Posted inCitizen involvement City Council City of Salem

“Our Salem” plan needs a top-priority: reducing greenhouse gases

If you care about how livable Salem is, check out a recently-released draft report from the City of Salem, Our Salem Vision. There's a lot to like in that vision, but also a lot not to like. So let city officials know what you think of the report. Even though the document says that the next step in the Comprehensive Planning process is public comment on the draft, I didn't see any indication in the report about how comments are to be submitted. A City of Salem Facebook post about Our Salem Vision also lacks any mention of how citizen…
3
Posted inCity of Salem Comprehensive Plan Smart growth

Let’s make Salem a “Strong Town” with wise development

Excellent news! A Strong Salem group has emerged on Facebook that seeks to do a heck of a lot more than just exist in cyberspace.  If you're on Facebook, join the group and get in on the ground floor of what promises to be a force for positive change in this town. For example, one of the first posts on Strong Salem talks about the Our Salem effort aimed at updating the Comprehensive Plan. A primary motivation for starting up this group is to keep a close eye on the the "Our Salem" project at the City, which is a multi-year…
2
Posted inCity of Salem Land use Smart growth

Our local transportation planning organization is fiddling while carbon emissions burn us up

It's embarrassing that the SKATS (Salem-Keizer Area Transportation Study) body, which focuses on transportation planning in our area, has some global warming deniers on it who are mightily resisting connecting a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions with how people should get around via vehicles, mass transit, bicycles, and whatever.  Salem-Keizer Area Transportation Study (SKATS) is the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Salem-Keizer area. A MPO is a federally mandated body for any urban area over 50,000 in population. The SKATS MPO is directed by a Policy Committee composed of elected representatives from the cities of Keizer, Salem and Turner, Marion…
3
Posted inSmart growth Statesman Journal

I couldn’t resist commenting on a woman’s praise of Salem

Yesterday the Statesman Journal published a "Your Turn" piece by Emily Skelding that began as a post on her This Is Just to Say blog, and ended being titled either "Salem a fabulous place to raise family" (print edition) or "Salem transplant proud of her new hometown; wants community to stop apologizing" (online edition). I liked Skelding's praise of Salem. I also can't resist commenting on it.  First off, notwithstanding the online title the Statesman Journal gave to her piece, Skelding's blog post says that she grew up in Salem, then lived in other places before returning here.  I must add…
No Comments
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.…
No Comments
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…
4
Posted inCitizen involvement Smart growth

Secretiveness of Salem City officials reflected in embarrassing email

Almost everybody has mistakenly sent out an email that had a regrettable something in it. City of Salem officials have joined this large club, as KATU reported in "'Kind of embarrassing': Salem authorities send email with note not meant for public." SALEM, Ore. -- An official with the city of Salem admits it's "kind of embarrassing." The city sent out an email alert that included a footnote the public was not supposed to see. The footnote is regarding whether to tell the public about the cost of a road project in downtown Salem....Gotterba said the budget information he released to…
2
Posted inCity Council Smart growth

Bend sets goals for climate change. Salem’s City Council sits on its butt.

As a long time Salem-area resident, I'm used to having my town's environmental reputation kicked in the ass by more with-it Oregon cities like Eugene, Corvallis, and Portland.  But now also Bend? Geez, Bend is in Deschutes County, central Oregon, which used to be reliably Republican. And hence, not much concerned with supposedly optional niceties such as protecting the livability of our one and only planet Earth.  With a lot of new people moving to Deschutes County, though, the gap between Democratic and Republican voter registration has shrunk considerably in recent years.  So this helps explain why today's Bend Bulletin…
7
Posted inSmart growth

Salem only town in Oregon that bans tiny houses

Ah, Salem. I so look forward to the day when the name of my home town isn't regularly mentioned after someone says, "The last town in Oregon to not allow [some cool thing] is..." Tiny houses are an example. Salem bans them. Along with only one other city in the northwest. A 2014 Statesman Journal story said: Tiny houses. Everyone loves them. Cute, inexpensive, and eco-friendly, tiny houses are popping up all over the Northwest. Portland, which just relaxed its permitting rules, is seeing a boom, and even boasts a tiny house hotel. But don’t look for them in Salem.…
1