on false claim of no 3rd Bridge tolling

Mayor Bennett is going backwards, truth-telling-wise, on the City of Salem's false contention that there is no plan to toll any of Salem's bridges. Friday I blogged about the original falsity in "'Alternative Facts' in City of Salem Facebook post about 3rd Bridge tolls."  Regarding the post on the official City of Salem Facebook page, I said: I was deeply irritated after reading it, and not just because I'm strongly opposed to building an unneeded half-billion dollar 3rd Bridge, a.k.a. the Salem River Crossing (which would cost around a billion dollars once financing is included). What bugged me the most was…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Third Bridge

“Alternative facts” in City of Salem Facebook post about 3rd Bridge tolls

I've been worried that the Trump administration's love of "alternative facts," otherwise known as falsehoods, would creep into other levels of government such as the City of Salem.  Well, today that worry manifested as reality in a post about 3rd Bridge tolling on the City's Facebook page.  I was deeply irritated after reading it, and not just because I'm strongly opposed to building an unneeded half-billion dollar 3rd Bridge, a.k.a. the Salem River Crossing (which would cost around a billion dollars once financing is included). What bugged me the most was the disregard for evident facts in the post. Look, I…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

Salem City Council to vote on tolling a 3rd Bridge (and likely existing bridges)

Are you ready and willing to pay a $1.50 toll each way to cross the Willamette River between West Salem and the downtown area? I'm sure not. But the Salem City Council is going to vote on this at their meeting on Monday, February 13, 6:oo pm, at City Hall. I'm urging citizens to tell Mayor Bennett and the seven city councilors (one seat is vacant) that, in short, NO WAY DO I WANT TO PAY A TOLL TO CROSS THE RIVER. You can email them: citycouncil@cityofsalem.netYou can testify during the public comment period (3 minutes maximum). Here's info posted…
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