Posted inCitizen involvement City Council City of Salem

What if Salem was like this…

Today I had an stimulating conversation about Salem, including political goings-on, with a person who had some appealingly fresh ideas about what needs to change in our city to make it a better place to live for everybody -- not just the already well-off. Our talk got me to thinking about what Salem would be like if... where what follows the "if" is an outcome unconstrained by what exists today, because that would pretty much guarantee more of the same. Here's a sampling of what my mind came up with.  What if Salem... -- Had a City Council that truly…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Larry Tokarski

Salem Weekly delves into messy history of Creekside development

After I wrote an opinion piece for Salem Weekly, "Larry Tokarski leaves the public with a $7.5 million development bill," an attorney representing Tokarski, James Vick, sent a letter to me and the Salem Weekly publisher taking issue with the piece.In the current issue of Salem Weekly there's a story by Helen Caswell that delves into a couple of questions reflected in Vick's letter: (1) Is it correct to call Larry Tokarski the Creekside developer?(2) Was the City of Salem responsible for raising the cost of constructing a bridge over Jory Creek and an extension of Lone Oak Road? Regarding…
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Posted inCity of Salem Downtown

Streetscape open house shows need for downtown streets to lose lanes

Last night the City of Salem held a second open house on the Downtown Streetscape project. I came away enthused about emerging ideas for improving the downtown area, but in an advance post about the meeting the Breakfast on Bikes blogger encapsulated the Big Problem with this project: The second Open House for the Downtown Streetscape project starts tomorrow, Tuesday the 13th, at 5:30pm. The project team hasn't published any new materials, so there's not much to say yet - other than to continue to push the City for changes to carspace. Until we grapple with the disproportion and zoominess…
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Posted inCity of Salem Creekside Golf Course Larry Tokarski

Salem City Council reconsiders making public pay for Lone Oak Road improvements

A citizen win! Last night the City Council voted unanimously to reconsider their decision to have the public pay for two extensions to Lone Oak Road in south Salem, rather than the developers who really should be footing the bill.  The impetus for the reconsideration was a letter from the South Gateway Neighborhood Association. Here's a screenshot of how it starts out. Download SGNA - Reconsideration of Lone Oak Reimbursement District There will be another public hearing on a Lone Oak Road Reimbursement District at the council's March 26 meeting, if I recall the date correctly.  This is a complex…
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Posted inCity of Salem Creekside Golf Course Larry Tokarski

Larry Tokarski leaves the public with a $7.5 million development bill

It took me about two seconds to say "Yes" when the publisher of Salem Weekly, A.P. Walther, asked me via an email if I'd be interested in writing a story about the unbuilt section of Lone Oak Road that the City Council is asking the public to pay for, after the developer, Larry Tokarski, walked away from his obligation to make the road improvements. The front page story appeared in this week's issue of Salem Weekly. You can read it online. Here's a PDF file of the story as I sent it off to Walther. Download Salem Weekly Lone Oak…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Larry Tokarski

City Council poised to make public pay for improvements, not Larry Tokarski

Tonight the Salem City Council is having a public hearing on forming a Lone Oak Road Reimbursement District in the Creekside area. Basically, as I understand it, a developer (Garrett and Alice Berndt) has requested that buyers and owners of lots in the area be saddled with a total of $7,347,000 in fees to pay for needed improvements to an extension of Lone Oak Road.  This is a complicated subject, and I don't pretend to be familiar with all of the details surrounding this issue, which has been festering for many years. Arguments have gone back and forth about who…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Third Bridge

City of Salem Third Bridge conspiracy theorizing: “Something’s amiss here”

I agree with the Salem Breakfast on Bikes blogger who said Something's amiss here in a Tuesday post that is more interesting than the title portends, "At the MPO: Work Program and Rule-Making Updates for the TAC." Here's the juicy part of the post. The Technical Advisory Committee for our Metropolitan Planning Organization meets today, and there is no important action item.But the agenda does have a couple of other things to note.Work on the formal Work Program continues, and if there is any sign that the remand by LUBA on the land use matters had any real consequences, I'm still…
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Posted inCarole Smith City of Salem Downtown

Here’s why Salem needs a genuine downtown association

Salem no longer has a downtown association. We need one. What happened at last night's City Council meeting is only one of many reasons why.  But before I explain what transpired at the meeting, a bit of relevant history about how downtown lost its downtown association is in order. I wrote about this in a couple of blog posts. My November 2013 post "Should Salem City Manager be known as Exalted Emperor Linda Norris?" explained how the existing downtown association, Salem Downtown Partnership, had its contract terminated by the City Council after Chuck Bennett (then a city councilor, now Mayor)…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Homeless

Arta Potties SOS! Why isn’t Salem embracing public portable restrooms?

Rebecca Maitland Courtney is frustrated with her home town. She has a right to be. After coming up with the idea for Arta Potties, artistically-decorated portable toilets that serve both the homeless and ordinary people, she's finding that other cities are giving her a lot more love than Salem.  I just spent an enjoyable hour talking with Courtney. She's a caring, creative woman who can't understand why it is so difficult for people in Salem to come together and embrace a great idea: making restrooms a right for all in downtown, rather than a privilege for those who have the money…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City of Salem

Salem Climate Action Plan top priority at Strategic Plan open house

T0night the City of Salem asked people to express their top priorities for actions in the Strategic Plan that's under development.  I took these photos in the Broadway Commons meeting room at about 7:15, more than halfway through the 6-8 pm Strategic Plan Open House. The crowd was pretty thin at that point -- probably as many city staff and officials were in the room as concerned citizens.  So the top priorities might have shifted a bit over the next 45 minutes. But by the time I left, the #1 priority action was a Climate Action Plan. (Every person who…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Political signs

“Illegal signs are trash.” Which is why they make Salem look trashy.

There was a lot of discussion about illegal temporary signs in the public right-of-way at last night's City Council meeting. Here's some great testimony by Kathleen Hill on changes to the City of Salem sign ordinance that go in the wrong direction when it comes to illegal signs. (See my previous post, "City Council needs to enforce ban against temporary signs in public right of way.") As Hill said, signs left on utility poles or stuck in the ground on the public right of way between sidewalk and street are indeed trash. And they make Salem look trashy, unappealing to…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Political signs

City Council needs to enforce ban against temporary signs in public right of way

With all the problems in our country (and the world) right now, I understand why some people feel it is wrong to get upset about the many illegal signs littering the public right of way in Salem.  OK, I understand. But I heartily disagree that this isn't important. It is! Salem's quality of life -- along with our ability to project a positive image to visitors and people/businesses who might want to move here -- is diminished when illegal signs proliferate along our streets, making this town look like a perpetual garage sale. Lots of the signs are placed by…
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Posted inCity of Salem Land use Third Bridge

Legal ruling deals the Third Bridge a huge setback

This is a great day for Salem. The billion dollar boondoggle known as the Salem River Crossing (or Third Bridge) got a big defeat in a ruling by the Land Use Board of Appeals. Congratulations to the eight petitioners and E.M. Easterly, who joined in their appeal. Also, kudos to Salem attorney John Gear who argued the appeal. I haven't read the ruling yet, as LUBA hasn't released it to the public. (The image above came from a No 3rd Bridge Facebook post.) UPDATE: I now have a copy of the ruling. A quick look-through shows that LUBA rejected most…
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Posted inCity of Salem Trees

Beautiful bigleaf maple damaged by another City of Salem screwup

I've been blogging about the City of Salem's War on Trees ever since City officials engaged in unethical backroom dealmaking so five gorgeous Japanese Zelkovas on downtown's State Street -- a.k.a. the U.S. Bank trees -- could be cut down for no good reason in 2013.  In 2014 I wrote: Here's a dirty (or let's say, sawdusty) open secret: the City of Salem doesn't really care much about trees. It allows beautiful healthy trees to be cut down when they don't need to, bowing to special interests rather than the broad public interest, often ignoring expert arborist advice in favor of making…
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Posted inCity of Salem Smart growth

Salem, it’s OK to reinvent yourself. Don’t cling to the past.

During my 40-year tortured relationship with Salem -- love you! hate you! let's never part! divorce time! -- here's one of the things that bugs me the most about the town I both can't leave and can't be totally happy with. Salemians (the obviously proper word for people who live here) tend to expect that our city's future should be like the past, only more so. Conservatism runs rampant, even when this isn't of the political variety. Bold visions of what could be are shunned in favor of sticking with an embrace of what has been. Individuals frequently reinvent themselves.…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City of Salem

Salem needs some civic cheerleaders

I wish Salem had more cheerleaders. I'm not talking about the rah-rah pom-pom wielding variety (though I love them too; my granddaughter is one), but people who manifest these qualities: (1) They have an over-arching creative progressive vision for the marvelous town Salem can become.(2) They have the charisma and drive to draw others into supporting this vision.(3) They have the power, talent, influence, and resources to convert visionary dreams into reality. I got to thinking about this after someone thanked me for my blog posts about Sustainable Fairview, the project to redevelop the Fairview Training Center in south Salem…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

So, who’s in charge at the City of Salem?

I'm starting to hear people wonder why goings-on at the City of Salem haven't changed more this year, given that four newly-elected city councilors joined Tom Andersen to form a 5-4 progressive majority on the City Council. Well, this is sort of similar to asking why Republicans haven't been able to get much of their legislative agenda passed even though they control the presidency and both houses of Congress. Politics is complicated. So are bureaucracies.  But at the national level, the reins of power are easier to discern. Here in Salem, all one has to do is look at a…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Climate Action Plan an absolute must for Salem City Council

Yesterday Donald Trump made a great argument for the Salem Climate Action Plan that was a major focus of last night's City of Salem Strategic Plan open house at the Broadway Commons. In one of the most shameful actions in his scandal-plagued presidency, Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement.  His announcement gave no coherent reasons for doing this. Trump simply lied, as he always does.  Yesterday, President Donald Trump gave a speech announcing that the US would withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. It is a remarkable address, in its own way, in that virtually every…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City of Salem

Demand a Salem Climate Action Plan. Speak up on June 1!

Donald Trump doesn't accept the reality of global warming. He's working to reverse our nation's environmental protection efforts aimed at reducing harmful carbon emissions.  So this makes it even more important that Salem stand up for science, sustainability, and moving toward a 21st century economy that isn't based on outmoded fossil fuel assumptions of "drill, drill, drill" and "drive, drive, drive" (internal combustion vehicles). Salem needs a Climate Action Plan. Next Thursday, June 1, the City of Salem is holding a Strategic Plan Open House at the Broadway Commons from 6 to 8 pm. People need to speak up at…
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Posted inCity of Salem Third Bridge

Some City of Salem officials want to toll our bridges. No one else does.

Dirty little secrets deserve to be broadcast to the world when this is in the public interest.  At last night's City Council meeting I was pleased to play a part in revealing something that the folks at City Hall have been trying to hide as best they could: The main source of projected funding for the $430 million Third Bridge (or Salem River Crossing) is tolls -- $175 million worth, generated by a $1.50 each way charge to cross both the new bridge and the two existing bridges.  Here's the proof: a chart from the official Salem River Crossing Project…
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