Salem Political Snark

Demand a Salem Climate Action Plan. Speak up on June 1!

Donald Trump doesn't accept the reality of global warming. He's working to reverse our nation's environmental protection efforts aimed at reducing harmful carbon emissions. 

So this makes it even more important that Salem stand up for science, sustainability, and moving toward a 21st century economy that isn't based on outmoded fossil fuel assumptions of "drill, drill, drill" and "drive, drive, drive" (internal combustion vehicles).

Salem needs a Climate Action Plan.

Next Thursday, June 1, the City of Salem is holding a Strategic Plan Open House at the Broadway Commons from 6 to 8 pm. People need to speak up at the Open House and demand that a Climate Action Plan be added to the City of Salem's top goals and priorities. 

As I said in "Global warming denial on display at Salem City Council," earlier this month it was clear that some city councilors support a Climate Action Plan, while others appear content to stick their heads in the (increasingly hot) sand, letting the habitability of our one and only Planet Earth be wrecked in the name of science denialism.

We're the only major city in the Willamette Valley that doesn't have a Climate Action Plan, as Laurie Dougherty of Salem Climate Activists/350 OR said in her recent Salem Weekly guest opinion. 

Portland; Beaverton; Corvallis; Eugene; Ashland, Spokane; Boise; Tacoma; Boulder; Salem, Massachusetts – and on across the country and around the world. Where is Salem, Oregon? What these cities and others have that Salem lacks is a well-defined plan for dealing with the crisis of climate change. Climate change is real and already disrupting natural systems and cycles that we depend on for life and livelihood and the stability of our society. It will only get worse unless we take solutions into our own hands.

Salem, Oregon needs to be on this list.  Why bring it up now? The city council is developing a strategic plan to define its goals for the coming years. A Climate Action Plan (CAP) fits right in with those goals. A CAP will define targets and strategies for climate protection measures that will also make Salem a healthier, more energy- and resource-efficient, resilient and forward-thinking city.

What can we do to put Salem on the list?  Attend the city council’s Open House on the Salem Strategic Plan at Broadway Coffee House 1300 Broadway St.NE on June 1 at 6 pm.and support a Salem Climate Action Plan.  Sign the 350 Salem OR petition at: https://350salemor.org/.

[Here's a direct link to the petition.]

[Update: here's a CCTV "City Beat" interview Ken Adams did with Laurie Dougherty and Linda Wallmark about a Salem Climate Action Plan.]

So far, my impression of the City of Salem Strategic Planning process hasn't been very positive.

Early on public involvement was tilted toward a small number of "stakeholders" -- meaning, the Powers That Be in this town who believe that because they have more money and power than most people, they should be able to have an outsized influence on policies in this town that affect everybody.

Also, a Salem Weekly editorial accurately points out other problems with the Strategic Planning effort. Among other things, the current draft of the document is filled with words that try to say something, but really don't, as shown in this image. Below the draft vision and mission is an excerpt from the editorial.

As for the Vision: Salem is as “safe” as it has been in decades if you consider  our low, and falling, crime rate and the low incidence of fires and other emergencies. So why lead with “safe”? That only serves to justify the fact that nearly two out of every three general fund dollars goes to fund the police and fire departments, leaving our parks, libraries, social services and other city services woefully underfunded.

To aspire to a “sustainable … environment” betrays either ignorance or denial about the impact of climate change. We are well past the point where sustaining the environment is an option. And what does it mean to have a city “that is open to all?” These days what springs to mind is refugees and the “sanctuary city” concept. Is that what it means? We doubt it. What does it mean?

As for the Mission: We think it goes without saying that city services need to be “fiscally sustainable.” Could it be otherwise? This doesn’t belong in a mission. And the use of the word ‘enrich’ is over the top. Is the mission of the city really to “enrich” its “present and future residents.” Really? Good luck with that.

And how can you “enrich … the quality of the environment and neighborhoods?” That makes no sense. Ditto for “enrich … the vitality of our economy.” Your high school English teacher would have given this writing a ‘C.’ It reads like writing by committee. Always a bad idea.

Sorry, city councilors, but the Vision and Mission are a do-over.

I agree. Which makes it important for the concrete, important, scientifically-sound goal of a Salem Climate Action Plan to become part of the City's Strategic Plan. 

Preserving and protecting the environment needs to be an overarching goal that's reflected in everything the City of Salem does. It's ridiculous that climate change/environmental protection hasn't been made a high priority in the draft Strategic Plan, since citizens spoke up loud and clear for this at the first Open House held by City officials.

Let's make sure they hear our voices even more clearly on June 1. Come on by the Broadway Commons Coffee House on 1300 Broadway St. NE at 6 pm (Strategic Plan meeting will be on second floor.)

It isn't clear exactly how people will be able to speak up for a Salem Climate Action Plan, but if the open house is similar to the first one, attendees can write on "idea sheets" attached to the walls and, hopefully, also be able to express their views via an open mic. 

How citizen activism produced a much better Salem Police Facility plan

Yesterday Salem voters approved a second-try $62 million police facility bond measure.

This is a good time to recollect how citizen activism led by Salem Community Vision (and Salem Can Do Better, an offshoot formed to oppose the first-try bond measure) prevented bad police facility ideas from being implemented -- which made possible the better plan approved by voters.

Here's the "headlines" of eight citizen activism accomplishments.

Stopping a police facility from being built at the Civic Center
Stopping the Library from being converted to a police facility
Stopping the idea of building a police facility anywhere at the Civic Center
Stopping the City of Salem from taking over the block south of the Library for a police facility
Salem Community Vision urging NO vote on $82 million police facility bond
Voters rejecting Measure 24-399, the $82 million bond measure
City Council reducing second-try police facility plan by $20 million and 33,000 square feet
City of Salem putting seismic retrofitting of the Library on November 2017 ballot

Scroll down for descriptions of what each accomplishment entailed, and a blog post link (or City of Salem page, for #8) giving more details. The italicized section is an excerpt from the link.

(1) Stopping a police facility from being built at the Civic Center
City officials wanted to build the police facility next to, and over, Mirror Pond at the Civic Center, complete with very expensive underground parking. Salem Community Vision opposed this plan, noting that the Civic Center site was chosen with no public involvement.

March 12, 2014: "How the City of Salem decided to build a new police facility at the Civic Center"

The City of Salem decided to build a new police facility at the Civic Center without any public hearings or public discussion. City staff and the Mayor made this decision. 

 

All the more reason to rectify this lack of public involvement now. Before moving ahead with further planning for a new police facility at the Civic Center, City of Salem officials should form a broad-based task force to evaluate alternative potential locations. 

 

(2) Stopping the Library from being converted to a police facility
After the plan to build a police facility at the north end of the Civic Center adjacent to Mirror Pond crashed and burned due to community opposition, City officials came up with the decidedly crazy notion of converting the Library to a police facility. The Library would go somewhere else, maybe the ground floor of the Marion Parkade.

 

May 21, 2014: "Salem Public Library might be converted to a police facility"

The City of Salem is seriously considering converting the Public Library at the Civic Center into a police facility. The library would be moved to some other location in the downtown area. 

...I'd figured that the City Council would lean toward an alternative to the original $80 million plan to build a new police facility with underground parking adjacent to the current Mirror Pond. Which would become Mirror Drainage Swale after a 75,000 square foot police facility building was constructed near and over it.

But converting the 90,000 square foot Salem Public Library to a police facility... that notion had surfaced in several settings, yet seemed too far-out and controversial to be a viable alternative to the plan that the City has been promoting since last fall.

(3) Stopping the idea of building a police facility anywhere at the Civic Center
Just as Salem Community Vision had recommended in March 2014, Mayor Peterson appointed a Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Police Facility in an attempt to get the faltering project back on track. Peterson still had dreams of building a police facility at the Civic Center, but citizens spoke up at the Task Force chaired by T.J. Sullivan and said "No way."

May 21, 2014: "'Power to the people' on display at yesterday's Police Facility meeting"

When I walked in about 7:30 pm, it didn't take long for me to realize that the $80 million "Police Palace" proposal that the Mayor and City Manager had been pushing on a deeply skeptical citizenry was in trouble. 

Mayor Peterson, who usually does her best to project an aura of calm benevolence at City Council meetings, had her fussy-face on. She wasn't saying much, but her irritated expression spoke for her. Sullivan was doing his best to preserve a Civic Center police facility as a viable option, but he was floundering.

(4) Stopping the City of Salem from taking over the block south of the Library for a police facility
Proving that bad ideas die a slow death, City officials and their hired consultants came up with the not-so-bright idea of condemning the entire "Leslie  block" south of the Library and using it for a close-to-the-Civic-Center police facility. But after getting an earful from people who lived on that block or owned businesses there, this idea met a well-deserved demise.

February 29, 2016: "Impassioned testimony at City Council hearing on a new police facility"

O'BRIEN SITE ROCKS. BLOCK SOUTH OF LIBRARY SUCKS.

This is the clear message of the many people who are testifying at tonight's Salem City Council public hearing on a new police facility. Great turnout. Lots of impassioned testimony.

People who live and work at the block south of the Library (Leslie block) don't want to lose their homes and livelihood. Listening to them, I kept thinking, "Why didn't City staff and the DLR Group consultants see this coming?"

So far, nobody, repeat NOBODY, is in favor of demolishing the Leslie block for a giant police facility. But this was one of two site possibilities a City Council subcommittee came up with after hearing from the DLR Group consultants. 

(5) Salem Community Vision urging NO vote on $82 million police facility bond
Knowing that Salem's citizens didn't like the over-sized and over-priced 148,000 square feet, $82 million police facility plan presented to voters in the November 2016 election,  every member of the Salem Community Vision steering committee signed on to a voter's pamphlet statement urging a NO vote on the bond measure. 

September 14, 2016: "Five good reasons to VOTE NO on Salem's $82 million 'police palace' bond"

This argument is signed by every member of the Salem Community Vision steering committee. Salem Community Vision has been closely following the police facility planning saga since the fall of 2013, three years.

We've advocated strongly for a wise, cost-effective 75,000 square foot police facility plan that meets the Police Department's needs. yet doesn't put an excessive burden on taxpayers.

Unfortunately, City officials have gone along with the "supersized" $82 million, 148,000 square foot Police Palace plan that some Chicago consultants came up with after a local task force appointed by the Mayor recommended a 75,000 - 106,000 square foot building.

(6) Voters rejecting Measure 24-399, the $82 million bond measure
In the November election the first-try police facility plan was rejected by voters, 52% to 48%. The NO campaign was outspent about 50:1, yet people power prevailed over money power.

November 9, 2016: "Lessons for Salem from defeat of $82 million police facility bond measure"

Keep Salem Safe had lots of big name endorsements, lawn signs, a direct mailing to Salem households, a Statesman Journal editorial urging a "yes" vote on Measure 24-399, Chamber of Commerce backing -- everything that traditionally led to a political win in this town. 

Except this time it didn't.

The times are a'changing. People are a lot more skeptical of the Power Structure, whether at the national, state, or local level. Their votes aren't a given anymore if certain political buttons are pushed 

On the whole, this is a good thing. In a democracy people-power should outweigh money-power. Let's have more of it in Salem.

(7) City Council reducing second-try police facility plan by $20 million and 33,000 square feet
Forced into a Plan B for the police facility after the defeat of Measure 24-399, City officials came up with a $61.8 million, 115,000 square foot proposal. So citizen activism saved taxpayers about $35 million in total, including bond financing costs, given the $20 million reduction in the cost of the police facility. Unfortunately, seismic retrofitting of the Library wasn't included in the second-try bond measure, even though there was a lot of support for this.

February 6, 2017: "City Council seems to favor smaller, cheaper police facility and making Library earthquake-safe"

On a personal note I found it really satisfying to hear everybody talking about how to reduce the cost and size of the previous $82 million, 148,000 square foot police facility plan that was rejected by voters last November when Measure 24-399 failed.

Having led the fight against the ballot measure, yet recognizing that Salem needs a new police facility, just not the one that was previously proposed, it was deeply heartening to hear the Mayor, City Manager, city councilors, police chief, architectural consultants, City staff, and others agreeing that our community needs to find a PLAN B now that PLAN A was voted down.

...Judging from the tone of what Mayor Bennett and city councilors said tonight, my bet is that the City Council will end up going with some version of the 115,000 square foot police facility plus the Library seismic upgrades plan. But I could be wrong.

(8) City of Salem putting seismic retrofitting of the Library on November 2017 ballot
Salem Community Vision has been strongly urging that City officials make both City Hall and the Library earthquake-safe for the people who work at or visit the Civic Center. It doesn't make sense to move the Police Department out of City Hall into a seismically-sound new building, while leaving that building and the Library unsafe when the Big One earthquake hits, a matter of when, not if. So this is a big accomplishment: getting a $15 million Library bond measure on the November ballot.

May 17, 2017: "A 'Thank You' to Salem residents from Salem Mayor Chuck Bennett for passing the police facility bond"

I also want to ensure residents that it is the intention of Council and the City to put a bond on the November ballot that will fund seismic retrofitting of the City Library. As with the police bond, the City will conduct a transparent public information campaign for the Library bond. This way residents will feel confident they have a firm understanding of the facts when they fill out their ballot.

Global warming denial on display at Salem City Council

Our nation has a reality-denying president in Donald Trump. Among other things that are objectively true, yet not to his tiny mind, he believes global warming is a hoax. 

The last thing Salem needs is Trumpian City officials who refuse to accept the scientific consensus that global warming is happening, humans are the primary cause, and the world needs to take steps to reduce carbon emissions. 

(See "Let's not let horrors of Trumpism infect Salem politics.")

So when I watched part of the May 6 City Council work session on a Salem Strategic Plan, it was seriously disturbing to see Councilor Brad Nanke and Mayor Chuck Bennett exhibit clear signs of global warming denialism. 

Here's a 2-minute clip I made from the CCTV video of the work session. Nanke doesn't want to "stick a climate change name on it," because of supposed pushback from a big chunk of the community. Then Bennett reassures Nanke, "I understand your sensitivity on this, I really do."

Hey, Earth to Nanke/Bennett: the scientific truth about climate change doesn't have anything to do with how people in Salem feel about global warming. It is real; it is happening; humans are causing it; we need to do something about it.

There was more for science-lovers like me to be outraged about at the City Council work session.

My wife, Laurel, and me holding our signs at the Salem Science March

But before talking about that, here's three minutes of testimony from Linda Wallmark, representing the Salem chapter of 350.org, that warmed my climate-change-accepting heart.

Wallmark spoke about the need for the City of Salem to adopt a Climate Action Plan, just as the cities of Portland, Eugene, Corvallis, Hillsboro, and Ashland have. 

She clearly said that she was representing the local 350.org chapter in calling for this. The woman who followed Wallmark echoed her call for a Salem Climate Action plan. 

Yet later in the meeting there was this interchange about a Salem Climate Action Plan between Councilor Tom Andersen, a supporter of it, and an annoyingly dismissive Mayor Bennett.

Andersen: Okay I take that back, sure ... but that's what we pulled out of that and I'm not sure that there wasn't this stuff that should have been pulled out before, and if so I say that I'm remiss in not doing that because I think this thing is a concern to a number of people in the community.

Bennett: Well both of them were here today. Do you see?  Don't let it get down to did two people show up or ten. Our stuff arose out of a community survey of the entire community. It was open to a major public discussion. We are taking up an issue brought up by two people today.

Hey, I like snark. Just look at the name of this blog.

But snark should be truthful. When someone just makes crap up, that's not snarky. At the worst it's lying; at the best it's Trumpian "alternative facts." (Admittedly there isn't much difference between the two.)

I can assure Mayor Bennett that a very large number of people in Salem care deeply about City officials working to combat global warming through a Climate Action Plan.

Saying "both of them were here today" is an insult to everybody in this town who respects science, embraces the scientific consensus about global warming, and wants to have our planet remain a habitable place for future generations to enjoy.

Someone sent me the compendium below of remarks made by people at previous Strategic Plan community meetings. If Mayor Bennett had taken the time to read the reports prepared by the consultants hired by the City, he would have known that there's widespread support for a Climate Action Plan.

Hopefully Bennett and the other members of the City Council will have this confirmed by the people who attend a June 1 Strategic Plan open house:

Written Comments from the Strategic Planning Open House on January 31, 2017 Extracted from "Jan 31 Stakeholder Charrette + Community Open House and Neighborhood Association Chairs Work Session Summary," February 28, 2017, BDS Urban Planning & Design. There were also lots of oral comments at the meeting calling for climate action by the City of Salem.

1. I feel very strongly that climate change is a very important driver of visioning for our city. Transportation, parks, bike and pedestrian ways, walkable neighborhoods are all part of this. Growth for growth’s sake is not the way to go.
   
2. Development needs to consider climate change.
   
   
3. Some of the other major cities of Oregon have studied and adopted climate action plans aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emission in the sectors of transportation, business, daily living, energy usage and plans to deal with upcoming human-caused climate change impacts like more flooding, more fired, more drought. Our eyes are on our grandchildren's lives and also on making Salem livable … My request is that one goal we have is to update the Environmental Action Plan and set goals that will bring the greenhouse gas emissions below 350 parts (?) per million by the year 2050.
   
   
4. Climate change must be the lens thru which we examine and plan for City Central service. Plan and commit resources to a Climate Change Action plan.
   
   
5. Re-energize Salem energy Strategy, Environmental action plan.
   
   
6. Climate Change action plan.
   
   
7. Development needs to consider climate change.
   
   
8. Investment in solar & solar roadways.
   
   
9. Climate Change action plan.
   
   
10. A focus on climate change can establish priorities for infrastructure, land, water and energy use. It’s urgent. Time for Salem to deal with it.
    
    
11. Bike facilities, Electric transport, solar plant, sustainability, permaculture.
    
    
12. Climate change must be the lens thru which we examine and plan for city public works Plan, commit resources to a Climate Change Action Plan. Thank you.
    
    
13. Climate Change action plan.
    
    
14. Development needs to consider climate change.
    
    
15. Climate Change Plan- Plan and commit resources.
    
    
16. Sustainable City- carbon neutral.
    
    
17. Economy and environment are intertwined. You can’t have a healthy, vibrant economy without a healthy environment. We need to plan for adapting to climate change soon!
    
    
18. We need a Climate Action Plan.
    
    
19. Salem needs a Climate Action Plan so that we have the right kind of development.
    
    
20. A focus on climate change will tie together Land Use Transportation, Economic Development and Development of a city that works for people.
    
    
21. Environment and climate issues need drive. Public transport is critical! Land is finite, urban sprawl not route to go; spending finite land on cars is shortsighted
    
    
22. Supporting movement to solar energy.
    
    
23. Toward a carbon neutral city.
    
    
24. Climate Action Plan is needed.
    
    
25. Planning & plan to adapt and mitigate effects of climate change.

Let's not let horrors of Trumpism infect Salem politics

Yesterday's approval by the House of the dreadful TrumpCare replacement for the Affordable Care Act made me think: we've got to fight this sort of political craziness not only nationally, but also locally. 

Understand, I'm not at all denying the need for us here in Salem to support the resistance to Trump -- who threatens to destroy the foundations of what makes American great, despite his lies about doing the opposite.

I happily donated $50 to Act Blue yesterday after hearing about a campaign to fund 2018 candidates who will be taking on congressional Republicans who voted for TrumpCare in districts that Clinton won. We need to stand up for the 24 million Americans who will lose their health insurance if the House plan somehow were to become law.

But I realized that the energy of my anger at what the House of Representatives had done also needed to be channeled into positive efforts right here in Salem. After all, many of our local politicians are conservatives who subscribe to the same basic philosophy as Congressional Republicans. 

They just aren't so open about their Trumpism, largely because Salem is a liberal-leaning city that voted for Clinton over Trump 49-38, an 11-point difference. So our local Trumpies, on the City Council and elsewhere, have to keep their political schemes much more undercover.

ln Washington D.C., passage of the inhumane American Health Care Act was openly celebrated by smiling right-wing white guys. In Salem, though, we need to be alert to more subtle attempts by local politicians to inflict the same sort of suffering upon the citizenry that was on display in yesterday's passage of TrumpCare by the House.

(May it die a much-needed death in the Senate.)

Here's some of what we have to watch out for -- all of which already has been clearly evident in past actions by City officials and the Salem City Council. Just because the Council now has a 5-4 progressive majority, overturning the previous domination by conservatives, doesn't mean we can grow complacent.

(1) Lack of public input.  Every effort was made to rush TrumpCare to a vote without even letting House members know what the bill would do, much less involve the general public. We've seen the same thing go on here in Salem, and it has to stop.

For example, last year a $750,000 Urban Renewal giveaway to a private developer and approval of an Urban Growth Boundary expansion needed for the Third Bridge boondoggle were both rushed through in December before new members of the City Council were seated in January. 

It's shameful when Washington D.C. Trumpists act like they can ignore citizens just because they can. It's equally shameful when our local politicians do the same thing.

(2) Transferring wealth to the already rich and powerful. In addition to the aforementioned $750,000 urban renewal grant to former city councilor T.J. Sullivan, the Salem City Council has been in the habit of giving tax breaks to rich developers (such as Mountain West Investment) even though there's little or no evidence that these public funds are necessary to bring about private development.

Another example is the Third Bridge, or Salem River  Crossing.

Chamber of Commerce-funded politicians have voted to keep this $430 million disaster afloat (roughly a billion when financing costs are included) even though the benefits to ordinary people would be much less than what they'd be asked to pay in taxes, tolls, registration fees, and such.

The real purpose of the Third Bridge is to reward the Sprawl Lobby (realtors, developers,  contractors) by making it easier to build unneeded homes in West Salem that would be occupied in part by people who work in the southern reaches of Portland. In accord with Trumpism, the Third Bridge would be a massive transfer of wealth from those who don't have much of it to those who already do.

(3) Misdirecting attention in political sleight of hand. Truthful words don't mean much to Trumpists, so long as the verbiage serves their ends. For example, our Liar-in-Chief is claiming that TrumpCare will be better than the Affordable Care Act, when it clearly would be much worse.

For the general public. If you're rich, then TrumpCare likely will be lovely for you, since some taxes on high-income people would be eliminated. 

The general rule here is to beware of simplistic slogans. My favorite local example of this was last year's "Keep Salem Safe" campaign by the folks pushing the poorly thought-out $82 million police facility bond measure that was rightfully rejected by voters in the November 2016 election. 

I and others pointed out that keeping Salem safe means a lot more than moving Police Department staff into a vastly over-priced and oversized building that won't collapse in the coming Big One Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake that is a matter of when, not if.

Failing to make City Hall and the Library also earthquake-safe (while moving other City employees into the same space in City Hall currently occupied by the Police Department so they will be the ones crushed to death in the next Big One quake) belies the words "Keep Salem Safe: Vote for the Bond Measure."

The same reasoning, by the way, applies to the second-try police facility bond measure, which is why Salem Can Do Better is opposing it.

Look... I'm pleased and proud that Salem, along with Oregon as a whole, is much less infected with the disaster of Trumpism than is the national political scene. But we still have quite a few local right-wing politicians who favor a stealth brand that could be called Trump-lite.

This needs to be resisted, just as we resist Trump-max on the national level.