Posted inCity Council City of Salem Peter Fernandez

Peter Fernandez, Public Works Director, is failing to enforce Salem’s tree ordinance

Just when I thought the wanton destruction of four valuable street trees by Daniel and Richard Gatti couldn't be more outrageous, it turns out I was wrong. Because Michael Slater reported in a Salem Tree Advocates post on Facebook that the City of Salem's Public Works Director, Peter Fernandez, has admitted that he hasn't been requiring people who improperly remove street trees to pay for the full assessed value of the trees, as is required by a city ordinance, SRC 86.105(c). l heartily agree both with Jim Scheppke's comment above, plus a post that Scheppke wrote on the Facebook page…
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Posted inCity of Salem Trees

Gatti brothers fined $2,000 for tree destruction, but they should pay more

Today, after filing a public records request, I learned how much Daniel and Richard Gatti are being fined for destroying four street trees after failing to get a permit, as required by a City of Salem ordinance: $2,000, $500 per tree. Here's the PDF file I got.Download 20-132 Enforcement Order-Notice Redacted_Redacted One of the mangled Gatti street trees However, here's part of what I said in my first blog post about the tree destruction, "Gatti brothers trash street trees. City of Salem needs to  fine them, big-time." Wow. Richard Gatti knew he shouldn't trim street trees on public property without…
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Posted inCity of Salem Trees

Gatti brothers trash street trees. City of Salem needs to fine them, big-time.

Salem is a town that claims to care about trees. Yes, it's true that most people who live here are tree lovers. Unfortunately, there's a lengthy history of businesses and developers who treat trees really badly with few, if any, consequences.  Photo I took today of one of the mangled trees Today's Statesman Journal has a story, "Illegal trimming destroys street trees at Gatti property, famous for holiday light display." There's plenty in the story by Tracy Loew that's infuriating. Like... In an interview, Richard Gatti said he hired a contractor to do general work around the properties, and asked…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Tom Andersen

Salem City Club discusses employee-paid payroll tax

Nobody likes paying taxes. (Well, almost nobody.) But everybody likes the services taxes provide. (Well, almost everybody.) That's the perpetual dilemma facing government at all levels, federal, state, local. Robert (Bob) Barron Today's Salem City Club program on the City of Salem's financial situation featured Bob Barron, who became the city's Chief Financial Officer last June -- a new position created by a reorganization at City Hall that did away with the assistant City Manager, leaving the CFO in charge of financial goings-on. Barron has an impressive background, as evidenced by his bio above. He came across as a straight-shooter…
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Posted inCity of Salem Homeless

Not supporting Salem’s Arta Potties was a dumb move by city officials

Back in 2015, providing artistically decorated Arta Potties (portable toilets) in downtown Salem was a brilliant idea of Rebecca Maitland Courtney and other women who wanted to give homeless people a place to go, rather than defecating and urinating in public places. First Arta Potty (photo courtesy of the Arta Potties Facebook page) But the folks at City Hall, including the Mayor and City Manager, never supported Arta Potties in any meaningful way, apparently figuring that putting them downtown would encourage the homeless to congregate in central Salem. Well, guess what? Five years later, there are more homeless people sleeping downtown…
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Posted inCity of Salem Homeless

Bad P.R. for City of Salem: homeless and library debacles

The folks who run City Hall aren't doing very well in the public relations department recently. KGW News has been doing a good job of holding city officials accountable for failing to live up to their promise to add shelter beds for the homeless following a citywide ban on homeless camps. Here's how a January 3 KGW story starts out. SALEM, Ore. — More than two weeks after the city of Salem enacted a ban on public camping and two days after their self-imposed deadline, by which they promised to open 140 shelter beds, officials confirmed they’ve come up woefully…
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Posted inBroadway Commons City Council City of Salem

Why the City of Salem shouldn’t give taxpayer money to a church that discriminates

In 2019 the most disturbing decision of the Salem City Council was to go along with a poorly thought-out plan by city officials to temporarily house the public library in a building owned by an organization that denies LGBTQ rights, the Salem Alliance Church.  In case you missed out on reading my blog posts about this unethical travesty, type "Salem Alliance Church" in the Google search box in the right sidebar to find what I've written on this subject. For example... Disturbing wrongness of last Monday's Salem City Council meetingSalem's city officials say "screw you" to supporters of LGBTQ rights…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Homeless

Salem City Council allows homeless to camp on public property. But where?

At last night's City Council meeting a big change was made to the homeless ordinance that passed at the previous meeting, and required a "second reading" to become law. Instead of banning camping on public property entirely, the council decided to allow homeless people to camp on approved city-owned property. Here's some excerpts from a Salem Reporter story by Troy Brynelson, "Salem bans open camping and now seeks a place to host it." (Kudos to Brynelson for using "eighty-sixing" in his story. I haven't seen this term used in a long time, and I'm old.) Tents and other dwellings will…
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Posted in2020 election City of Salem Homeless

Homelessness is a problem that’s too big for Salem to solve

Yesterday I attended a Progressive Salem meeting that featured remarks by two highly qualified City Council candidates, Vanessa Nordyke and Trevor Phillips. (Nordyke has been appointed to the council to fill a vacancy, and is seeking a full term in the May 2020 election.)  Homelessness came up in both audience Q&A's and the initial remarks. What struck me loud and clear is a simple fact that shouldn't be overlooked even though it is obvious: Homelessness is a complex problem that will require action at all levels of government, plus the private sector and nonprofit organizations, to find viable solutions. Sure, the…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Steve Powers

City Manager Steve Powers spouts more falsehoods, which I easily demolished

The more I communicate with City Manager Steve Powers about the truth of what happened with the highly controversial selection of a building owned by the Salem Alliance Church to serve as a temporary public library (the church denies basic LGBTQ rights), the more Powers comes across as sort of a Donald Trump wanna-be. Meaning, Powers keeps doubling down on his false statements, even when I present indisputable facts that contradict what Powers is saying. This should bother the Mayor, City Council, and other citizens. A lot.  Why? Because the City Manager is the top non-elected official for the City…
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Posted inBroadway Commons City of Salem

Public records show how Salem Alliance Church lobbied to be temporary library location

Only in Salem is the public library on the wrong side of LGBTQ rights. As retired State Librarian Jim Scheppke noted recently, historically libraries in Oregon have stood up for LGBTQ rights.  But in our city the library is going to be temporarily located in a building leased from an organization that denies fundamental gay rights -- the right to marry, and the right to engage in same-sex sex. A headline in a Willamette Week story about this issue summed up the situation nicely. If an anti-gay organization was a business or corporation, the bigotry of those in charge would be…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Steve Powers

City Manager Steve Powers makes false statements about temporary library location

Well, I've got to give Salem City Manager Steve Powers high marks for one thing: consistency. Meaning, he consistently spouts falsehoods. Steve Powers After he and his staff misled the City Council and other citizens about the church-owned Capital Press building being the only feasible location for a temporary public library, I got an email message from Powers that contained more false statements about this debacle. Because we here at the world headquarters of Salem Political Snark value truth-telling, and consider that not being able to trust City of Salem staff is a big deal, I'm calling out Steve Powers…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Why not being able to trust City of Salem staff is a big deal

So what's the big deal about City of Salem staff misleading the City Council and citizens, as I wrote about yesterday in "City officials misled citizens about temporary library location"? That post started out this way: The key thing I wanted to learn from a City of Salem public records request that ended up costing me $844.85 was whether City officials were telling the truth when they said this in a staff report for the July 22, 2019 City Council meeting. "The former Capital Press building (Site) at 1400-1440 Broadway Street NE  (corner of Hood and Broadway) is the best…
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Posted inBroadway Commons City Council City of Salem

City officials misled citizens about temporary library location

The key thing I wanted to learn from a City of Salem public records request that ended up costing me $844.85 was whether City officials were telling the truth when they said this in a staff report for the July 22, 2019 City Council meeting. The former Capital Press building (Site) at 1400-1440 Broadway Street NE  (corner of Hood and Broadway) is the best and only option available to the City that meets the project schedule and site criteria. "Best and only option." NOT TRUE. This is decidedly disturbing for those of us who value transparency and honesty in our…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City of Salem Comprehensive Plan

“Our Salem” workshop laid out an appealing vision for our city

Yesterday I came away more enthused than I expected about Salem's future, because there seemed to be widespread citizen agreement about how our city should grow in a fashion that improves quality of life. Last night I attended a City of Salem workshop at Pringle Hall that marks another phase of the Our Salem project aimed at updating our city's Comprehensive Plan. OK, that sounds geekily boring.  And as I sat at a table at the beginning of the workshop, listening to someone describe what sounded like an overly complex plan for how the two-hour meeting was supposed to go,…
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Posted inCity of Salem

Tell City officials you want Battle Creek Park to be left natural

As you can read below, the City of Salem is working on a master plan for Battle Creek Park, which now is undeveloped. Lora Meisner clued me in to what's going on with the 50+ acres. I've shared part of an email where she urges people to express their preference for Option 1: Habitat, since this fits best with the original purpose of this property after the City bought it -- flood control/stormwater retention. As Meisner says, it doesn't make sense to build large impervious features like a skate park and 60 car parking lot, given that this will lead…
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Posted inCity of Salem Trees

Seven strange things about the City of Salem’s “Urban Forestergate”

These days every scandalous revelation pertaining to public officials demands a name that ends in "gate." So I'm calling the tell-all report of an applicant for the City of Salem's (Oregon) Urban Forester position Urban Forestergate. Yeah, not very creative. But it works for me. Yesterday I shared the applicant's report of a three-day visit to Salem from New York at the City of Salem's expense in "Devastating critique of Salem's Urban Forester program by a job applicant." Today I talked with this person by phone and got additional details about their job interview/audition experience in Salem. I found myself…
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Posted inCity of Salem Peter Fernandez Trees

Devastating critique of Salem’s Urban Forester program by a job applicant

It's an open secret to those of us who live here that the City of Salem doesn't treat our town's trees well, to put it mildly. But I was pleasantly surprised that a highly qualified person who applied for the City's Urban Forester position saw through the bullshit of City officials during a three-day job application visit and came to the same conclusion. You can read that person's critique below. It's devastating. Hopefully it will wake up the City Manager (Steve Powers), the Mayor (Chuck Bennett), and city councilors to the fact that Peter Fernandez, the Public Works Director, has…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Political moderation has a place in Salem. So does extremism.

As the saying goes, there's a time and place for everything. Like, being a political moderate. Or, a political extremist. It doesn't make sense to always embrace one or the other.  Sure, it sounds good to hear politicians say, "I want to work with those on the other side of the aisle."  But sometimes those on the other end of the political spectrum aren't interested in compromise and moderation. Barack Obama found this out when Republicans in Congress opposed almost everything he put forward. For example, a lot of time was wasted trying to get the GOP on board with…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Rollings resigns from Salem Human Rights Commission in protest of temporary library debacle

Bad decisions have consequences. Daniel Rollings, a member of Salem's Human Rights Commission, resigned his position today after City officials ignored the unanimous statement of the Commission calling for a location other than the Capital Press building owned by the Salem Alliance Church to be used as a temporary public library.                                                          Rollings testifying against using the church-owned building  The Human Rights Commission took that action because the church denies LGBTQ rights, and…
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