Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

Salem City Council to vote on tolling a 3rd Bridge (and likely existing bridges)

Are you ready and willing to pay a $1.50 toll each way to cross the Willamette River between West Salem and the downtown area? I'm sure not. But the Salem City Council is going to vote on this at their meeting on Monday, February 13, 6:oo pm, at City Hall. I'm urging citizens to tell Mayor Bennett and the seven city councilors (one seat is vacant) that, in short, NO WAY DO I WANT TO PAY A TOLL TO CROSS THE RIVER. You can email them: citycouncil@cityofsalem.netYou can testify during the public comment period (3 minutes maximum). Here's info posted…
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Posted inChuck Bennett Third Bridge

Mayor Bennett is wrong: Third Bridge plan can’t be changed easily

Words matter. The truth matters. It really bothers me when an elected official -- whether President-elect Trump, Salem Mayor Bennett, or anyone else -- says stuff in a public forum that is flat-out false.  Chuck Bennett has been doing that in regard to the Third Bridge. Fortunately, knowledgeable people are correcting his misstatements. I did that yesterday in "Mayor Bennett either deceptive or wrong about Third Bridge planning." I did that three months ago in "Mayor-elect Bennett doesn't understand Third Bridge approval process." And I'm doing that tonight in this post. Because again... Words matter. The truth matters.  As I…
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Posted inChuck Bennett Third Bridge

Mayor Bennett either ignorant or deceptive about Third Bridge planning

Last Monday's Salem City Council meeting was a poor start for newly-elected Mayor Chuck Bennett. After Councilor Tom Andersen asked some good questions of City staff about how the design of the proposed Salem River Crossing (a.k.a. the Billion Dollar Boondoggle) could affect a West Salem agenda item, Bennett spoke up, telling Andersen that there wasn't a design for the bridge.  Which is wrong. Of course there is. Mayor Bennett didn't speak the truth. Have a look:  Here's what the No 3rd Bridge folks said in a Facebook post about Bennett's falsehood. MAYOR BENNETT PRACTICES "POST-TRUTH POLITICS"Hey it worked for…
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Posted inCity of Salem Third Bridge

City of Salem Third Bridge actions being appealed to LUBA. Yay!

Salem don't need no damn billion dollar Third Bridge boondoggle. That's one way of putting it. Another way is, The Salem River Crossing project has been marked by poor planning that failed to properly consider much less expensive and more environmentally-friendly alternatives to achieving the purported benefits of an additional bridge across the Willamette. Regardless, recent land use actions by the City of Salem in support of the Third Bridge by expanding Salem's urban growth boundary are being appealed by opponents of the Third Bridge to the Land Use Board of Appeals, LUBA. Thumbs up! Here's their press release. December…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

Third Bridge sadly staggers on in pathetic City Council meeting

Tonight five clueless members of the Salem City Council voted to move ahead with the unneeded, unwanted, and unpaid-for Third Bridge, a.k.a. the Salem River Crossing.  Let it be remembered who supported this billion dollar boondoggle: Mayor-elect and current city councilor Chuck Bennett, along with fellow councilors Steve McCoid, Jim Lewis, Brad Nanke, and Warren Bednarz. Councilors Tom Andersen and Diana Dickey voted against the bridge. Bednarz was roundly defeated in this year's election by Third Bridge skeptic Sally Cook. So his vote tonight can't hurt him. But Bennett, McCoid, and Lewis will be up for re-election in 2018. Their opponents…
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Posted inChuck Bennett Third Bridge

Mayor-elect Bennett doesn’t understand Third Bridge approval process

It's a big deal when Salem's Mayor-To-Be appears to be clueless about what needs to happen before a plan for the proposed $430 million Third Bridge across the Willamette can be approved by the Federal Highway Administration. Chuck Bennett takes office in January 2017. Hopefully he will educate himself in the next few months about the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and what is required before a NEPA Environmental Impact Statement can be given a thumbs-up by the Federal Highway Administration. Today the No 3rd Bridge folks put up a post called "The Mayor-elect does not understand the NEPA process."…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

Third Bridge planning by City of Salem is horrendously bad

Billion dollars, so what? Just trust us and pay the bill.   In a nutshell, that's how officials at the City of Salem are approaching the Billion Dollar Boondoggle, known also as the Salem River Crossing, Third Bridge, or Preferred Alternative. They're rushing to get an Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) expansion approved that's necessary for the proposed bridgeheads on either side of the Willamette.  There's a joint hearing tonight at the 55+ Center, 6 - 9 pm, to hear public testimony on the UGB expansion. The Salem City Council, the Keizer City Council, the Marion County Commission and the Polk…
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Posted inThird Bridge

Third Bridge lies, deception, and public records tampering

The current crop of conservatives running Salem's City Hall (hopefully, not for much longer) have done a lot of outrageous stuff. But the Numero Uno outrage has to be the Billion Dollar Boondoggle, a.k.a. the Salem River Crossing, or the Third Bridge.  Before I describe the latest piece of sleaze that's been laid on top of this special interest crap pile, let's review some of the history of this mess.  In June 2013 the Salem City Council voted to approve a "Salem Alternative" design for the bridge. I wrote about this in Salem City Council votes for Third Bridge in…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

Third Bridge opponents and supporters have very different visions for Salem

I came away from last night's City Council meeting highly encouraged about the future of Salem. Sure, the immediate outcome was discouraging: a 6-2 vote to move ahead with an expansion of the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) to accommodate what I like to call the Billion Dollar Boondoggle, a third vehicular bridge across the Willamette that is unneeded, unwanted (by most people), and unpaid-for.  Councilors Tom Andersen and Diana Dickey voted against the UGB expansion. Councilor Jim Lewis was absent. That left Mayor Anna Peterson and Councilors Chuck Bennett, Steve McCoid, Daniel Benjamin, Warren Bednarz, and Brad Nanke on the…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

More Third Bridge outrages revealed at City Council meeting

The biggest story that hardly anybody is aware of here in Salem, Oregon is a billion dollar Third Bridge across the Willamette River. If ever built (and that's a big IF), it would be the largest public works project in Salem history. But our secretive Mayor and her City Council majority are doing their best to keep citizens uninformed and uninvolved, hoping that few people will notice a horrendous waste of taxpayer dollars on a bridge that doesn't solve any transportation problems, but lines the pockets of the Sprawl Lobby -- those who profit from unneeded government spending on boondoggles…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

Salem’s Mayor gets irked at my No 3rd Bridge sign

"Teacher, um, no, I mean MAYOR, don't kick me out of the City Council meeting! It was my pal who put me up to it, REALLY!" I felt like saying this when Mayor Anna Peterson interrupted a staff presentation at tonight's Salem City Council work session on the Salem River Crossing, a.k.a. the Billion Dollar Third Bridge Boondoggle. Check out this one-minute video.   But Peterson was so irked at me peacefully holding the sign that Jim Scheppke had given me, I decided to non-meekly put the sign in my lap rather than incur the Wrath of Anna and risk…
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Posted inCity Council Third Bridge

Salem City Council trying to sneak through billion dollar Third Bridge

Here's some juicy City of Salem gossip I heard today which has a ring of truth -- because it fits with the habitual secretive modus operandi of the Mayor and her right-wing city council majority:  Do the public's business as far outside of public view as possible, because that way it's easier for special interests like the Chamber of Commerce to wield their influence on Salem's local politicians.  What I was told by a usually reliable source is that City officials are hellbent to get local government approvals for the billion dollar Third Bridge boondoggle as far along as possible before January…
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