Posted inCity Council City of Salem Salem Weekly

Salem Weekly’s bright ideas for the new City Council

Salem Weekly, our alternative newspaper, is an indispensable voice for those who aren't listened to by the Powers That Be in this town. The Salem Weekly editorial board leans decidedly progressive, but that's as it should be in Salem, a city that votes liberal. Here's their end-of-year editorial -- a wish list of ideas to be considered in 2017 by the new City Council. New, because there are three fresh progressive faces on the council.  Naturally I couldn't resist adding in my own comments (in blue) on each of the 18 ideas. 18 IDEAS FOR THE NEW SALEM CITY COUNCIL…
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Posted inChamber of Commerce City of Salem

Few City of Salem “stakeholders” are ordinary citizens

Officials at the City of Salem are engaged in a strategic planning process that involves, in part, learning what sort of place people want our town to become. It's been criticized by the Breakfast on Bikes blogger in "City Strategic Planning Process too Opaque, Open House on 31st." Because of the winter storm earlier this month, the City's Open House on a strategic planning process was postponed until January 31st. At least from here the whole thing has seemed a little strange. If Council authorized it, we all missed it. If Council didn't authorize it, it's being funded by some secret…
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Posted inJohn Kitzhaber

Good to see John Kitzhaber on Salem City Club health policy panel

Ex-Governor Kitzhaber is back! Not that he ever really left Oregon, but since his resignation in 2015 Kitzhaber hasn't been very visible.  Gradually, though, he's been popping up again in the public eye, as noted in an August 2016 Willamette Week story, "The Rehabilitation of John Kitzhaber Continues," which was about his participation in a Portland health care policy conference. Today Kitzhaber was one of three panelists in a Salem City Club discussion, Policy and Impact: Healthcare Reform in Oregon. The other panelists were Jesse O'Brien, Policy Director of Oregon State Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG) and Dean Andretta, CFO…
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Posted inCara Kaser Chuck Bennett City Council

Swearing-in of three new Salem city councilors notable for what wasn’t said

Tonight there was a packed house in the City Council chambers for the swearing-in of newly elected Mayor Chuck Bennett and four city councilors: Cara Kaser, Sally Cook, Matt Ausec, and Brad Nanke.  Bennett and Nanke were already on the City Council (Bennett moved to Mayor from his Ward 1 seat now held by Kaser). So the big turnout mostly was due to progressives wanting to celebrate the election of Kaser, Cook, and Ausec.  The three of them join fellow progressive Tom Andersen to form a much-needed counterweight to the conservative majority that has dominated the City Council for quite…
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Posted inChuck Bennett T.J. Sullivan Urban Renewal

Salem Business Journal publishes my urban renewal “crony capitalism” story

"If you can write an Urban Renewal story by tomorrow noon, I will run it in the January Business Journal." This was the good news part of a reply I received from Bruce Taylor, publisher of the Salem Business Journal, after asking him via email if he was interested in a story about problems with the City of Salem's urban renewal agency.  I was pleased to get Bruce's positive response. The bad news part was, I read his message about five hours after he sent it, having been totally absorbed until about 8:30 pm in watching the mesmerizing men's basketball…
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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 inPolice facility

“No organized opposition” to $82 million police facility bond levy? Fighting words, Oregon Pioneer.

How do you argue with the "golden man" statue on top of the Capitol building? Through a blog post! I'm sure the Oregon Pioneer reads Salem Political Snark, since he's sitting right on top of a whole lot of fodder for political snarkiness. Of course, I guess it's possible that the regular Musings of the Oregon Pioneer column in the Salem Business Journal isn't written by the statue.  Regardless, the column in the December 2016 issue contains some fighting words. Download SBJ piece about new police station Last November 8, the voters turned down a new $82 million police station at…
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Posted inCity of Salem Downtown T.J. Sullivan

Salem City officials asked to explain $749,000 giveaway. Waiting for answers…

Do Salem's Mayor, Mayor-elect, city councilors, and other officials care about Truth and Transparency? In a few weeks we'll find out.  By January 6 I've asked them to explain -- in a simple, clear fashion -- why a $749,000 urban renewal grant was approved for the Park Front building on December 12. The applicant was T.J. Sullivan, a former city councilor and current vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce. I asked city councilors to say why they were going to vote "Yay" or "Nay" on the $749,000 when I testified in opposition to this giveaway during the public comment period…
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Posted in2016 election Citizen involvement

Facebook post boosts are an Oregon election independent expenditure

Just what I wanted for Christmas: an Oregon election law violation! I've already unwrapped it (by opening an envelope that came from the Secretary of State office) and am "wearing" it proudly. After all, I had no idea that there was a requirement to register as an Independent Expenditure Filer if someone spends $750 or more in a calendar year in support of, or opposition to, candidates or ballot measures independently of those officially involved in a campaign (like, the candidate, a PAC, and so on). So I openly and happily wrote a blog post after the May primary election,…
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Posted inPolice facility

City of Salem leasing old O’Brien auto site until June 2017

I wasn't aware that the City of Salem was leasing the old O'Brien auto dealership site north of downtown until I read about this in a recent Statesman Journal story, "Salem preps old dealership for homeless warming shelter." The city of Salem dispatched staff Tuesday to ready the old O’Brien Auto Group space for the homeless to use as a warming shelter while coming winter nights are expected to dip below freezing....The city leases the O’Brien property, which would have been the site for a new police facility if the measure to fund it hadn’t failed this November. O'Brien site when it was…
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Posted inT.J. Sullivan Urban Renewal

Urban renewal crony capitalism is alive and well in Salem (may it die soon)

Last night the Salem Urban Renewal Agency board, which is just the City Council by another name, approved a $749,000 grant to T.J. Sullivan for his Park Front office building. Nine days ago I called this "crony capitalism" in a blog post written after Sullivan's application came to light. Nothing I saw at yesterday's meeting changed my mind.  Here's a video of my testimony, which includes an interchange between Councilor Jim Lewis and me. I'll share the text of what I said at the end of this post. My central points were based on two indisputable facts: (1) The City of…
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Posted in2016 election

Salem is getting even more liberal. Clinton won everywhere!

I just got 2016 Clinton vs. Trump election results for Salem from someone who, as with the 2012 Obama vs. Romney results, shall be known as a "fellow political junkie." There's some positive news for us local liberals/progressives in this Age of Trump. In Salem we're getting increasingly stronger! Here's the overall result -- arrived at by aggregating vote tallies by precinct to get ward totals, which, when summed, provides a result for Salem. Clinton crushed Trump by 11%. By comparison, Obama beat Romney by almost as much, 10%. Note the disparity in the major party percentages: 87% in 2016,…
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Posted inCity Council Downtown

Salem City Hall, let’s have some citizen JOY in 2017

Yesterday I wrote a blog post about Salem City Council goings-on that had "sad" and "pathetic" in its title. I don't enjoy doing this. I'd much rather be writing about the marvelous things City officials are doing that make almost everybody in town joyful.  But I can't do this, because such isn't happening. Under Mayor Anna Peterson's less than inspiring reign, she and her Chamber of Commerce-backed city council majority have chosen to focus on what pleases the already rich and powerful in Salem -- not on the needs and wants of ordinary people.  So, to offer up one significant…
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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 inT.J. Sullivan

More crony capitalism in Salem: $750,000 for T.J. Sullivan’s downtown building

Man, the outrages never end when it comes to the Powers That Be in this town financially rewarding... get ready for a non-shocking revelation... other members of the Powers That Be. The newest example of Salem's crony capitalism is T.J. Sullivan's request to the Downtown Advisory Board for $749,999 to help pay for the $8.9 millionPark Front office building on the old Boise Cascade property adjacent to Riverfront Park. See: Download DAB agenda 12-01-16 Note: Sullivan's request letter asks for $749,000, but I guess the Downtown Advisory Board threw in an extra $999 just to get the total tantalizingly close…
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Posted inCity Council Daniel Benjamin

Citizens speak to City Council about racism and bigotry in Salem

Last night I was thankful to be part of a beautiful discussion of an ugly subject: racism, misogyny, and other forms of bigotry here in Salem, Oregon. The City Council meeting was held in the Library's Loucks Auditorium because so many people were expected to speak about the resignation of Ward 6 councilor Daniel Benjamin following his Facebook sharing of a video showing Black Lives Matter protesters being rammed by cars.  That expectation came true. The auditorium was almost filled to capacity when the meeting started. (I took this photo earlier than that.) Dozens of people used the public comment…
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Posted inCity of Salem National politics

Police officers involved in another Salem social media uproar

Following on the heels of the Daniel Benjamin scandal, which ended with his resignation as a city councilor after he shared a Facebook post about Black Lives Matter protesters being run down by cars, now Salem is getting more bad social media attention. This time a Salem police officer and a Marion County Sheriff's deputy are in the news. A Chicago woman has accused them of "trolling" her after she left a comment -- I am going -- on a Facebook link about a Women's March on Washington the day after Donald Trump's inauguration. Here's a KGW video about the…
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Posted inDaniel Benjamin

Daniel Benjamin was arrested twice for beating up women in the 1990’s

Yesterday social media in Salem became abuzz with the news that a call had been made for City Councilor Daniel Benjamin to resign after he posted a racially charged video on Facebook that shows Black Lives Matter protesters being struck by speeding cars. Here's the KATU story that set off the uproar. (It should play after a brief ad.) Now there's a Facebook page demanding the immediate resignation of Benjamin. When I signed on this morning, 17 people said they planned to go to the Monday, November 28 meeting of the Salem City Council to urge that this happens. Currently…
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Posted inDowntown Police facility

Rumor: City plans to buy police facility site with urban renewal funds

A credible source has told me that, following the defeat of the $82 million police facility bond measure a few weeks ago, City officials plan to use urban renewal funds to buy the old O'Brien auto dealership site where the police facility was planned to be built. The budget for the facility showed $5.5 million for site acquisition. I believe the City of Salem had an option to buy the property, which apparently is owned by the Delon family, but the option expires before next year. Hence, the need to find a way to tie up the police facility site…
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Posted inCity of Salem Peter Fernandez Sabre Ridge Estates

City of Salem favors rich developers over ordinary people

Here's a 3 1/2 minute excerpt from a half-hour interview Greg Fabos and I did with Ken Adams on his Salem CCTV show, "The Valley View." After some remarks by me, Greg speaks about how he's seen Salem change for the worse over the years when it comes to rich developers being able to trample on the rights of ordinary people. He says: There's a real negative feeling about what's happening in Salem, and I've been here a long time. It used to be a nice well-run city with, I felt, good concern for its citizens. Right now, it's at…
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