Posted inCitizen involvement City of Salem

My frustration with City of Salem public records requests

"It shouldn't be this difficult." That's what runs through my mind, too often, when it comes to getting public records from the City of Salem. (Oregon variety; maybe the Massachusetts Salem can conjure up a spell and get records to requestors more easily, given their witch heritage.) Here's a chronology of my current frustration: July 29, 2019. Request submitted. I fill out a Public Records Request form, scan it, and email it to the City Recorder's office, which oversees requests. I ask for: All documents, emails, and other communications relating to the use of the Capital Press building owned by…
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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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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Disturbing wrongness of last Monday’s Salem City Council meeting

Last Monday, July 22, I was as angry as I've ever been at a decision by the Salem City Council. With the passage of two days, I'm even more convinced that what six of seven councilors in attendance at the meeting did was wrong.  And not just a little bit wrong. A lot wrong. Hugely wrong. Stupendously wrong. Please, scroll down and watch the four videos I made of the people who testified in person during the 3-minute public comment period, arguing against the really bad idea of temporarily housing the Salem Public Library in a building owned by the…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Here’s my testimony supporting the Salem Human Rights Commission

This afternoon I submitted advance testimony to the City Council in support of the Salem Human Rights Commission's rejection of the plan to use a building owned by the LGBTQ-unfriendly Salem Alliance Church as a temporary home for the Salem Public Library. Yeah, I'm wordy. But I wanted to cover the arguments in favor of finding another location for a temporary library that wouldn't cause members of the LGBTQ communities in our town to stop going to the library for the 18 months or so it will take for renovations to the library building at the Civic Center to be…
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Posted inBroadway Commons Citizen involvement City Council

Salem’s LGBTQ communities need your help

I get it. It's summer. The living is mostly easy. There's so many causes -- political, social, cultural -- that demand your attention. But please give some serious thought to spending a few minutes to help some people close to home: Salem's LGBTQ communities. Here's the issue they need your help with. The Salem Public Library has to be relocated while renovations are made to the library building at the Civic Center. City officials favor using the old Capital Press building adjacent to the Broadway Commons as a temporary library. Problem is, the Capital Press building is owned by the…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Jim Lewis

Three facts about the controversy over Salem library moving to church property

We love facts here at the Salem Political Snark blog. We also adore opinions, which should be based on facts as much as possible. So here's some facts about the controversial proposal of City officials to temporarily house the public library in a building owned by the Salem Alliance Church, along with my opinions about those facts. Note: I'm going to send this blog post to officials at the City of Salem so they can check my facts. First, though, I invite you to sign a petition I started last Friday in support of the Salem Human Rights Commission, which…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City of Salem

Sign a petition to support LBGTQ rights in Salem

Please sign this petition I just started to support the Salem Human Rights Commission in its stand against the City of Salem leasing a building from the Salem Alliance Church to temporarily house the public library. Click on this link to the Care2 Stand up for LGBTQ rights in Salem! petition. The church rejects same-sex marriage and considers same-sex sex to be a sin. The Commission is calling on City officials to find another location for the library while renovations are made, even if that location costs more and is less convenient.
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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 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 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 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 inCity of Salem Comprehensive Plan Cycling

Salem Comprehensive Plan update needs a dose of pizazz

First off, it's been a long time since I used "pizazz" in my writing. The word dates from 1935-40, and is out of fashion, but it seemed absolutely perfect to describe what I found missing in last Wednesday's meeting where progress on an update to the Salem Area Comprehensive Plan was discussed by City of Salem staff and hired consultants. This photo of the beginning of the "Our Salem" open house in the Court Street Christian Church captures the non-electricity of the gathering, which attracted about 30-40 people.  Sure, it was a warm sunny day, so sitting inside from 6-8…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

City Council stops “Big Weed” book removal at library. For now.

Well, a few days ago the title of my blog post was a bit off. I said "Final skirmish at hand in Salem Library 'Battle of the Books.'" But at last night's City Council meeting, a motion proposed by Councilor Chris Hoy passed unanimously. It puts the so-called Big Weed book removal effort on hold until the end of June, most likely. Here's how the leader of the Big Weed opposition, Jim Scheppke, put it in an email he sent out today. Dear Library Supporters: Last night the City Council voted not to resume the Big Weed for a couple…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Final skirmish at hand in Salem Library “Battle of the Books”

Back in November 2018 Jim Scheppke issued a battle cry to book lovers: the decimation of the Salem Public Library's print collection must be met with fierce resistance. See here, here, and here for my blog post reports about the first stages of the war against Library Director Sarah Strahl's efforts to implement what later became known as the Big Weed. Since, I've followed the exploits of Scheppke and his band of outraged library users with much admiration. They've been both relentless and reasonable in their efforts to understand why Strahl and her compliant Library Advisory Board feel it's OK…
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Posted inCity of Salem Comprehensive Plan

Fun facts about Salem (well, some aren’t so fun)

Thanks, Jim Scheppke, for sharing on Scribd an Our Salem: Today presentation by the City of Salem that was discussed on April 3 at a meeting of committees charged with advising staff on revisions to the Comprehensive Plan.

OK, that sentence probably doesn't make your heart race with excitement. But if you click on the continuation to this post, you'll be able to pursue a bunch of facts about Salem that really are quite interesting.

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For example, in the not-so-fun-fact category, Salem sucks when it comes to bicycling.

The miniscule blue bar in Salem's column shows that, compared to Eugene and other cities, very few people are riding bikes here. Which almost certainly is because the City of Salem has put very little effort into making cycling easy and safe to do. 

Screen Shot 2019-04-08 at 8.03.38 PM

On the positive side, the presentation included the first results of a Greenhouse Gas Inventory.

As shown above, Salem has considerably higher emissions per capita than Eugene, likely because our transportation system is so car-centric. Eugene has a much better bus system and bike paths.Screen Shot 2019-04-08 at 8.04.28 PMThat theory is supported by this chart, which shows Salem's reliance on automobiles leads to much greater per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector than Eugene enjoys.

So the next step the Salem City Council needs to take is creation of a Climate Action Plan that lays out concrete steps to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

Click below to peruse the entire presentation. 

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