Salem Political Snark

Looks like paid parking is coming to downtown Salem. Bad idea?

Downtown parking here in Salem used to be free and unlimited, if my memory serves me correctly. Then parking was still free, but limited in hours -- currently three. 

In 2013, when downtown parking was free with a two hour limit, city officials planned to install parking meters. That idea was met with strong resistance from downtown businesses and led to a petition drive spearheaded by downtown resident and business owner Carole Smith aimed at stopping paid parking.

The City Council ended up implementing the initiative language rather than let it go to a vote of the people. That allowed the Council to be able to change the language in the future themselves instead of having free parking locked into the city statutes. 

Today I was reminded that paid parking was approved in a rather sneaky way in 2023 when the City Council voted to request that staff prepare a plan for paid on-street parking in the downtown area. An excellent in-depth story today by Abbey McDonald about the state of downtown in the Salem Reporter, "The problems and promise of downtown Salem," said:

[Councilor] Stapleton said the city is investing in improvements to downtown sidewalks, storefronts and is renovating its parking garages.

She thinks a major step in improving downtown will come when the city implements paid parking, which councilors approved last year. The goal is to bring in more money to support parking improvements, and phase out the downtown business tax that currently pays for street parking and parkade maintenance.

The paid parking will fund security in the parking garages, maintenance of parkades and parking spaces and decorations like flower baskets from light posts. The city will begin outreach and engagement for the paid parking plan next month, said city spokeswoman Nicole Miller. 

“I know some people are going to have mixed feelings about going to paid parking, but in the end, this is going to be beneficial for downtown businesses, and that is a key part of why we are doing this,” Stapleton said.

I suspect that "mixed feelings" is an understatement when people realize that parking downtown on the street is going to require a trip to one of those machines that handle paid parking outside of downtown. Some downtown businesses and regular visitors will favor paid parking, but many will hate the idea.

This is why the city spokeswoman said that outreach and engagement for the paid parking plan will begin in October. Another way to put it other than "outreach and engagement" is sales job. 

I go to a Tai Chi class on downtown's Court Street three days a week. Usually I park for free on the street. Occasionally I use the Commercial Street parking garage. I never pay for parking anywhere in Salem. Every business I patronize offers free parking. 

That's why I worry about making downtown Salem a paid on street parking area. Sure, the parking garages will still be free, but I prefer not to use them. It's more convenient and pleasant for me to park on the street. 

Now, it could be argued that we're spoiled here in Salem. Large cities typically have paid parking in their urban cores. There's sound environmental reasons to prefer this, since making automotive travel cheaper and easier goes against the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

I get that. But here's part of what I said in my 2023 post about downtown parking meters:

I'm uncertain about whether having parking meters in downtown Salem is a good or bad idea. It all depends on the details.

I'd view parking meters more favorably if the City of Salem dedicated the revenue from them to making improvements in downtown Salem. Deciding on how that money would be spent should be up to a genuine independent Downtown Association, which currently doesn't exist. 

Using parking meter money to maintain the parking garages, where parking is free for downtown visitors, doesn't make a lot of sense. Why not charge for parking in the parking garages, so they are self-sustaining? 

By improvements, I don't mean just hanging flower baskets. I mean changes to downtown that would make the sidewalks much more attractive and pleasant. City officials put a lot of work into streetscape designs for downtown Salem not too long ago. Few of those improvements have been made.

If I knew that the money I was paying to park downtown was going to make the area appreciably better, I'd be much happier. Paying for maintenance and security in the parking garages isn't a great selling point for me. 

Salem City Council facing tough choices on revenue-raising options

It wouldn't be surprising if Mayor Hoy and the other members of the Salem City Council have a bit of post-traumatic stress as they get serious at next Monday's council meeting about choosing an option to raise revenue for city services, which are heading for a $15 million shortfall in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2025. 

That figure is in an informative Salem Reporter story, "Library advocates push for property tax increase to restore Salem library hours."

Local library advocates organizing through the group Fund Our Libraries Now are asking the Salem City Council to seek voter approval for a property tax increase to fund the city’s library system.

The city council will meet Monday at 6 p.m. to continue discussions about how to best address the city’s $15 million budget deficit expected in the next year. 

Library leaders cut hours in January, closing the main library branch on Sunday and reducing the West Salem branch to two days per week.

If the city doesn’t raise more revenue through taxes, fees or other means, City Manager Keith Stahley’s budget plans call for deep cuts, including the closure of the West Salem branch next year. 

The stress would be caused by a previous failed attempt to raise revenue through an employee payroll tax on everybody who works in Salem, whether or not they live here. That option was referred to the voters through a business-backed initiative campaign, where it failed big time on the November 2023 ballot with a dismal 18% of the vote. 

Of course, the four councilors who supported a referral to the public rather than passing it through a City Council vote -- Julie Hoy, Deanna Gwyn, Jose Gonzalez, Vanessa Nordyke -- probably feel less stress at this point than the five councilors who supported bypassing a public vote: Mayor Chris Hoy, Virginia Stapleton, Trevor Phillips, Micky Varney, Linda Nishioka.

The public comments for next Monday's council meeting are entirely in support of a Livability Levy that would pay for library, parks, recreation, and Center 50+ in line with a local option property tax levy that was one of the recommendations of the Revenue Task Force that presented its final report to the council on July 15. Jim Scheppke and other backers of the library deserve a lot of credit for marshaling so much support for this important service.

However, while many of the public comments say that the Livability Levy was recommended by the Revenue Task Force, actually this is just one of the property tax examples in the group's report.

The Revenue Task Force didn't express a preference for which of the eight options it presented to the City Council should be implemented.

This surprised me.

When I first looked at the report of the Revenue Task Force, I kept expecting to learn which of the eight revenue raising options were most favored by the task force. Apparently the group couldn't agree on that, so they just forwarded every option to the City Council with an implied "you guys are going to have to decide what to do."

That'll be a difficult decision.

Choose wrong, and another defeat at the ballot box would be a disaster for the City of Salem. Sure, you get three strikes in baseball before you're called out, but two losses at the hands of voters would be a major setback. City officials then would have to make do with the options that don't require a vote of the people.

Likely some members of the City Council will favor a local option property tax levy that funds the police and fire departments, while others will favor the Livability Levy mentioned above. Personally, and I speak as someone who lives outside of the city limits, so I'm not financially affected with what's decided, I think the personal income tax option deserves serious consideration.

An income tax can be tailored to exempt people who make less than a certain amount, and to have people with the highest incomes pay a higher percentage than those with lower incomes.

Property taxes aren't levied on an ability to pay, but on the value of the property. So someone with a high income who lives in an inexpensive house gets off easy, while someone with a low income who lives in an expensive house has to pay more.

Sure, a city income tax would be a new tax in Salem and need some explaining. A benefit of choosing this option would be the side-stepping of whether the police and fire departments are a higher funding priority than the library, parks, and 50+ center. Receipts from an income tax could simply go into the general fund, where they would be used to pay for any services in the city budget. 

This would make the "Yes on ___" campaign message simpler.

The pitch would be that if the city income tax proposal passes, all of the services currently provided by the City of Salem would be protected from cuts. Otherwise the campaign will have to explain why this service is more deserving than that service, if a property tax dedicated for certain programs is put before voters.

Here's a great message from Trevor Phillips, departing Ward 3 city councilor

Trevor Phillips, the Ward 3 Salem City Councilor, didn't run for re-election this year. Instead, he endorsed Nathan Soltz, a fellow progressive, who narrowly lost to Shane Matthews in the May election.

On June 20 Phillips posted a message on Facebook about Matthews' win and a look back at what Phillips was proud of accomplishing during his time on the City Council, and what he regretted: the decision to impose a employee payroll tax on Salem workers to meet a budget shortfall. 

I liked the message a lot. Honest. Nicely written. Substantive. You'll be missed on the City Council, Trevor. But your reasons for leaving made a lot of sense. Here's the message. I corrected a few typos.

Trevor Phillips

Mr. [Shane] Matthews received sufficient votes to serve on the Salem City Council for Ward 3. His 4 year term will begin in January 2025. This is the normal cycle for Salem City Council volunteer positions. I plan to complete my term and serve through the end of this year.

 

This was a close election. While this is not the outcome that I had hoped for, I accept the results of this election.

 

I would like to thank Nathan Soltz for running a great campaign. Both Nathan and Shane have said that they will try to work together on behalf of the residents of Ward 3 and Salem moving forward.

 

Nathan's campaign was out spent by a margin of $21,000 to $73,000. I have very real concerns about the influence of big money in all elections, but especially in these local nonpartisan small government elections.

 

My experience on Salem City Council has been transformational on a personal level. I've put in a ton of volunteer time trying to quickly catch up to speed with our local processes and current issues.

 

I am proud of the work that our City has accomplished in the last 3.5 years. When I first decided to run, I never imagined serving during a worldwide respiratory virus pandemic. COVID-19 was really really rough for everyone. Being both a local leader and a full time emergency room physician during the pandemic was just next level stressful more frequently than I would prefer.

 

Serving in those two positions during Forest fire smoke of September 2020 (as a Councilor-Elect), the Ice Storm of 2021, the heat dome, and entirely remotely for the first 2 years on Council was a lot.

 

Positive things that stand out include:

 

Passing the comprehensive plan update, passing the strategic plan update, investing millions of ARPA funds and State funds into our local managed micro shelters and the navigation center, passing the infrastructure and Livability bond, unanimously passing a resolution to declare healthcare a Fundamental Right, passing so many policy changes to help / begin / continue to address safety issues for all modes of transportation, hiring a new city manager... These were worthwhile experiences. I am hopeful that our City will benefit from these things for decades to come.

 

Locally, seeing Reed Road built was really cool.

 

And yes, we have got real and profound issues left to tackle. Every city in Oregon and every school district in Oregon is stuck with a structural budget issue that just sucks. No city or school board in our state has sufficient revenue to continue services at past levels. Our property tax system is broken.

 

My response to the math was to advocate for a solution that was feasible to implement. I am sorry for putting my colleagues and our community through the process of considering the deeply flawed payroll tax.

 

It was a mess. It was easy for the opposition critique. It was impossible to get sufficient residents and voters to approve. My "hope" was that we could just fix the staffing crisis in our city and build out more resiliency in libraries and first responders as a council action. I thought that there was a chance that an insufficient number signatures would be collected to force a vote. And at a bare minimum, I thought that by going all in on the need to raise revenue we could at least elevate peoples awareness of the math and realities we are dealing with.

 

I feel like we / I clearly failed on that front in the short term, and it's at best incomplete in the moderate to long term. More work and decisions will come from the revenue task force and council moving forward. I wouldn't do things the same way knowing what I know now.

 

And, not that anyone asked, after March or April of 2023 I knew that I couldn't run for re-election. I have had too many close family members deal with problems like strokes and other health issues that I just couldn't keep volunteering 20 to 30 hours a week while working full-time in the ER. It's too much. I needed to tap out. I am grateful for all of the volunteers, colleagues on Council, community members and outstanding staff that I got to meet and learn from along the way.

 

If I could part on one note, please don't give up. Voting matters. It has a profound impact on so many things. There's a huge for profit effort to convince so many of us that we and our votes don't matter. They are wrong. We have real power. Show up. Vote!

 

Sincerely,

Trevor Phillips, MD

Salem Ward 3 Councilor

Bush Park baseball stadium expansion moves forward with Parks Board vote

The Salem Reporter is doing a great job keeping our community informed about plans for improving the Willamette University baseball field at Bush Park, which would host summer games for a new Salem for-profit team that would join the West Coast League.

Yesterday a story was published about a Thursday meeting of the Parks Advisory Board where the baseball project moved forward. Here's an excerpt from "City parks board advances plans for Spec Keene Stadium."

Members of Salem’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board on Thursday voted in support of an updated agreement with Willamette University advancing plans to use a stadium adjacent to Bush’s Pasture Park for a for-profit summer baseball league.

The agreement would allow Willamette University to encroach slightly on the city park for improvements at the university-owned Spec Keene and McCulloch Stadium.

Following concerns raised by neighbors, the board recommended a final agreement including a requirement Willamette offer shuttle service and other measures intended to address concerns about parking and impact.

Willamette and Salem Baseball plan to use the stadium as the home field for a new team in the West Coast League that includes the Portland Pickles. The team would host about 27 games each summer. The university would also update the softball stadium at 501 14th St. S.E.

The plans include added accessibility, new fencing and a new field light pole. The project received $3 million in taxpayer money from state legislators earlier this year, primarily because the development will allow local high schools to use the field for free. Lara Tiffin, who directs athletics for the school district, said high schools will use their own fields when the weather’s nice, but the turf fields will be a benefit when it’s rainy.

Neighborhood opposition is having an impact on the project, though I suspect that this won't be enough to derail the stadium improvements. 

After all, there's been quite a bit of buy-in from the City of Salem, Willamette University, the Salem Baseball Club, and the Salem-Keizer School District. 

In December 2023 a Memorandum of Understanding was entered into by the City of Salem, Willamette University, and the Salem Baseball Club. In January 2024 the West Coast League announced that a Salem team would be added, name to be determined later, since Salem Baseball Club is just a placeholder. (Hopefully the name will be more appealing than Portland Pickles, a current league team.)

Friday, the West Coast League happily announced the addition of its 17th member in Salem, Oregon, opening play in 2025. The Salem Baseball Club will join the Springfield Drifters, Bend Elks, Corvallis Knights, and Portland Pickles as the league’s fifth Oregon-based team.

“When you look at a map,” said WCL Commissioner Rob Neyer, “adding another team in the Willamette Valley is an easy call for us. We were simply waiting for the perfect situation, and with the Salem Baseball Club, that’s now exactly what we’ve got.”

The Salem Baseball Club name is a placeholder until a new team name, logo, and mascot are determined and unveiled to the public. SBC will play its home games at Willamette University’s ballpark in downtown Salem.

A March 2024 Salem Reporter story, "Fans abound for stadium upgrade but critics worry about impact on Bush Park," noted that the for-profit team will use unpaid college players for the summer league. 

State legislators recently earmarked $3 million from taxpayers to pay for upgrading the stadium.

University officials propose to replace grass with artificial turf, install new and taller field lights, open more entryways and add field netting.

The university then would turn over the stadium for the summer to Salem Baseball LLC. The company is led by Luke Emanuel, a Salem native who worked eight years as director of baseball operations at the University of Oregon.

Emanuel’s company bought the Salem franchise for the West Coast League and wants Keene Stadium to be its home field. The league features college players who are between school seasons.

As Emanuel envisions the scene, up to 1,500 fans would settle into stadium seats for 27 home games a season. They’d have access to concessions, including beer, and likely pay no more than $10 for a ticket to a game, Emanuel said.

...The request came with a host of endorsing letters. The Salem-Keizer School District’s coordinator of athletics said high schools expect to rent the fields “on a regular basis.”

The Boys & Girls Club of Salem Marion and Polk Counties said it anticipated using the ball field for summer camp, flag football and fundraising tournaments. The Family YMCA of Marion & Polk Counties said the project would “provide space for youth and adults to participate in multi-sport camp programs.”

Upgrading the fields would help Salem’s economy, Travel Salem said in its letter.

“The positive ripple effects of this investment will be felt through increased tourism, local business engagement, and the overall enhancement of Salem’s reputation as a sports destination,” the organization wrote.

As I said in my first blog post about this project, this is one of those issues where proponents and opponents each have valid arguments for why the stadium expansion and summer use by Salem Baseball LLC should either move forward or be stopped in its tracks.

The stadium expansion does seem like a done deal, since most of the money for it has been raised. However, it requires approval by the Salem Council, given that part of the expansion would be on Bush Park land.

If that happens, seemingly use of the stadium by Salem Baseball LLC would be a matter decided between the LLC and Willamette University, which owns the stadium. But I could be wrong about this.

Expanded baseball field in Bush Park draws opposition and support

"If you build it they will come." Most people think this was a famous line in the movie Field of Dreams, as regards a baseball field, but actually the line was "If you build it he will come." One person, not lots. 

Here in Salem, there's both a lot of anxiety and a lot of excitement over a proposed expansion of the Willamette University baseball field into Bush Park (yeah, its official name is Bush's Pasture Park, but few use it). Opponents worry that if the stadium is built, they will indeed come, causing noise, parking, and other problems for the neighborhood.

A story in today's Salem Reporter by Abbey McDonald, "Neighbors question public benefit, impact as Spec Keene Stadium plans advance," starts off this way:

A procedural vote Thursday that would advance plans to develop an existing baseball field adjacent to Bush’s Pasture Park for professional play has become a rallying point for Salem residents opposing the project over concerns about parking, noise and neighborhood impacts.

Salem’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board is scheduled to vote in a 1 p.m. meeting on an update to the city’s agreement with Willamette University for the university’s use of Spec Keene Stadium, McCulloch Stadium and Bush’s Pasture Park.

The update is a step in the Willamette University and Salem Baseball plan to use Spec Keene Stadium as the home field for a new home team in the West Coast League that includes the Portland Pickles.

The plan for the stadium includes installing synthetic turf, new lights, an adjusted entryway and field netting at John Lewis Field, according to a report from Parks Planning Manager Rob Romanek. The plans also include added accessibility, new fencing and a new field light pole. 

The project received $3 million in taxpayer money from state legislators earlier this year, primarily because the development will allow local high schools to use the field.

Though the stadium is owned by Willamette University, its location is surrounded on three sides by Bush’s Pasture Park. That has brought questions from some neighbors about the impact large sporting events and new equipment would bring to the historic area.

The well-researched Salem Reporter story has many more details about the stadium, including how it will be used by local high school teams who lack synthetic turf on their own fields. 

This is one of those issues where it's easy to sympathize with both those who think the stadium is a great idea, and those who think it is a terrible idea. The Salem City Council has to approve the plan, since it involves some parts of Bush Park. They'll have to consider the pros and cons, then make what likely will be a tough decision for most of the councilors.

My wife, Laurel, is opposed to the stadium, believing that it will harm the character of Bush Park. She shared with me a message from Joan Stembridge, who is one of those leading the opposition. 

Dear Friends and Neighbors and Interested Salem Residents,

 

I am offering each one of you the opportunity to sign your name onto public written testimony that I will be sending to the Salem Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (SPRAB) very soon.  The Board is meeting next week. (Thursday, 6/13/24)  The Board advises the Salem City Council.

 

The issue is this:  Willamette University and the City of Salem want to expand the footprint of Willamette University's baseball stadium further into Bush park for the purpose of having a for-profit summer league college level baseball team to take up residence in Bush Park's John Lewis Field.

 

The for-profit team would play evenings in June, July and August.  With a home season of at least 27 games....  With the games starting around 6pm and going possibly late in the evening when the park is now closed.

 

The owner of the team hopes there will be at least 500 cars of fans coming to each game.... which will completely overwhelm the 420 parking spaces in Bush Park. 

 

Bush Park is a well loved and heavily used park, especially in the summer months when families and friends from all over Salem come to enjoy evenings of picnics, walking, jogging, and free play.  This is why I am so concerned about the idea of a baseball business moving into Bush Park.  Those Salem residents who want to drive to Bush Park for a relaxing family evening will likely be "out of luck".

 

Please read the written testimony.  And, if you are wanting to support keeping Bush Park as a inner city oasis of beauty for the whole community to enjoy, please respond back to my email with your name and Ward number or your neighborhood association name.  (If you are in doubt, please just give your address and I will find your ward/neighborhood association information.)

 

If you have friends and neighbors who enjoy Bush Park and would be concerned about having the summer evenings usurped by a for-profit baseball business, please send my testimony to your friends and let them know they would be welcome to sign on to my letter to the Salem Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.

 

I will also be sending this letter on to the City Council, as the Salem City Council will be voting on this proposition in the future.  It will be educational for the City Council to know how residents all over Salem feel about having Bush Park taken over by a private business.

 

Thank you for your consideration,

Sincerely,

Joan Stembridge, Ward 2

Here's some images of the stadium that were in the Salem Reporter story, courtesy of Willamette University. 

Salem City Council to consider Gaza ceasefire resolution. Hope it passes.

Next Tuesday, May 28, the Salem City Council will consider adoption of a resolution drafted by the city's Human Rights Commission regarding the Israel-Hamas war. It calls for:

An immediate and permanent ceasefire, an end to the hostilities, the free flow of humanitarian aid and the release of all civilian hostages.

Hard to see how any member of the City Council could object to that, though I bet some will (Mayor-elect Julie Hoy, for one).

The only viable argument against the resolution that I can come up with is that Israel should be able to continue going after Hamas fighters until they're all dead or surrendered, even though by Israel's own admission they've been killing more innocent Palestinians in Gaza than Hamas fighters.

There's greater weight on the side of the resolution, given what I know about this conflict, which includes Israel's horrible treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank for decades, a fact beyond dispute. 

The United States has acknowledged that Israel hasn't been complying with international law in its conduct of the war.

But since President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken are so wishy-washy when it comes to standing up against Israeli atrocities, they decided to take the easy way out and merely restrict the transfer of large 2,000 pound bombs to Israel, instead of cutting off offensive weapons entirely, as seems to be required by U.S. law when our weapons are being used in an inhumane fashion.

Thankfully, the International Criminal Court cares more about justice than Biden and Blinken do. The court is considering arrest warrants for the Prime Minister of Israel and the leader of Hamas. 

In a stunning announcement that drew sharp indignation from both warring parties, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor said Monday that he was seeking to charge senior figures in the Israel-Gaza conflict, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yehiya Sinwar, with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Karim Khan’s statement listed extensive charges and sought additional arrest warrants for Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and two other top Hamas leaders — Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the leader of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades better known as Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader.

The ICC is the only permanent international court that wields power to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Its announcement Monday was historic: Although Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, upon which the court is founded, the arrest warrants, if issued, would nonetheless stigmatize the country’s senior leaders.

The ICC’s pre-trial chamber will now consider Khan’s application. If it approves the request, international arrest warrants would be issued for the five men and would be enforced by the court’s 124 member states.

In addition, the International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to back off its invasion of Rafah, a city in the south of Gaza where about a million people had sought refuge from the fighting elsewhere in Gaza. 

A ruling Friday from the International Court of Justice ordering an immediate halt to Israel’s military offensive in Rafah marked a stunning rebuke of the Israeli leadership’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, including the decision to send troops and tanks into a city where more than a million Palestinians had sought refuge.

The incursion into Gaza’s southernmost city, which began May 7, has already displaced more than 800,000 people, the court said, calling the developments “exceptionally grave.” Israel must halt the operation and open the Rafah crossing for the “unhindered” provision of aid, the judges said, adding that the offensive could destroy Palestinian life in Gaza.

Israeli officials swiftly indicated that they would ignore the ruling, which is binding but difficult to enforce, even as the high-profile judgment deepened Israel’s isolation on the world stage.

So the time is right for the Salem City Council to stand for peace against mindless war. Hamas engaged in horrific terrorism in its October 7, 2023 attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel. Since, Israel has been engaged in horrific war within Gaza, killing well over 10,000 women and children in what arguably is genocide against the Palestinian people, destroying most of the residences in Gaza.

If you agree, email testimony to the City Recorder prior to Tuesday afternoon, if possible.

Background information for Tuesday's agenda item includes this statement from city staff:

Salem residents have approached Mayor and Council and called on their elected leaders to address a crisis that has continued to unfold on the world stage for more than half a year: the siege in the Gaza Strip.

The City of Salem Human Rights Commission, at the request of the Mayor, met three times over three weeks and held some six hours of public discussion on the question. During the Commission’s public engagement, the Commission performed outreach to faith communities, received more than fifty pages of public input, 107 members of the public attended meetings, and forty-four provided spoken testimony. One commenter shared she had a petition signed by over 200 people in support of a resolution.

Salem residents provided diverse perspectives. Most community members, regardless of perspective, centered on a concern for decency. Some residents communicated that they lived in fear, and asked Salem not to move forward out of concern for what they perceived to be the safety of the Jewish community in Salem.

Oh, please, give me a break. How is the safety of the Jewish community in Salem at risk from a resolution calling for an end to hostilities in Gaza? That's ridiculous. Playing the anti-semitism card whenever there is justified criticism of how Israel has been conducting its war against Hamas is deeply irritating.

Israel is a country led by right-wing extremists. Judaism is a religion. The two are distinct. I'm strongly anti-Israel when it comes to that country's despicable treatment of Palestinians. But I have no problem with the Jewish religion, aside from the problem I have with every religion: they're figments of the imagination with no basis in objective reality, since God almost certainly is a fiction.

So the City Council should pass the resolution with no concern about supposed anti-semitism. Again, if you agree, email testimony to the City Recorder prior to Tuesday afternoon, if possible.

Looks like Chris Hoy has lost to Julie Hoy in Salem Mayor race

The initial results are in for today's primary election in Oregon. Final results will take a while, since mail-in ballots are counted so long as they're postmarked on or before election day.

"Primary" doesn't apply to Salem mayor and city council races if a candidate gets 50% of the vote plus one, because then they win outright and are unopposed in the November general election.

So it sure looks like Julie Hoy will be the next Mayor of Salem. This is the combined initial result for Marion and Polk counties.

Not a huge surprise. Julie Hoy outspent Chris Hoy by a lot. Though Chris Hoy was the incumbent, he was saddled with his support for the highly unpopular employee payroll tax that was soundly rejected by voters last November.

Rather strangely, I never heard him admit that pushing for the city council to implement the tax without a vote of the people was a big mistake. Maybe if he'd done that, he would have fared better in his reelection bid.

Chris Hoy was the only member of the city council running for reelection who had voted for the payroll tax. So three of the four city council races featured fresh faces. (Councilor Nordyke voted against the tax and was unopposed.)

It appears that the progressive in the Ward 1 race, Paul Tigan, will end up winning the seat currently held by Virginia Stapleton, a fellow progressive.

The Ward 3 race is too close to call. Shane Matthews has a narrow lead over Nathan Soltz, the progressive candidate. This seat is currently held by Trevor Phillips, a progressive. 

The Ward 5 race is also too close to call. Irvin Brown, the progressive candidate, has just a 19 vote lead over Michael Hoselton. This seat is currently held by Jose Gonzalez, a conservative.

To me the most interesting congressional race was between Janelle Bynum and Jamie McLeod-Skinner in the Democratic primary for the 5th District. Bynum trounced McLeod-Skinner, who narrowly lost in 2022 to Republican Lori Chavez-Deremer. I guess Democratic voters thought it was time for someone new to take on Chavez-Deremer in this swing district.

Currently progressives have a 6-3 majority on the nine person Salem City Council, mayor plus eight councilors. With Mayor Hoy's apparent loss, that leaves the progressives at 5-4. So ideological control of the City Council will come down to the Ward 3 and Ward 5 races. Unless the progressive candidate wins one of those wards, conservative members of the City Council will be a majority.

Help save the Salem Public Library from ruinous budget cuts

"Help. They're threatening me with grievous harm. I need my friends to defend me, because I can't do it myself."

That's what the Salem Public Library would be saying, if it could speak. Since it can't, we library lovers have to do the speaking for the library. 

The threat is real. City officials are planning to markedly slash the library budget again, after already making deep cuts in staffing, hours, and services. 

NO MORE CUTS. That's the message from Jim Scheppke, retired State Librarian, and Lois Stark, a member of the Library Advisory Board, as you can read below. I've copied in an email they sent me and other supporters of the Salem Public Library.

Please take a few minutes and do one or more of their action items. If enough people stand up for the library, there's a good chance city officials and the City Council will rethink the very bad idea of inflicting additional ruinous budget cuts on the Salem Public Library.

***************************************

Dear Friends:

I am writing to you on behalf of myself and Lois Stark to ask for your help to prevent devastating cuts to our public library. As you may know I was privileged to serve as the State Librarian of Oregon for two decades. Lois Stark was a member of our Library Advisory Board serving several years as Chair.

 

Here’s the situation. Next Wednesday, April 17th, our City Manager will present his recommendation for the FY 2025 City budget. We have learned that his recommendation for the library will be something that has come to be known as “Option 1.” Here is what Option 1 would do beginning July 1st:

• Completely close the West Salem Branch Library after 67 years of operation.
• Layoff eight library employees in addition to the 7.35 positions eliminated last February. Several bilingual staff who were “last hired” would lose their jobs.
• Reduce the operating hours of the main library from 38 to 25-30 per week (3 or 4 days).
• Reduce library programs, including reading programs for children.
• Other unspecified cutbacks to library collections and services.

If Option 1 is approved by the Citizen Budget Committee, Salem will have by far the worst public library services in the state and the worst public library services of any capital city in the country. There are 16 public libraries in Oregon with operating hours between 25 and 30, but their average service area population  is 3,009! Our library serves about 180,000 Salem residents as well as another 39,000 Keizer residents and  many more out-of-city residents with borrowing privileges. 

 

Imagine the working conditions for the skeleton crew of library staff when tens of thousands of library users are attempting to use the library on the few days the library is open? It’s unimaginable. There has probably never been another public library in the US that has attempted to serve a population of over 200,000 with a library open 3-4 days a week.

 

But we can stop this from happening.

 

What it will take is an outpouring of support for our library from everyone who cares. Our message: NO MORE CUTS. Our library services have suffered enough. Even today our two libraries are only open half the hours they were open two decades ago (48 compared to 96). Enough is enough. NO MORE CUTS.

 

Here is what you can do:

• Send written testimony to the Citizen Budget Committee for their meeting on April 17th. Address your email to <[email protected]>.
• Send an email to your City Councilor. All the Councilors are on the Citizen Budget Committee.
• Attend the Budget Committee meeting on Wednesday, April 17th. We will be rallying outside the Council Chambers beginning at 5:30. The meeting starts at 6.
• Sign-up for public comment at the Budget Committee meeting. Make your voice heard!

As some of you know, Salem Public Library used to be one of the best public libraries in Oregon. Now it is among the worst. And Option 1 would make it MUCH WORSE. We can’t let it happen without putting up a fight — a fight for our library workers and for our library services.

 

Please, please help Lois and me prevent this devastation of our library services. So much is at stake. Forward this to others who might help.

 

Thanks for listening!
Jim Scheppke and Lois Stark

City officials deny Salem library will be closed, but that was an option from them

I find it amusing when officials at the City of Salem are shocked that the public thinks they're going to do something bad, when that's exactly what was being suggested prior to the public getting outraged about the bad thing happening.

Which causes the city officials to go, "No, oh my gosh, how could you ever have thought we'd do that?"

Well, in this case the bad thing was completely closing the Salem Public Library. A few days ago the Salem Reporter had a story about the public reaction to this possibility.

Salem’s city councilors overwhelmingly said this week they would not vote for a city budget that closed the Salem Public Library.

They clarified their viewpoints after receiving a flurry of comments from members of the public opposed to deeper cuts.

But most said eliminating some library employees or services remain on the table as city leaders discuss a budget over the coming months. Those cuts would likely mean further hours reductions to the Main branch of the library, which closed on Sundays earlier this year.

Their testimony came after claims that the city planned to close the library circulated widely online over the weekend. Though the city is not planning to close the main branch of the Salem Public Library, deep staffing cuts are among the budget proposals councilors are considering. 

Well, it isn't true that city officials didn't have any plans to close the main branch of the Salem Public Library. Which means the public was justified in raising the alarm that this could happen. On October 24, 2023, the Salem Reporter had a story with the title, "Salem City Council to discuss alternative cuts."

This was one of the four alternatives.

Scenario three: No cuts to police or fire, close the library

The third option would maintain 43 police and fire positions by closing the library and Center 50+ entirely, as well as cutting more administrative, court, and parks positions. This option also includes the reductions and fee increases from the second option.

The library closure would cut $3.9 million and would mean Salem residents wouldn’t have access to its 350,000 collection items or library facilities starting in the next fiscal year. The library’s services include access to the Internet, study rooms, Loucks Auditorium and programs for teens, literacy education and homebound community members.

The library has 35 full-time employees, 3 part-time, 15 on-call, six high school and college interns and 155 volunteers.

So city officials certainly did have a plan to completely close the library. It's option #3 in an October 25, 2023 memo to the City Council from John Eggleston, Chief Financial Officer. 

That date is significant because it was about two weeks before the November 7 election where Salem voters overwhelmingly rejected an employee payroll tax proposal from the City of Salem to raise revenue for city services. 

Not surprisingly, city officials were busily engaged before the election in coming up with scary budget cuts intended to spur voters to vote Yes on the payroll tax. Didn't work, obviously. 

But you can't try to scare voters in late October of 2023, then be surprised in late March of 2024 when the public remembers that only a few months before, there was talk of the drastic budget cuts, including closing the library, if the payroll tax proposal wasn't approved.

Of course, the above-mentioned memo from Eggleston includes an obligatory statement about how city employees can't lobby for passage of the payroll tax. However, they sure could try to scare people with descriptions of budget cuts if the payroll tax wasn't enacted. Which, it wasn't.

* ORS 260.432 prohibits public employees, during work time, from promoting or opposing a ballot measure. The City’s employee payroll tax will be on the November 7, 2023 ballot, and City staff may not advocate for or against the measure. In order to avoid violating state law, the City Attorney, in relation to this discussion of the City’s budget, has advised staff to assume that the payroll tax will not take effect.

Impossible dream? Truly nonpartisan races for Salem Mayor and City Council

I'm either mellowing out politically in my increasingly old age or have a brain tumor that's preventing me from being my usual fanatically pro-Democrat, pro-progressive self when it comes to local races here in Salem for Mayor and City Council. Heck, let's throw in Salem-Keizer school board elections also.

Since I seem to be normal in other regards, leaving aside the difficulty of defining "normal," I'm going to go with the mellowing out option rather than the brain tumor option.

What led me to say this?

Well, it was looking over the Salem Reporter story by Rachel Alexander and Abbey McDonald, "Here's who qualified for the Salem city ballot." The mayor gets elected every two years, and the eight city councilors have four-year terms, so that means five races -- mayor and four councilors -- are on the ballot every two years.

This coming May is when most races are decided on Oregon's primary date. If a candidate gets 50% plus one vote, bingo, they're elected. If no candidate hits that mark, a runoff happens in November. 

This year three city councilors aren't running for election, so a newcomer will fill those seats. Here's the names of those who will be on the ballot.

Mayor: Chris Hoy, incumbent, and Councilor Julie Hoy (unrelated to each other)
Ward 1: Celine Coleman and Paul Tigan (Virginia Stapleton isn't seeking reelection)
Ward 3: Shane Matthews and Nathan Soltz (Trevor Phillips isn't seeking reelection)
Ward 5: Michael Hoselton and Irvin Brown (Jose Gonzalez isn't seeking reelection)
Ward 7: Vanessa Nordyke (seeking reelection and has no opponent)

Now, I'm a member of Progressive Salem, which has endorsed five candidates: Chris Hoy, Paul Tigan, Nathan Soltz, Irvin Brown, and Vanessa Nordyke. I'd like them to win, being part of my political "tribe." They're also well qualified. 

Usually the Salem Chamber of Commerce, through its Build Jobs PAC, endorses candidates other than those supported by Progressive Salem. Given our divisive politics these days, that's the way things usually work: progressives battle conservatives, even though the Mayor and City Council races are nominally nonpartisan. 

What struck me, though, looking through the names and backgrounds of the candidates in the Salem Reporter story, is that I'm not familiar with six of the nine candidates. Chris Hoy, Julie Hoy, and Vanessa Nordyke -- yes, I'm acquainted with them and their politics. 

But the other six are new to me. I've met Nathan Soltz, and he seemed like a great guy. I just don't know much about him. 

That seemed refreshing to me, how I wasn't able to categorize them as conservative or progressive without looking at the Progressive Salem endorsements. This is the way most local races used to be, way back when, before national politics trickled down into every level of elections, even for city councils. 

After all, most of the issues facing the mayor and city councilors aren't inherently political.

They have to do with zoning, land use approvals, funding city programs, and such. Sure, major issues like Salem's Climate Action Plan and the ill-fated employee payroll tax proposal have political overtones, since progressives love reducing greenhouse gas emissions and conservatives love low taxes.

It just would be nice if my possibly impossible dream could come true: we reach a point where what matters isn't whether a candidate for mayor or city council is progressive or conservative, but what their qualifications are.