Posted inCity of Salem National politics

Police officers involved in another Salem social media uproar

Following on the heels of the Daniel Benjamin scandal, which ended with his resignation as a city councilor after he shared a Facebook post about Black Lives Matter protesters being run down by cars, now Salem is getting more bad social media attention. This time a Salem police officer and a Marion County Sheriff's deputy are in the news. A Chicago woman has accused them of "trolling" her after she left a comment -- I am going -- on a Facebook link about a Women's March on Washington the day after Donald Trump's inauguration. Here's a KGW video about the…
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Posted inCity of Salem Peter Fernandez Sabre Ridge Estates

City of Salem favors rich developers over ordinary people

Here's a 3 1/2 minute excerpt from a half-hour interview Greg Fabos and I did with Ken Adams on his Salem CCTV show, "The Valley View." After some remarks by me, Greg speaks about how he's seen Salem change for the worse over the years when it comes to rich developers being able to trample on the rights of ordinary people. He says: There's a real negative feeling about what's happening in Salem, and I've been here a long time. It used to be a nice well-run city with, I felt, good concern for its citizens. Right now, it's at…
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Posted inCity of Salem Peter Fernandez

Salem subdivision gone wrong: City staff ignore horrendous screw-ups

This is a disturbing tale of how City of Salem officials have allowed a subdivision developer to trample the rights of neighbors, while ignoring two women's requests to explain how repeated screw-ups keep happening.  The subdivision is Sabre Ridge Estates, off of Sunnyside Road in south Salem. The women are Lisa Basalto and her mother, Lynn. Lisa wrote to me several weeks ago, looking for someone to help with her extremely frustrating situation. Below I've shared her story, along with some related photos and videos.  Last Thursday I went to the Basalto home. I've shared some of the photos I…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem North Campus

Appealing proposal to save North Campus historic buildings rejected by City/State officials

Here we go again... the City of Salem and the State of Oregon are doing something incredibly stupid. Yeah, I know, this isn't shocking news. Government officials are notorious for making bad decisions. In Salem, for example, the Mayor and her current City Council majority have laid plans to build an unneeded half billion dollar Third Bridge requiring $1.50 each-way tolls (on the two current bridges also) and want taxpayers to fork out $82 million for a vastly over-priced police facility that costs twice as much per square foot as it should. Oregon state government operates under the shadow of…
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Posted inCity of Salem Police facility

Salem’s Civic Center needs renovating, not replacing

There's more and more talk floating around about doing away with the Salem City Hall and Library, even though the buildings are only 44 years old.  Geez. Our house was built at almost exactly the same time. My wife and I have steadily maintained and improved it since we bought our home in 1990. It's still highly livable, and worth much more than we paid for it. In Europe, buildings hundreds of years old are still in use. So why is it that I keep hearing rumors that City officials want to trash Salem's not-very-old City Hall and Library --…
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Posted inCity of Salem Creekside Golf Course

Creekside golf course farce highlights City of Salem dysfunction

So... today we learn that after months of Creekside advocates moaning and groaning that the golf club absolutely needs a $60,000 irrigation water rate reduction or it will go out of business, thanks to good reporting by the Statesman Journal's Tracy Loew we know this isn't true. Creekside Golf Club’s owners have released a statement saying they will not close the business after all. "We want to reassure the membership that our intentions are not to close Creekside Golf Club and we would like to put that concern to rest," owners Terry Kelly and Larry Tokarski wrote. Since April, the owners have been…
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Posted inCity of Salem Smart growth

Five “Strong Town” things Salem is doing wrong

Loved it! Chuck Marohn's talk about Strong Towns last night at the Salem Library was hugely inspiring. And, well attended. I was pleased to see Mayor-elect Chuck Bennett and City Manager Steve Powers there. Now, they need to take to heart the logical, evidence-based advice Marohn gave to Salem. This town is doing a lot of things wrong. Of course, we aren't alone. Most cities in the United States have fallen into the same traps. Here's five things Marohn said Salem needs to fix in order for us to become a strong smart town, city planning-wise, rather than a weak…
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Posted inCity of Salem

City of Salem web site survey doesn’t work. So fitting!

I hate the City of Salem web site. It was hard to use before it was supposedly "improved," and now I find it even more confusing. Getting info on City Council meetings and staff reports is way more difficult than before.  So I was thrilled to see a Community Connection email in my inbox this morning.  An item invited me to take a Website Navigation Survey. Ooh, ooh! I'd be HAPPY to, City of Salem. I was SO looking forward to telling them how difficult their web site was to use and navigate.  Except... when I clicked on "Take Our…
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