Posted inChamber of Commerce City Council Progressive Salem

Honor Mike Swaim by making Salem more progressive

Mike Swaim was a much-admired former mayor of Salem who died on December 17 from a stroke that occurred during heart surgery.  Other people have praised Swaim for how he worked to improve Salem during his three mayoral terms in office from 1997 to 2002. Below I'm sharing a piece that Bill Smaldone wrote about Swaim that was posted on the Salem City Watch site.  And both the Salem Reporter and Statesman Journal had stories about Swaim. So since I don't have anything to add about Swaim's exemplary life, I want to talk about how we can honor him in the…
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Posted inBroadway Commons City Council City of Salem

Why the City of Salem shouldn’t give taxpayer money to a church that discriminates

In 2019 the most disturbing decision of the Salem City Council was to go along with a poorly thought-out plan by city officials to temporarily house the public library in a building owned by an organization that denies LGBTQ rights, the Salem Alliance Church.  In case you missed out on reading my blog posts about this unethical travesty, type "Salem Alliance Church" in the Google search box in the right sidebar to find what I've written on this subject. For example... Disturbing wrongness of last Monday's Salem City Council meetingSalem's city officials say "screw you" to supporters of LGBTQ rights…
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Posted in2020 election Cara Kaser City Council

Cara Kaser won’t seek reelection to her Ward 1 City Council seat

Big breaking local political news today from the Salem Reporter's Troy Brynelson: "Kaser won't seek second term on Salem City Council." Citing major changes with both her family and her career, Councilor Cara Kaser told Salem Reporter on Saturday morning she won’t seek a second term as one of the city’s nine policymakers. Her term expires Dec. 31, 2020. “Serving my community these past three years as a city councilor has been both one of the most important duties I have ever taken on and one of the most important honors I have ever been afforded,” she said. “Additionally, it…
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Posted in2020 election City Council

Sleaze warning: Reid Sund hires Chuck Adams in Ward 7 race

Watch out, residents of south Salem's Ward 7. A tsunami of sleaze could be coming your way as the City Council race between Vanessa Nordyke and Reid Sund heats up between now and the May 2020 primary election. Chuck Adams I say this because Sund's campaign finance reporting indicates that Chuck Adams' firm, New Media Northwest, is working for the Friends of Reid Sund committee. As you can see in this screenshot, there's a cozy (and rather incestuous) relationship between New Media Northwest and Friends of Reid Sund. In the sample of transactions below, New Media Northwest made $1,135 worth…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Homeless

Salem City Council allows homeless to camp on public property. But where?

At last night's City Council meeting a big change was made to the homeless ordinance that passed at the previous meeting, and required a "second reading" to become law. Instead of banning camping on public property entirely, the council decided to allow homeless people to camp on approved city-owned property. Here's some excerpts from a Salem Reporter story by Troy Brynelson, "Salem bans open camping and now seeks a place to host it." (Kudos to Brynelson for using "eighty-sixing" in his story. I haven't seen this term used in a long time, and I'm old.) Tents and other dwellings will…
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Posted inCity Council Downtown Homeless

Salem City Council’s “sit-lie” decision seems well-balanced

Democracy in action. At last night's City Council meeting there was spirited debate about a proposed ordinance aimed at reducing perceived problems caused by homeless people, the most controversial part being a ban on sitting or lying on a sidewalk during daytime hours.  I watched much of the meeting via a CCTV feed. Citizens testifying against the ordinance far outnumbered those in favor of it, who mostly were from the downtown business community and Chamber of Commerce. Both sides had reasonable points to make. Homeless people do cause problems, both in downtown Salem and elsewhere. But the sit-lie portion of…
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Posted in2020 election City Council

City Council candidate Reid Sund is too right-wing for Ward 7

Residents of Ward 7 in south Salem will have a clear choice in the May 2020 primary election, when they'll vote on who should be their city councilor following the resignation of Sally Cook.  Vanessa Nordyke, a progressive like Cook, was appointed recently by the City Council to serve as the Ward 7 councilor for the rest of Cook's term, which runs until December 31, 2020. She will be on the May 2020 ballot. Reid Sund, a conservative, has announced that he also is running to be the Ward 7 councilor.  Since Ward 7 went for Hillary Clinton over Donald…
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Posted in2019 election 2020 election City Council

Good election night for Dems. Now, let’s turn Salem more progressive.

Ah, the sweet smell of Democratic election victories has temporarily banished the stench of Trump's disastrous presidency from my political nostrils. It looks like Kentucky has chosen a Democrat, Andy Beshear, to be the next Governor. Yes, Kentucky, where Trump won by 30 points in 2016, and where Trump campaigned last night for the Republican incumbent, Matt Bevin. Sweet!  Of course, I'm confident Trump will claim that if he hadn't supported Bevin, the race wouldn't have been as close as it was, with Beshear on top by about 5,000 votes. But no matter how Republicans spin the Kentucky outcome, it's…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Steve Powers

City Manager Steve Powers spouts more falsehoods, which I easily demolished

The more I communicate with City Manager Steve Powers about the truth of what happened with the highly controversial selection of a building owned by the Salem Alliance Church to serve as a temporary public library (the church denies basic LGBTQ rights), the more Powers comes across as sort of a Donald Trump wanna-be. Meaning, Powers keeps doubling down on his false statements, even when I present indisputable facts that contradict what Powers is saying. This should bother the Mayor, City Council, and other citizens. A lot.  Why? Because the City Manager is the top non-elected official for the City…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Steve Powers

City Manager Steve Powers makes false statements about temporary library location

Well, I've got to give Salem City Manager Steve Powers high marks for one thing: consistency. Meaning, he consistently spouts falsehoods. Steve Powers After he and his staff misled the City Council and other citizens about the church-owned Capital Press building being the only feasible location for a temporary public library, I got an email message from Powers that contained more false statements about this debacle. Because we here at the world headquarters of Salem Political Snark value truth-telling, and consider that not being able to trust City of Salem staff is a big deal, I'm calling out Steve Powers…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Why not being able to trust City of Salem staff is a big deal

So what's the big deal about City of Salem staff misleading the City Council and citizens, as I wrote about yesterday in "City officials misled citizens about temporary library location"? That post started out this way: The key thing I wanted to learn from a City of Salem public records request that ended up costing me $844.85 was whether City officials were telling the truth when they said this in a staff report for the July 22, 2019 City Council meeting. "The former Capital Press building (Site) at 1400-1440 Broadway Street NE  (corner of Hood and Broadway) is the best…
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Posted inBroadway Commons City Council City of Salem

City officials misled citizens about temporary library location

The key thing I wanted to learn from a City of Salem public records request that ended up costing me $844.85 was whether City officials were telling the truth when they said this in a staff report for the July 22, 2019 City Council meeting. The former Capital Press building (Site) at 1400-1440 Broadway Street NE  (corner of Hood and Broadway) is the best and only option available to the City that meets the project schedule and site criteria. "Best and only option." NOT TRUE. This is decidedly disturbing for those of us who value transparency and honesty in our…
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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 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 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 inBroadway Commons Cara Kaser City Council

Salem’s City officials say “screw you” to supporters of LGBTQ rights

I thought I couldn't get any more irritated at the Salem City Council and City officials, and I was plenty mad before, but now I'm way more pissed off. I just learned that those officials have signed a contract with the Salem Alliance Church to lease a building owned by the church for a temporary public library, even though City Council rules allow for reconsideration of any council decision at the next meeting, which is August 12. The City Council voted to approve the lease on a 6-1 vote at the July 22 council meeting. But this was a hugely…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Liberty Plaza is a viable alternative to a LGBTQ-unfriendly temporary library building

On July 22 the Salem City Council voted to approve a lease with the Salem Alliance Church for use of their Capital Press building as a temporary library, while the library at the Civic Center is undergoing renovations. City officials claimed in a staff report that the church-owned building "is the best and only option available to the City that meets the project schedule and site criteria." Almost certainly that statement is wrong, for reasons I'll describe below. I don't blame the City Council for trusting the staff report. I blame Steve Powers, the City Manager, and Kristin Retherford, the…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Steve Powers

What’s wrong with City of Salem officials?

OK, it's a truism that when a headline includes a question mark, the answer usually is "No." But I'm not asking if something is wrong with officials at the City of Salem, Oregon variety. (Not to be confused with the witch'y Salem in Massachusetts.) Rather, it seems clear to me -- based on the evidence below -- that City officials indeed are acting in decidedly screwy ways. But I'm not sure what the cause of that screwy wrongness is. I'll throw out one idea at the end of this post. Feel free to add your own in a comment. For…
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