Posted inCity of Salem

Events in Salem parks may face tougher rules

There's good reason to say that some of the recommendations of the Salem Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (SPRAB) could be called "Proud Boys" rules.  After all, the May 1 gun rights rally at Riverfront Park, where the Proud Boys provided security (better termed insecurity), wasn't a shining example of how events in Salem parks should be conducted.                                                                                     …
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Posted inCity of Salem Religiosity

Awakening Ministries is The Church at Planned Parenthood

In case you're wondering who The Church at Planned Parenthood really is, wonder no more. This supposed "church" consists of moralistic busybodies who staged a protest on July 13 at the Planned Parenthood office in Salem, which resulted in a fight between Proud Boys and counterprotestors. Because, you know, Jesus-loving churches like to have their security provided by a hate group that was part of the insurrection at the nation's capitol on January 6. Here's a screenshot of where The Church at Planned Parenthood does its thing when it isn't harassing women at Planned Parenthood trying to use their services…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

“Slow walking” aptly describes what Salem city officials do

Let's be clear about the title of this blog post. I have no knowledge of how rapidly City of Salem officials such as City Manager Powers, Public Works Director Fernandez, and Police Chief Trevor Womack walk from place to place. But I do have considerable experience with city officials engaging in a different sort of slow-walking, defined as: For example, on May 17 I filed a public records request with the City of Salem, which, thankfully, gave me a fee waiver for the request: All emails, text messages, documents, and other communications between Peter Fernandez, Steve Powers, and Trevor Womack…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Steve Powers

Salem’s City Manager ignores calls for a fireworks ban

Recently city councilor Tom Andersen, along with several other councilors, called on City Manager Steve Powers to issue an emergency order banning the use of fireworks in Salem this Fourth of July. Yesterday Andersen shared a Facebook post where he said, "Other Councilors and I have asked that fireworks be banned in Salem over this weekend. Here is City Manager's response to the general public." I found the response by City Manager Steve Powers so clueless and irritating, I just had to comment on what Powers said in blazing red below. The message from Powers is in regular type.  What I…
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Posted inCity of Salem

City of Salem gives me 1/3 of the public records I paid for

This is something that should outrage liberals, conservatives, and everybody in-between. Why? Because we all can relate to the irritation of not getting what we paid for. On May 12 I made a public records request to the City of Salem after being perplexed by how it was that the May 1 gun rally at Riverfront Park, where Proud Boys provided "insecurity," didn't need a permit even though for weeks prior a city web page said that reservations were needed for events in city parks as of May 1. I wanted to know who authorized changes to that web page…
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Posted inCity of Salem Steve Powers

City of Salem raises price of my public record request from $302 to $900

I wish laws prohibiting "bait and switch" sales techniques applied to officials at the City of Salem. Because yesterday I was notified that the cost of a public records request I submitted relating to the Proud Boys gun rally at Riverfront Park on May 1 had jumped from $302 to $900 -- after I'd already paid the $302. Here's the message I got. Read it and see if you think it's fair that a citizen activist like me should have to pay $900 to learn why, and how, two changes to a City of Salem parks reservation web page were…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Homeless

Salem’s homeless need Biden’s infrastructure plan

Whenever I read about Salem's homeless problem, I feel way more sympathetic toward city officials and the City Council than I usually do. There's simply no easy answers. They're damned if they do and damned if they don't. Today's excellent story by Whitney Woodworth in the Statesman Journal lays out the "Mission Impossible" facing city leaders.  After more than a year, Salem officials are poised to end sanctioned camping for those living in Wallace Marine and Cascades Gateway parks starting June 1. But the problem that has plagued the city for years persists — there are not enough shelter beds, transitional…
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Posted inCity of Salem Steve Powers

To get public records, city officials want me to know what I seek to learn

Just when I think I've seen all the weirdness Salem city officials are capable of, they surprise me with a fresh dose of absurdity. On May 12, I submitted a public records request to the City of Salem. You can read it via this PDF file.Download Public records request PDF I wanted to learn who authorized changes to the "Reserve a City Facility or Park" web page on or around March 27, 2021, and also who made the actual edits to that web page. Likewise, I asked for the same information regarding changes to the web page on or around…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Steve Powers

City Manager gives poor excuse for permitless Proud Boys rally

Ten days after the May 1 gun rally at Riverfront Park where gun-toting Proud Boys threatened citizens and journalists with expulsion from the park, city officials keep changing their story about why a permit wasn't required for the rally. As I said in "Typogate" adds a twist to Proud Boys rally, at first City Councilor Tom Andersen was told that a typo on the city web site caused a page to say that May 1 was the date permits would be required for events in city parks, since a missing "3" would have made the date May 31. But I pointed out…
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Posted inCity of Salem Salem Police Department

Proud Boys debacle shows how Salem Police need to change

The Salem Police Department has a new chief, Trevor Womack. But it doesn't have a new way of going about policing. That's a big problem. Hopefully Chief Womack is up to the task of carrying out needed reforms, restoring confidence in the department, and altering the mission of the department in light of a national movement to shift policing from a militaristic warrior model to a peacekeeper guardian model. This is a complex job. It will take a lot of wisdom to carry out.  Womack, along with other police chiefs, has to deal with a lengthy history of policing in…
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Posted inChuck Bennett City of Salem Salem Police Department

Proud Boys return to Salem, threatening reporters again

Well, that didn't take long. Just six days after the Salem Police Department did absolutely nothing to prevent the Proud Boys extremist militia group from threatening a journalist and other citizens observing a gun rally in a public park, today a couple of Proud Boys banned media from taking photos or video in front of a public building in downtown Salem. And why wouldn't they? The Salem Police Department and other city officials have coddled the Proud Boys, seemingly because they're afraid of these armed right-wingers. The Proud Boys now know that Salem is a place these white supremacists are…
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Posted inCity of Salem Salem Police Department

“Typogate” adds a twist to Proud Boys gun rally

If there's one thing I've learned from quite a few years of delving into goings-on at the City of Salem, it is that often what city officials claim to be true, actually isn't.  Sure, sometimes that discrepancy can be attributed to a honest mistake. However, I know for a fact that sometimes City of Salem staff purposely shade the truth in a CYA (Cover Your Ass) fashion.  Lying is a blunter term than "shade the truth," of course. As I've written about in two previous blog posts (here and here), how the Salem Police Department handled a May 1 gun…
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Posted inCity of Salem Salem Police Department

Salem Police Department misleads about Proud Boys rally

I was already deeply irritated at the Salem Police Department, after learning that they stood by and did nothing on May 1 while armed members of the Proud Boys right-wing militia group forced people they didn't like to leave the public Riverfront Park, harassed journalists, and reportedly beat up someone who was taking a photo of them. (See my previous post, "Salem police sit by as Proud Boys take over Riverfront Park.")Now I've even more irritated at the Police Department after reading their attempt to make it seem like they did everything right and nothing wrong as the Proud Boys…
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Posted inCity of Salem Salem Police Department

Salem police sit by as Proud Boys take over Riverfront Park

Today the Proud Boys, a violent right-wing militia group, provided "security" for a gun rights rally at Riverfront Park here in Salem. The City of Salem allowed the rally to go on without a permit, as I reported a few days ago. So members of the public had just as much of a right to be at the park as the Proud Boys and other people attending the rally. But as you'll see below, the Proud Boys forced people to leave the park if they objected to someone being there. Meanwhile, apparently there was nobody from the Salem Police Department…
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Posted inCity of Salem Salem Police Department

Patriot Prayer holding May 1 rally in Salem’s Riverfront Park

The right-wing wackos are coming back to Salem!   Well, judging from this notice, most never left our area, they've just been silently cooking up fresh conspiracy theories to keep their reality-denying minds firmly at home in Crazy Town. Newsweek had a story about the rally yesterday, "Far-Right Patriot Prayer Plans Oregon Return Alongside GOP Rep. Mike Nearman."  The far-right group Patriot Prayer is planning a return to Salem, Oregon, in May to hold a gun rights event. The rally is being promoted online by the group's leader Joey Gibson and is scheduled to take place on May 1 at…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Police reform

Police budget should be cut to pay for crisis response team

City Councilor Vanessa Nordyke is pushing for Salem to have a crisis response team similar to the CAHOOTS program that has been successfully used in Eugene since 1989.  Here's a description of CAHOOTS, courtesy of the White Bird Clinic. 31 years ago the City of Eugene, Oregon developed an innovative community-based public safety system to provide mental health first response for crises involving mental illness, homelessness, and addiction. White Bird Clinic launched CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) as a community policing initiative in 1989. The CAHOOTS model has been in the spotlight recently as our nation struggles…
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Posted inCity of Salem Trees

No-notice tree removals make Salem resident angry

It hurts to see a tree company truck pull up in front of your house, then watch workers remove a beloved street tree -- all with no communication from the City of Salem about why the tree needed to be destroyed. This happened to Heather, a resident of the Morningside neighborhood. The tree that was removed is the middle one in the photo below.  Heather told me in an email, "Survived the wild fires, survived the ice storm, didn't survive the City of Salem." Here's an email that Heather sent to Mayor Chuck Bennett on April 13. Yesterday the city…
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Posted inCarole Smith City of Salem Downtown

Almost 3/4 of downtown Salem trash receptacles to be removed

Sheri Wahrgren, the Downtown Revitalization manager for the City of Salem, wants to get rid of most trash receptacles in the downtown area -- 44 of the 61 currently in use. See: Download Downtown Trash Receptacle Staff Report Before we dive deeper into this messy move, let's agree on this: the current trash receptacles are ugly, hard to use, and deserve to be featured in The Museum of Dysfunctional Trash Receptacles -- which I dearly hope exists. Carole Smith, a downtown resident and property owner, brought my attention to what Smith considers a trash travesty. Never one to mince words,…
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Posted inCity of Salem Steve Powers

Salem City Manager to Proud Boys: “No permit, no problem.”

ln case you're wondering why the Proud Boys hate group is planning to come to Salem five times, one reason is that City officials have been welcoming them with open arms.  Below is an email interchange citizen activist Jim Scheppke had with Salem's City Manager, Steve Powers, who oversees all City of Salem employees, including those in the Police Department. You'll see that Powers makes some clearly false statements about previous Proud Boys marches on city streets without a permit. Steve Powers, Salem City Manager First, here's Scheppke's message to Powers. I highlighted Scheppke's "fact check" remarks in red. Mr.…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Salem Climate Action Plan is going in wrong direction

Very disappointing. But not surprising. City of Salem staff have a long history of ignoring what the City Council and citizens want, instead substituting their own bad ideas for good ones. So here we go again... The City Council wants a Salem Climate Action Plan to specify how we're doing to do our part in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions that are literally cooking our planet. Recently these goals were approved by the council. By 2035, Salem’s greenhouse gas emissions shall be reduced to 50% of the citywide greenhouse gas emissions for the baseline year of 2016, and by 2050,…
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