Posted inCitizen involvement Third Bridge

Mark Coutis slammed by West Salem Neighborhood Association Ethics Committee

Ouch. The Vice-Chair of the West Salem Neighborhood Association (WSNA), Mark Coutis, has been slammed hard by an ethics committee formed to look into his offensive remarks about Black Lives Matter, along with other subjects -- including how Coutis insulted people in his role as a WSNA Facebook site administrator. What Coutis did was the subject of a public comment at a recent Salem City Council meeting. You can read the juicy details in a report issued by an Ethics Committee formed to look into a complaint filed against Coutis. I've shared screeenshots of the PDF file below.Download WSNA Ethics…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

Salem River Crossing project officially dead, says ODOT

OK, this is akin to beating a dead horse twice, since I'd previously noted that the Oregon Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration had issued a "No Build" Record of Decision.  But today ODOT sent out a news release that deserves to be commemorated, given the excellent news that it contains. The Billion Dollar Boondoggle that would have saddled Salem with vastly increased transportation costs with no real benefit for downtown rush hour congestion is officially dead. The Salem River Crossing, or Third Bridge, was a terrible idea that took a long time to die. But thanks to steadfast…
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Posted inCity Council Oregon politics Third Bridge

Breakfast on Bikes blog concerned about HB 2974 being a Third Bridge workaround

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post, "Help stop HB 2974, a Third Bridge taxing scheme." Here's part of what I said about this bill  proposed by state Representative Paul Evans. A bill in the Oregon legislature seems like a backdoor way to get a Third Bridge built in Salem. At least, that's how I and quite a few others view HB 2974. HB 2974 is sponsored by Rep. Paul Evans, who I usually agree with. But after I read the following email message from a group opposed to the bill, I became convinced that HB 2974 is…
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Posted inOregon politics Third Bridge

Help stop HB 2974, a Third Bridge taxing scheme

A bill in the Oregon legislature seems like a backdoor way to get a Third Bridge built in Salem. At least, that's how I and quite a few others view HB 2974. HB 2974 is sponsored by Rep. Paul Evans, who I usually agree with. But after I read the following email message from a group opposed to the bill, I became convinced that HB 2974 is a bad idea.  One big reason: four people elected to a Special Bridge District, plus an ODOT representative, would get to increase the taxes of everybody in Marion, Polk, Linn, and Yamhill counties…
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Posted inThird Bridge

Letter writer gets so much wrong about the Third Bridge

Today's Sunday Statesman Journal has a caustic letter to the editor regarding the recent City Council decision to kill the Salem River Crossing/Third Bridge project on a 6-3 vote. I couldn't find the letter on the newspaper's web site, so wasn't able to leave a comment telling Rose Treasure how much I disagreed with what she said -- which was full of falsehoods.  So to set the record straight from my perspective, and blow off some irritated steam, here's my responses (in red) to Rose's letter, complete with links to actual facts.  West Salem is on the short end of…
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Posted inCara Kaser Chuck Bennett Jim Lewis

Third Bridge talked about in three acts last night

Driving home from the West Salem Neighborhood Association meeting last night, I pondered the weirdly wonderful discussion of how the City Council killed the Third Bridge on February 11, and what to do next about downtown-area traffic congestion. Troy Brynelson of the Salem Reporter wrote a good story about the meeting, "After splitting on third bridge, councilors seek common ground in West Salem." Excerpt: Salem City Councilors Cara Kaser and Jim Lewis bridged some political differences Monday night, pledging to work together to solve the city’s congestion woes after staking opposing views last week about the Salem River Crossing. The…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

Salem Bridge Solutions should think twice about recalling city councilors

Well, notwithstanding the title of this blog post, actually Salem Bridge Solutions should think more than twice about the wisdom of attempting to recall the six progressive members of the City Council who voted to kill the Salem River Crossing project last Monday. I'll describe the more-than-two reasons below. First, though, let's look at some evidence that Salem Bridge Solutions, a group that's pushed hard (fanatically, even) for a Third Bridge across the Willamette truly is seriously considering embarking on recall efforts.  A post on the Salem Bridge Solutions Facebook page brings up the subject of recall elections. One person…
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Posted inCara Kaser Chuck Bennett Jim Lewis

Time for Chuck Bennett and Jim Lewis to do some bridge building

Let's be clear: By "bridge building" I don't mean constructing a Third Bridge in Salem across the Willamette River. That project died last Monday night when the City Council voted 6-3 to kill it.  What I'm talking about in the title of this blog post is what happens next in Salem. Ideally, those fervently in favor of the now-defunct Salem River Crossing project and those fervently opposed to it will come together to work on ways to reduce rush hour congestion in the downtown area that don't involve spending upwards of half a billion dollars on another bridge.  This effort…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City Council Third Bridge

It took a village to stop the Third Bridge

After I watched the Salem City Council kill the Salem River Crossing or Third Bridge project last night, my first reaction was to feel deeply thankful toward the six councilors who did the right thing by saving Salem from this Billion Dollar Boondoggle. But with a bit more reflection, my thankfulness expanded to include many hundreds, in fact many thousands, of people who stopped the Third Bridge.  Most broadly -- and in some ways most importantly -- everybody who worked so hard to elect the six progressive councilors on the nine-member City Council. The Third Bridge would have continued on with…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge Tom Andersen

Killing the Third Bridge was a wise move

Anyone who doubts that the City Council did the right thing by killing the Third Bridge on a 6-3 vote last night should spend 10 minutes and watch Councilor Tom Andersen's eloquent explanation of why the Salem River Crossing project deserved to die. This video starts (hopefully) at the beginning of Andersen's remarks. He points out that the official bridge reports show that a Third Bridge wouldn't reduce congestion, would be environmentally unsound, would displace many homes and businesses, likely wouldn't stand up in a major earthquake, would require tolling on both the current bridges and new bridge, and would…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

The dirt on the missing Third Bridge dirt

If City Councilors want more reasons to vote NO at their meeting tonight on whether to keep the Salem River Crossing (Third Bridge) project alive, here's disturbing information on missing dirt from the area where the west bridgehead would be located.This morning I received this "dirt on the missing dirt" from a trusted source, who said: ----------------------------------------------- Here is documentation that the Salem River Crossing project management team is misleading the Salem City Council by withholding and misrepresenting information about the costs of the bridge and seismic safety.     What is the foundation of all bridge planning?  The ground…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Third Bridge

“Post-mortem” inquiry called for after Third Bridge dies

Obviously we can't be certain that the Salem River Crossing (or Third Bridge) project will die a well-deserved death tomorrow at the February 11 City Council meeting.  But since the six progressives on the nine-member Council all were elected after promising to fight what I like to call the Billion Dollar Boondoggle, smart money would bet on this draft letter being sent by the Mayor to the Federal Highway Administration and Oregon Department of Transportation on Tuesday.Download No Further Action PDF (City of Salem staff have another draft letter ready to go if, against all odds, the City Council were…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

Salem River Crossing project about to get a well-deserved death

Last night the City Council held a work session on the Salem River Crossing project, often termed the Third Bridge. Or, the Billion Dollar Boondoggle. I watched some of the work session via a Facebook feed. My impression of what transpired fits with the headline of a Statesman Journal story, "Salem third bridge: City Council shows few signs of advancing proposal as deadline nears." And why would the nine councilors show a sign that suddenly they were all in on this project?  Each of the six progressives on the City Council was elected after making a campaign promise to oppose…
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Posted inChuck Bennett City Council Third Bridge

City of Salem staff and Mayor Bennett are spinning Third Bridge facts

It's unfortunate that in advance of next Wednesday's City Council work session on the Salem River Crossing project, a.k.a. the Third Bridge, councilors and the public are being fed a bunch of pseudo-facts that run the gamut from clearly false to questionable. As noted in a recent post of mine, even though in recent years the Salem City Council has shifted from being dominated by conservatives to a 6-3 progressive majority, the unpaid volunteer councilors and mayor are dependent on City of Salem staff -- which includes employees who have been working on the Salem River Crossing for a long…
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Posted inCara Kaser City Council Third Bridge

Third Bridge closer to death after tonight’s City Council meeting

Observing via CCTV the Salem City Council debate tonight whether to move ahead with the Salem River Crossing, or Third Bridge, felt like I was watching a movie where you know the bad guy is going to be killed at some point, but you know that isn't going to happen until a lot of drama and close calls have built up the suspense. Like I said yesterday in "Jim Lewis dreams the impossible Third Bridge dream," it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Lewis' motion to have City staff respond to issues raised in a legal setback that remanded…
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Posted inCity Council Jim Lewis Third Bridge

Jim Lewis dreams the impossible Third Bridge dream

Ah, so cute! I find it adorable how some people -- in this case, a Salem City Councilor, Jim Lewis -- imagine that they can do something that seems impossible.  Like, fly by flapping their arms. Or make their cat do tricks. Or... get the City Council to vote in favor of moving ahead with a Third Bridge, a.k.a. the Salem River Crossing, at a council meeting tomorrow (Monday, November 26). Lewis was narrowly re-elected last May as the city councilor for Ward 8 in West Salem. He ran a sleazy campaign, wrongly claiming that his opponent, Micki Varney, wanted…
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Posted inChamber of Commerce Third Bridge

Salem Chamber of Commerce still pushing billion dollar bridge boondoggle

Yesterday someone sent me a couple of pages from a recent Salem Area Chamber of Commerce publication that boasted about them adding 188 new members last April, which is going to enable the Chamber to keep pushing for a new bridge across the Willamette River. Download Salem Chamber of Commerce pages Here's a close-up of the highlighted part. The payroll tax would have allowed the Salem bus service, Cherriots, to offer evening and weekend bus service. Here's how I described the ill-considered opposition to this tax in an October 2015 blog post about the ballot measure. Opponents of the payroll…
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Posted inCity Council Jim Lewis Third Bridge

Jim Lewis isn’t telling the truth about tolling a new Salem bridge

In a Statesman Journal piece, "Ward 8 candidate Jim Lewis shares reasons why he wants to continue work on Council," Lewis says he's against tolling on a new bridge across the Willamette River. As a matter of clarification, I want to dispel a rumor that I in some way support tolls for the existing two bridges and the new bridge, nothing could be further from the truth and neither myself or the residents of West Salem would allow tolls to ever be a part of the formula for funding. But at the April 24, 2017 City Council meeting, Lewis cast…
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Posted inJim Lewis Micki Varney Third Bridge

Salem Bridge Solutions isn’t trying to vote out anti-bridge city councilors

The Salem Bridge Solutions group is big on talking about building a half-billion dollar Third Bridge across the Willamette, but so far their actions are kind of puny.  A Statesman Journal editorial, "Group urges community to complete city survey on traffic congestion," included some brave words from Salem Bridge Solutions.  The SBS group's co-founders, Mike and Craig Evans, believe this survey, which runs through March 10, is a good way to capture every idea out there. But make no mistake. This group of third-bridge supporters that dresses in lime-green T-shirts and plants pro-bridge signs in West Salem front lawns is determined that the…
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Posted inStatesman Journal Third Bridge

City of Salem’s downtown traffic congestion survey seems screwy

Look, I love surveys. Properly done, they're a great way to find out how people feel about some issue. But the City of Salem's survey about ideas to relieve downtown traffic congestion strikes me as a simplistic, poorly-thought-out effort. (Paper version is here; online version can be found here.) First, the survey is weirdly open-ended. It consists of a single question, with other queries being background information about the person taking the survey. Well, it isn't a bad idea to ask people this open-ended question. But as I noted in a comment on a Statesman Journal editorial about the congestion…
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