Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

With public opinion mostly against a Salem data center, it’s time to shed more light and less heat on the project

My approach to politics, and to life itself, is reflected in a basic principle of Tai Chi -- which I've practiced for about twenty years. Yang follows yin; yin follows yang. So two yang moves in succession is a Tai Chi no-no. Expressed in plain English, the notion is that when strength meets strength, a battle ensues. Which doesn't mean that conflict should be avoided. It means that a forceful attack shouldn't be met with an equally forceful counterattack, but with a redirecting of the opponent's energy, a softness that deflects hardness, allowing for a more favorable outcome than, as…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

Who’s to blame for Salem data center debacle? Time to point fingers.

Last Thursday I spoke with a KATU reporter about the news that Governor Kotek had blocked the sale of property owned by the state that was going to be used by a data center proposed to be built in south Salem's Mill Creek Corporate Center. Referring to the massive turnout at last Monday's City Council meeting of people who were almost entirely opposed to the data center, I said: This is democracy in action. People came out. Loud, angry, sometimes impolite. It got the city’s attention. And it looks like it got Governor Kotek’s attention. When I heard that Kotek…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

Here’s some of what I told the KATU reporter about the Salem data center that didn’t make it into her story

Having done quite a few interviews with local television news reporters over the years, I've learned that I should feel fortunate if a few seconds of my much longer brilliant observations on some subject make it into the televised story. After all, they only have a few minutes to tell the entire story, and I'm just a small part of that much bigger picture. So one of the last things I said to Jennifer Singh, the KATU (Portland) reporter who interviewed me yesterday about a major new development in the Salem data center saga, was something like, I really enjoyed…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

Salem data center’s three-year property tax abatement seems suspicious

Verrus, the corporation wanting to build a 75 acre, $5.1 billion data center at the Mill Creek Corporate Center in Salem, has already received a three-year property tax abatement. Meaning, if the data center is built, for three years neither the City of Salem nor other taxing districts would receive any property tax revenue from the project. However, there's a special meeting of the Salem City Council next Monday, August 3, where a moratorium on data centers will be discussed. If this applies to the Verrus project, the property tax abatement may be a moot point. Still, I want to…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

Opposition to Salem data center is justified, but shouldn’t be wild-eyed crazy

Kudos to the Salem Reporter for providing live updates on the City Council meeting underway at the moment (9;30 pm), having started at 6 pm with a packed house, drawn by an agenda item about the five billion dollar Verrus data center planned for the Mill Creek Corporate Center. The council president, Linda Nishioka, said they expected five hours of public testimony. Most of it will be in opposition to the data center. Which is to be expected, since nationally about 70% of Americans are against them, with Republicans, Democrats, and independents all on the same page on this issue.…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

How to comment on the Salem data center proposal (and make your comment count)

We all want to be heard, listened to, taken seriously. But when it comes to commenting on a development project that falls under land use, zoning, and similar sorts of rules, some usual tendencies should be kept in check. Like getting too emotional. And being too general. Both of which I'm prone to, as most of us are. I understand why so many people oppose the Oakline at Mill Creek data center planned to be built in the Mill Creek Corporate Center. Often this stems from a hatred of AI, artificial intelligence, and from horror stories regarding data centers elsewhere…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Data centers

Salem data center encountering same resistance as data centers elsewhere

It's a tough time for a corporation seeking to build an AI data center anywhere in the United States. Resistance is stiffening. So it's no wonder that Oakline at Mill Creek, the data center Verrus is proposing to build here in Salem, is trying to project a warm and fuzzy image. This is a tongue-in-cheek editing (by an AI, naturally)  someone sent me of the Verrus mockup of what the data center would look like. The deer peacefully grazing on the grass in front of the building is a nice touch. How noisy could the data center be if deer…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

I urge Salem City Council to rule on Betsy Vega’s qualification to be a Ward 6 city councilor

Here's my open letter, which will become an open email, to the nine members of Salem's City Council. My subject is whether Betsy Vega meets the requirements in the city charter to be a city councilor. *************************************************************** Dear Mayor Hoy and councilors Paul Tigan, Linda Nishioka, Shane Matthews, Deanna Gwyn, Irvin Brown, Mai Vang, Vanessa Nordyke, and Micki Varney: As you're aware, the City of Salem has issued a statement regarding Betsy Vega's eligibility to be on the November 2026 General Election ballot after she was certified as the winner of the Ward 6 city council race in the May…
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Posted inCity of Salem Data centers Environment

Data center proposed for Salem has both potential benefits and problems

Like most things in life of this sort, a data center proposed to be built on 75 acres in Salem's Mill Creek Corporate Center is more complex than avid proponents and opponents are willing to admit. Depending on who is speaking for or against the project, Oakline at Mill Creek would either be a boon to Salem's economy and tax base, or a giveaway to a giant corporation that will wreak havoc on its neighborhood and the environment. (Caption under image above says Digital rendering shown for illustrative purposes only – subject to change.) According to a Salem Reporter story…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Here’s what ChatGPT says about whether Betsy Vega is qualified to be a Salem city councilor

In my previous post I criticized the legal opinion by Eugene attorney Truman Stone of whether Betsy Vega meets the qualifications to be a Salem city councilor following her victory over Ward 6 incumbent Mai Vang in the May 19 primary election. My main concern was that Stone downplayed the language in Section 25 of the city charter that says: A councilor shall have resided in the ward the councilor represents during the 12 months immediately before being elected or appointed to the office. Stone considered that domicile was the correct term for judging whether Vega met that residency requirement,…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

City officials ignored Salem charter in wrongly qualifying Betsy Vega as Ward 6 city councilor

When I learned today that the City of Salem had issued a public statement about a decision that Betsy Vega was qualified to serve as the Ward 6 city councilor despite a challenge by Paige Barton, the campaign manager for incumbent councilor Mai Vang, who Vega defeated, I was surprised. After all, Barton had presented evidence that Vega (photo above)  hadn't lived in Ward 6 for the twelve months prior to the election -- regardless of whether "election" means the May 19, 2026 primary election at which Vega got over 50% of the votes, or the November 3, 2026 general…
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Posted in2026 election City Council City of Salem

Betsy Vega’s election as Ward 6 city councilor may hinge on definition of “qualified elector”

Betsy Vega has been certified by Marion County Elections as the winner of the May 19 election for the Ward 6 city council seat, as she got 44 more votes than Mai Vang, the incumbent. But Paige Barton, Vang's campaign manager, has filed a complaint with the City of Salem that asserts Vega may not be qualified to be a city councilor, according to the City Charter. Section 25. Qualifications. (1) An elective city officer shall be a qualified elector under the state constitution and shall have resided in the city during the 12 months immediately before being elected or…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

City of Salem agrees to investigate Betsy Vega’s qualification to be a city councilor

Excellent news. Today the City of Salem issued a statement (copied in below) saying that city staff will investigate a complaint challenging Betsy Vega's qualification to be a candidate for the Ward 6 city council seat. Though the statement doesn't mention Vega by name, it's clear that she is the subject of the complaint. It's pleasing that City Manager Namburi reversed the ill-considered decision by City Attorney Dan Atchison to not investigate the complaint. As I said in "Salem city officials are refusing to enforce the city's own requirement to be a city councilor," that was a screwy move by…
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Posted inCity of Salem Julie Hoy

More evidence that Mayor Julie Hoy wanted previous city manager gone for no good reason

Salem Mayor Julie Hoy is a habitual liar. In "Mayor Julie Hoy lied about not wanting City Manager Stahley gone. That's her third lie about Stahley.,"I wrote about three lies Hoy spouted on a single subject, how she orchestrated an illegal scheme to get rid of Keith Stahley, the city manager at the time, that got Hoy in trouble with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. I described Hoy's third lie. Lie #3: Hoy claimed that her motivation in talking with city councilors about Stahley’s employment status was his performance audit that showed some deficiencies in his management style. But this…
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Posted inCity of Salem Salem Police Department

Salem officials say police can’t help people being attacked by ICE. That isn’t true.

Last Thursday Maria, a citizen of the United States, was dragged from her car in NE Salem and assaulted by ICE agents. She did nothing wrong. Her "crime" appears to have been driving while brown. You can read her highly disturbing story in "Salem woman (a citizen) assaulted by ICE in traffic stop. There's a GoFundMe for her." Today the City Manager, Krishna Namburi (shown above), and the City Attorney, Dan Atchison, issued a statement about the use of force by federal agents that was mostly true, yet partly false. It was the false parts that rubbed me the wrong…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Vanessa Nordyke

Creation of REACH makes Vanessa Nordyke’s dream of a Salem mental health crisis team a reality

For quite a few years Councilor Vanessa Nordyke has been working to bring a mental health crisis team to Salem. I've written about her ups and downs in various blog posts: "Setback for Salem mental health crisis response team" (September 24, 2021) Led by Vanessa Nordyke, last June the Salem City Council appropriated $135,000 for a mental health crisis response team similar to the CAHOOTS program that has been a big success in Eugene — where a medic and crisis worker handle about 17% of the police department's call volume, saving about $12 million a year at a cost of…
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Posted inCity Club City of Salem Julie Hoy

City Manager Namburi and Mayor Hoy said nothing interesting at Salem City Club

Disappointing. Boring. Uninteresting. I could add more negative adjectives, but those do a good job of describing my reaction to what City Manager Krishna Namburi and Mayor Julie Hoy had to say at last Friday's City Club program. In short, not much of anything. The first line of the email I got from the City Club plugging the program captured my attention. So I decided to attend. Salem City Club is pleased to have Mayor Julie Hoy and City Manager Krishna Namburi address the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the city as we move forward in interesting times. In…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Julie Hoy

Salem Mayor Julie Hoy lied about a majority of the city council wanting the City Manager to resign. Actually, only Hoy did.

A recently concluded ethics investigation found that the Mayor of Salem, Julie Hoy, violated our state's Public Meetings Law in February 2025 when she orchestrated a private series of individual conversations with city councilors about whether the City Manager at the time, Keith Stahley, should resign. That was bad. But this is worse: Julie Hoy lied when she told the city council president, Linda Nishioka, that her conversations revealed that a majority of the city council (at least five of the eight members; one seat was vacant at the time) wanted Stahley to resign. At the request of Mayor Hoy,…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Why the $32.5 million economic benefit from Avelo Airlines is a screwy figure

Let's get this clear right off the bat. I'm not an economist. Heck, I've never even had a college economics class. But I've got a pretty good sense of when an economic sales job appears to be B.S., or to put it more delicately, taken with a grain of salt -- meaning, skeptically.  That's the feeling I have whenever I hear boosters of the Salem airport having commercial air service speak of the economic benefit to our city from having an airline fly in and out. Salem hasn't had any success in keeping an airline for more than a few…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

City Council needs to forget about commercial air service in Salem

Wow. Travel Salem and other Chamber of Commerce types really have memory problems. It's only been a few weeks since Avelo Airlines announced it is pulling out of the Salem Airport as of August 10 after just a couple of years of sucking up hundreds of thousands of dollars of subsidies provided to the airline, along with benefiting from $2.4 million in airport improvements that came out of the same general fund that city officials claim is going broke, which is why voters were asked to approve a property tax increase to fund city services, which they did. Yet even…
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