Salem Political Snark

Killing in Bush Park will spur efforts to reduce gun violence in Salem

After moving to Salem in 1977, I recall the shock after the first instance of gang violence. I recall that it was a non-fatal shooting, but could be wrong about that. Can't remember the year, but my wife and I guess that it was in the early to mid 1980s. 

Before that time we here in Salem looked upon our town as different from Portland, the big city to the north that did have gangs who fought it out with each other. But though we were known as sleepy Salem, the upside was a feeling that gang violence was something that beset other cities, not us.

Things have changed, as a Salem Reporter story says.

One person died and two young men were injured in a shooting Thursday afternoon at Bush’s Pasture Park, Salem police said in a news release.

Officers are still searching for one suspect.

Police responded to the south side of the park, near the intersection of southeast High and Leffelle streets, around 1:45 p.m. They found a male victim dead and two boys injured with gunshot wounds.

The boys were transported to Salem Hospital for medical treatment. Police did not have the age of the dead victim confirmed.

Police released no information about what prompted the shooting. The medical condition of the surviving victims was unknown.

On Friday a 16-year-old boy turned himself in.

Salem police have arrested a teen boy on accusations of of killing another boy and wounding two others in a shooting at Bush’s Pasture Park Thursday afternoon.

Nathaniel S. McCrae Jr., 16, turned himself in at the Salem Police Department station late Friday evening in the company of a parent. He was arrested without incident, police said in a news release Saturday morning.

...The charges allege McCrae shot and killed 16-year-old Jose Vasquez-Valenzuela, a sophomore at South Salem High School, at the south Salem park.

The teen is also accused of shooting Damien Esquivel-Soto, 15, and a 16-year-old boy who police have not identified. They were transported to Salem Hospital for treatment. 

...In a Friday news release, police confirmed the accounts of several witnesses, saying two large groups of juveniles were at the park when gunfire erupted.

It's so sad that Jose Vasquez-Valenzuela is dead and Nathaniel S. McCrae Jr. is charged with his murder. When you're 16, almost your whole life is in front of you. Unless you're dead or likely headed off to be incarcerated for a long time.

Back in the ancient days of my high school years, the 1960's, teenage boys would fight with their fists, or at worst, pull out a knife. Now guns are everywhere, including in the hands of young people who shouldn't have them.

Last Thursday, the day of the shooting/killing, the Statesman Journal had a story about a community effort to reduce this kind of violence. It included some statistics from the Police Department about who is involved in shootings.

The report mapped out homicides and shootings in the city between 2018 and 2023, showing a cluster of three hot spots in northeast Salem that cover about 5 square miles. During the past six years, 65% of homicides and shootings occurred in those hot spots.

A survey of the demographics found that men, as well as Black and Latino residents, were overrepresented among both suspects and victims.

Hispanic people comprise 22.4% of the total city population but accounted for 45.7% of victims and 58.9% of suspects. About 1% of the city's population is Black, but 12.7% of victims and 5.4% of suspects were Black. White people accounted for 32.1% of suspects and 38.3% of victims.

It seems clear that while this is partly a policing problem, the root causes are societal. I can't believe that many young men decide that their goal in life is to become a tough guy who carries a gun and shoots people who offend them for some reason. That is forced upon them by tough circumstances.

Salem's leaders, including Mayor Chris Hoy, are doing the right thing by engaging the entire community in coming up with a plan this year to reduce gun violence that will be implemented in 2025. Getting "tough on crime" is too simplistic. The root causes of gun violence in Salem have to be identified and addressed. 

Why did it take so long to charge DEA agent in death of bicyclist?

Yes, as the Salem Reporter and Statesman Journal have reported, it's good news that a Marion County grand jury has indicted the DEA (federal Drug Enforcement Agency) agent who killed a Salem woman after running through a stop sign.

Here's an excerpt from the Salem Reporter story by Ardeshir Tabrizian.

An agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has been charged with criminally negligent homicide for his role in a collision in March that killed a Salem cyclist, according to court documents.

A Marion County grand jury on Wednesday indicted Samuel T. Landis, 38, a special agent of the DEA, on a single count. The charge comes over five months after the collision that killed Marganne Allen, a cyclist and state official.

The charge alleges that the DEA agent killed Allen with “criminal negligence,” according to the indictment. Criminally negligent homicide is a class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson on Wednesday requested that a warrant be issued for the agent’s arrest and that he be held in jail on $20,000 bail. The Marion County Jail’s  roster did not list him as being in custody Wednesday morning.

The Statesman Journal story by Whitney Woodworth says this.

The move comes after months of silence from city and county officials regarding Allen's death.

Salem Police passed the investigation on to Keizer Police, citing a potential conflict of interest. Keizer Police said it referred the investigation to the Marion County District Attorney's Office almost four months ago. Prosecutors repeatedly said the decision on charges was still under review.

What's disturbing is how long it took the authorities to charge Allen. After all, KPTV in Portland has reported that it was known almost immediately that Allen had driven through a stop sign after traveling at a high rate of speed in the residential neighborhood.

(That's a screenshot of the KPTV video. You can view the video on the KPTV web site.)

Here's an excerpt from the KPTV story about the indictment of Allen.

Michael Baird, a retired Oregon state trooper who specialized in accident reconstruction, says he is puzzled why the investigation took so long.

“Marganne’s husband told me the night that Salem police came out and notified him that Marganne had been hit by a car, or ran into a car, and died subsequently at Salem hospital, they told him that they had clear evidence that the driver of the vehicle had run a stop sign,” Baird said. “They told him that right from the get-go, and I thought to myself, ‘Why wasn’t he cited if they had evidence of that?’”

For weeks now, FOX 12 been asking Salem police, Keizer police and the Marion County District Attorney’s Office what has been holding up the case. Only Keizer police gave a real response, and said they turned the initial investigation over to prosecutors first in May, and then did two more follow-up investigations since then.

FOX 12 learned a grand jury was looking into the case starting last week, and on Wednesday, they indicted Landis on criminally negligent homicide charges, a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Michael Baird says Marganne Allen’s family has been taking life day by day, and that justice will hopefully give them answers to some of the questions they’ve been asking for months.

It sure sounds like the authorities mentioned in the story were slow-walking an indictment (at best) or trying to find a reason to not charge a fellow law enforcement officer (at worst). Either way, this episode doesn't put our local police and District Attorney in a very good light.

City officials dawdle while major crashes happen at Liberty and Mildred

It's irritating when City of Salem staff play bureaucratic games that affect people's lives. It's infuriating when they do this after someone has died.

But that's the sad state of affairs reported in a Statesman Journal story today about the dangerous intersection at Mildred Lane SE and Liberty Road S near the city limits.

The story says that teenager Sara Schumann died in 2020 when the car she was a passenger in failed to heed the stop sign on Mildred and hit an oncoming vehicle. Then there were other major crashes in 2021 and 2022.

Laurel, my wife, and I live about 5 1/2 miles south of the city limits. We use Liberty to get into Salem, which is pretty much daily. Several years ago Laurel complained to a city official after she saw cars failing to stop at Mildred and zipping right across Liberty into the new housing development there.

The official told Laurel that they'd received other complaints about the intersection. And the Statesman Journal story says that 67 comments have been posted on the neighborhood's NextDoor site following an August crash at the intersection.

Yet City of Salem staff still don't see a reason to make the intersection safer. Here's an excerpt from the story.

Puopolo vowed to get the city to act.

But instead, she said, she has faced indifference and inaction.

She said city officials told her the current set-up — the speed limit and stop sign — followed all the recommended guidelines and the city couldn't just install stop lights or flashing lights wherever it wanted to.

The fact that one person died, her brother was in a serious accident and more could die in the future didn't seem to matter, Puopolo said.

What's exasperating is that Public Works staff are falling back on the lame excuse that they're following the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, so everything is fine -- leaving aside the not-so-minor detail that Mildred at Liberty has had one death and three major crashes recently even though it isn't a high volume intersection.

Here's an idea for city officials: why don't you put down your beloved Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for a couple of hours and go talk to the neighbors in that area about what needs to be done to make that intersection safer?

Sometimes doing things "by the book" makes sense. But often it doesn't. In this case it sure seems like City of Salem staff are making a big mistake by betting that improvements to that intersection can wait for several more years.

If another person dies in a crash there, that's going to look like a really lousy bet.

Fire showed emergency message system needs improvements

Last Friday, September 9, the Vitae Springs fire in south Salem caused lots of people to search for information about how rapidly the wildfire was spreading, where evacuations were taking place, and what the chances were of the fire reaching areas further away.

Like, my neighborhood, Spring Lake Estates, that adjoins the Ankeny Wildlife Refuge. Friday evening I'd seen a report that a Level 1 (Be Ready) evacuation notice had been issued for areas four to six miles from where the Vitae Springs fire had started.

I found via Google Maps that our house was about 7.6 miles from the fire, by road. Less as the crow flies, or as a fire could move. Too close for comfort; apparently not close enough for us to get an emergency message.

After the 2020 Santiam Canyon fires, my wife and I had both signed up for Everbridge alerts. But last Friday we never got any sort of emergency message, not by text, not by phone, not by email. Some of our neighbors did get alerts, even though they weren't any closer to the fire than we were.

Worse, when I tried to log in to my Everbridge account to make sure that my contact information was correct, Everbridge told me that my password couldn't be recognized. So in the midst of our anxiety about what we were afraid could be a rapidly spreading wildfire, I had to spend time resetting my password.

My wife had an even bigger problem with Everbridge. She also got a message that either her username or password wasn't recognized when she tried to log in to her account. But she got stuck in an endless loop where she couldn't get a message sent to her email account to reset her password, because Everbridge told her the email wasn't valid.

However, when she tried to set up a new Everbridge account, she got an error message saying her email address already was in use. So my wife and I couldn't figure out a way to log in to her account, and she couldn't set up a new account either.

It sure seems like it shouldn't take a degree in computer science to be able to get emergency notification messages. Yes, we were outside of the evacuation areas for the Vitae Springs fire, so I can understand why we didn't get any emergency message.

However, we were close to the Level 1 "Be Ready" zone. It would have been nice if the Everbridge system had sent a message to everybody within, say, ten miles of the fire. The message could have communicated information about the fire, indicating where someone could find the current evacuation zones.

I use Twitter and Facebook, so I could find info about the fire that way. But some of our neighbors don't. So when I posted messages about the fire to our neighborhood's Facebook page, people would ask, "How did you learn that?" I'd say, via a Salem Reporter or Statesman Journal Twitter tweet.

What this episode taught me is what I already knew: our local professional journalists are really good to have around in an emergency. I trusted what they were saying about the Vitae Springs fire, because I figured they were accurately assessing the information coming in from various sources.

I realize that things are bound to be confusing in the first hours of a wildfire. Still, it would have been nice for people to know where to go to get valid information about the fire. Friday evening I saw a City of Salem emergency services manager say in a video that the fire had been surrounded and wasn't spreading.

But when I woke up Saturday morning the Level 2 (Get Set) evacuation zone had extended almost to the Ankeny Wildlife Refuge, so very close to our neighborhood. That info came from the Marion County Sheriff's Office. Again, not from Everbridge.

A few days ago the Salem Reporter had a story that echoed our experience: Salemites say improvements needed to "confusing" fire alert system. For sure. Here's how the story starts off.

Residents are calling on local officials to examine the Salem area’s emergency messaging system, saying evacuation alerts for last weekend’s Vitae Springs Fire left people confused and uncertain about conditions. 

The fire, which began on Friday, Sept. 9, burned close to 165 acres with alerts urging people within 6 miles of the fire to prepare for evacuation, and prompting many to evacuate their homes. 

However, several residents told Salem Reporter these alerts were confusing, lacked information about where to go, linked to unhelpful maps and were inaccessible for those unfamiliar with technology.

Daniel Benjamin's right-wing "compassion." No sidewalks in your part of Salem? Just move.

A couple of weeks ago Mary Nikas shared this photo in a post on the Salem City Council Facebook page (a private page which isn't associated with the City of Salem).

She said: "Photo taken this morning on Oakhill Road in SE Salem. Can we start spending our community development money on sidewalks now, please?!"

When I saw the photo of a woman having to ride an electric wheelchair in the road, I thought This is terrible, Salem needs sidewalks everywhere so people can get around safely. 

Just about everyone who left comments on the post felt the same way.

But notably, not ex-city councilor Daniel Benjamin, who was unanimously censured by the City Council last year following his Facebook sharing of a video showing Black Lives Matter protesters being rammed by cars, which led to his resignation.

Below I've shared some comment interchanges on the post between Benjamin, a conservative guy who was endorsed by the Salem Chamber of Commerce when he ran for the City Council in 2014, and liberal people who had a much more compassionate attitude toward the woman who was forced to ride her wheelchair in the street.

The back-and-forth comment conversation says a lot about the political landscape in Salem. This is a liberal-leaning town. I'm confident that most people reject the right-wing view that taxes should be as low as possible, even if they are needed to pay for vital public services. Like, sidewalks.

However, unfortunately the Chamber of Commerce'ish viewpoint expressed by Benjamin still has a lot of influence in Salem. An excessive amount of money and power still is in the hands of the aptly-named Powers That Be.

As you can read below, Benjamin believes that if someone lives in a part of town without sidewalks, and they need to get around in a wheelchair, the solution is simple: move to an area of Salem that does have sidewalks. 

Selfish? Yes. Stupid? Yes. 

Yet Benjamin isn't alone in favoring public policies that screw over the poor, and bestow even more wealth on the rich. That's the Republican playbook. And believe me, it isn't only guiding conservatives in Washington, D.C. Anyone who closely watches goings-on at the Salem City Hall, as I do, can see the attitude expressed by Benjamin -- need a sidewalk? tough, suck it up -- reflected in local public policy decisions.

Read on for the comment conversation. I highlighted some pertinent liberal views in green, and some of Benjamin's conservative views in red. 

----------------------

Daniel Benjamin Probably shouldn't use it when on foot...or in this case... electric wheelchair.... I can't imagine what's so important that one would risk their life in that manner.

Mary Ann Baclawski This is the only way some people can get to the store for groceries and other necessities.

Daniel Benjamin That is the only street and route to the grocery store?

Susann Kaltwasser No sidewalks anywhere in that area. There is a bus stop at Commercial. So if you want to get anywhere you must walk or ride in the street until you get to Commercial. Know you city...

Daniel Benjamin

 

Evan Manvel I'd invite people like Mr. Eastwood who aren't familiar with the experience of not being able to drive places to tour the neighborhood via GoogleMaps satellite view. 

(Or even better, spend a day in a wheelchair to understand how difficult it is to get around to meet one's basic needs). 

From my brief look, it appears as if people can either:

(a) travel on Madrona and Commerical, busy streets with sidewalks but lots of cars turning across them, or 

(b) travel on virtually any other road, without sidewalks. And to access option (a), people have to do (b) anyways.

We have a complete network for people who drive. We have very incomplete network for the 30% of Salemites who cannot.

Daniel Benjamin Good thing the last budget Community add more money to sidewalks Construction and repair.

Jennifer Hillman-Magnuson Now imagine you don't have a car, and you are not physically able. Some people have to risk their lives for mundane things like going to the store for food.

Chelsea Safe-Dogs Edwards It is at least 3 miles of no sidewalk and no bus routes before I can get to a bus stop or sidewalk to take me to a grocery store, pharmacy or other necessity. 

I am disabled and often cannot walk at all, let alone 3+ miles in terribly unsafe conditions (River Rd S is a super fast thoroughfare) to meet just the basic needs of existing, like food and medicine, let alone doctor visits or quality of life. 

In a Capital city this is primitive, archaic and a gross misuse of funds (we certainly do not need another mall or bridge before safe walkways and transportation routes).

Daniel Benjamin Alright I'm not trying to be mean here.... if your environment is so inhospitable perhaps you should change your environment... I agree more sidewalks are definitely needed as well as bus service.... however your needs aren't the only ones that need to be met and regards the sidewalks...

 

Chelsea Safe-Dogs Edwards So it's my fault because I don't just up and move along to a much more upscale neighborhood that has these basics of urban dwelling, I see. 

Thank you so much for your wise observations, I will take note and apply that nonsense at first opportunity.

 

Daniel Benjamin It's what I what do.... if I want better schools I moved the neighborhood with the better schools or want better access to I-5 I move somewhere that has better access to I-5... I need to be close to the goods and services or even a hospital.... that's just common sense lady... or you can call it nonsense whatever.

 

Chelsea Safe-Dogs Edwards May you always be able bodied, resource rich and never have to make any hard choices that pit one basic need against another. May you never have to experience these kinds of obstacles or understand the consequences of things beyond your control. May you always feel justified in hiding behind societal acceptance of hate and discrimination (if one has to preface a statement with "Alright I'm not trying to be mean here" perhaps it is pertinent to rethink the statement period). May you never have to walk a step in the shoes of your fellow citizens that may not possess your resources, abilities or social privilege. 

The oversimplification of the struggles within our society is void of compassion, observation and reality. The strategies you employ my internet stranger-friend are a failed attempt at distracting from the reality that the City of Salem and the County of Marion have not done their jobs in providing for all of it's citizens, even the most basic of needs, as this photo presents a compelling case for. 

I am finished engaging you, for there is no benefit to what you have to offer, it is only masked xenophobia and hate, neither of which do I choose to feed. Good day to you. May it be blessed with diversity and sidewalks.

 

Daniel Benjamin May I help you move?....how is that that for "intolerant" "hate" and "discrimination?"

 

...Susann Kaltwasser Jennifer Hillman-Magnuson True! I havea friend who must used a motorized wheelchair as their main transportation. Every time she goes to the grocery store, she almost get hit by some car that either has not patience or doesn't yield the right of way...even in a crosswalk with a light, she is at risk. This is shameful!

 

Susann Kaltwasser Daniel Benjamin If you can find them a place, pay their application fee, their deposit and first and last month's rent, then that might be a reasonable offer.

 

...Susan Elizabeth-Marsh Tanabe Regular bus transportation and sidewalks... these should be as basic and required as water lines and electricity. And yes, I know that means more taxes. As much as I'd feel the pain, it know it is worth it.

 

Chelsea Safe-Dogs Edwards It doesn't even have to mean more taxes, only that the existing taxes be used more responsibly.

 

Daniel Benjamin Chelsea Safe-Dogs Edwards...take a look at the City Budget from just last year...then look at it from 5 years ago...all you would have to look at is how much the city spends on sidewalks.... then comment back what you found.

 

Daniel Benjamin As my drill sergeant used to say.."I can't hear you!"
Funny how folks say the government needs to spend more wisely so their particular need or cause can get more funding...and you point out the government budget...then they get quite. 
I want better streets so I can drive my car with safety and assurance... but somehow now I'm supposed to sacrifice my safety and assurance so other people can have sidewalks... I propose we have a sidewalk tax... that way you can increase the amount of sidewalks that are installed and maintained...any takers?

 

Chelsea Safe-Dogs Edwards I stopped engaging you a while back. It has nothing to do with disagreement on any given topic. It has to do with managing my time in far more productive and successful ways. Arguing with strangers on the internet is not one of my strategies. Sorry, you will have to find someone else to hawk your opinions at. My best advice to you is this: Just. Stop.

 

Daniel Benjamin Lol... I offer Solutions and you call me Petty... typical leftist... good luck to you I hope you get your sidewalks

 

Lessons for Salem from defeat of $82 million police facility bond measure

It's always tough to say why an election result turns out the way it did, especially at the local level where we don't have exit polls.

But here's an initial attempt to get into the minds of Salem voters who rejected Measure 24-399 by 52% to 48% in yesterday's election -- combining that opining with insight into a mind I'm much better acquainted with: my own.

Here's a couple of reasons why I'm optimistic about the defeat of the $82 million police facility bond measure that I led the fight against via Salem Can Do Better.

The defeat shows the downside of top-down governmental planning. 
As the Salem Can Do Better web page says, one reason to vote against the bond measure was "lack of public involvement in the police facility planning process from start to finish." I cited some documentation.

"Start," from a January 2014 blog post, City of Salem planned new police facility in backwards way.

There was basically no opportunity for citizens to be involved with planning for a new police facility, or to weigh in on the pluses and minuses of locating this facility in a brand new building at the Civic Center. Even City Council members complained they were kept in the dark about this project.

"Finish," from a June 2016 Salem Weekly editorial, Top Down.

The most important decision made by the Salem City Council during the six year reign of Mayor Anna Peterson was made on June 8 at a special public hearing with most of the citizenry unaware of what was going on... The $82 million full meal deal has had almost no public engagement. It comes from the top down.

Citizens don't like it when City of Salem officials view "public outreach" as asking people to accept what's being offered without questions. This attitude needs to be dumped at City Hall.

Hopefully the Mayor, City Manager, and city councilors now will fully involve the public in a Plan B public safety proposal that costs less and includes the vital seismic upgrades to City Hall and the Library that used to be part of the police facility project until the building doubled in size and cost after Chicago consultants were hired.

The DLR Group now needs to be fired and replaced by a local Oregon architectural firm with a better understanding of what this town needs and is willing to pay for.

The defeat reflects the rise of people-power over money-power.
As a Statesman Journal story points out, those advocating a "yes" vote on Measure 24-399 via a Keep Salem Safe PAC vastly outspent Salem Can Do Better.

The grassroots organization raised just under $2,000, mostly from Hines himself, former mayoral candidate Carole Smith and Salem Community Vision Steering Committee member Jim Scheppke.

...In contrast, the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce-backed Keep Salem Safe PAC garnered more than $100,000 in contributions. Big donors like Mountain West Investment Corporation, Salem Health and the DLR Group donated tens of thousands of dollars.

Yet we prevailed, even with a 50:1 handicap in money available to us. We had to rely on buying some voter's pamphlet arguments, getting free press, and making use of social media (mostly Facebook).

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.

Along that line, here's a photo someone sent me of the Keep Salem Safe election night party buffet table at the Illahe Country Club. Reportedly lobster canapés were served to donors and supporters.

By contrast, here's a day-after reenactment of the Salem Can Do Better election night festivities. I spent the evening at home obsessively watching presidential election news on MSNBC and CNN, with checking of Marion County results on my laptop after 8 pm.

I served wine and bagged popcorn to myself, sharing some with our non-political dog, ZuZu. (Popcorn, no wine.)

Salem can do better... than an over-priced $83 million police facility

The flip side of NO is YES. Saying No to one thing often is the prelude to saying Yes to a better thing.

So I'm proud to be a naysayer to plans for an $83 million police facility here in Salem, because rejecting a bond for this over-sized and over-priced Police Palace in the November 2016 election will open a YES door to a better approach -- one that meets the needs of the Police Department plus other needs that currently are being ignored by City officials.

Here's what I mean:

Cost is too high. Salem can do better... because not only is the proposed 148,000 square foot police facility considerably larger than what this town needs, the construction cost per square foot is much higher than what other police facilities have been built for recently.

This chart is part of a Salem Community Vision post. It shows that the $562/square foot construction cost of the proposed Salem police facility is more than double the square foot cost of facilities built by the State Police and the Eugene Police Department. 

New 911 Center not necessary. Salem can do better... because it isn't necessary to include a new $11 million 911 Center in the proposed $83 million police facility. City officials have been told that the current 911 Center (the Willamette Valley Communications Center, WVCC) is fine where it is in leased space for at least another ten years. 

Also, why should Salem taxpayers pay the full $11 million bill for constructing a new 911 Center when the WVCC is a regional center for twenty-nine police, fire, and medical agencies in Lincoln, Marion, and Polk counties? If and when a new 911 Center is needed, the construction cost should be shared by all of the agencies.

Earthquake preparedness being ignored. Salem can do better... because the supersized $83 million, 148,000 square foot police facility has squeezed out funds for making critical life-saving seismic upgrades to the Library and City Hall.

Until a few years ago, seismic upgrades to the Civic Center were part of a Public Safety project that included money for a new $36 million, 75,000 square foot police facility. But then the police facility doubled in size and cost after some Chicago consultants came to town.

So now plans have been shelved to save lives at City Hall and the Library when (not if) the Big One Cascadia subduction zone earthquake hits, even though a main reason for a new police facility is because City Hall is expected to collapse in the Big One, and the Police Department currently is on the ground floor of the building. 

Our town has many other needs. Salem can do better... because wasting tens of millions of dollars on an over-priced Police Palace means this money can't be used to meet other needs.

Imagine what $10 million, say, could accomplish if it was used to combat homelessness, or make cycling and walking safer in Salem? In May 2015 I wrote about how Portland's much-admired Neighborhood Greenway streets cost about $250,000 a mile to build. Thus Salem could have 40 miles of bicycle/pedestrian-friendly streets for $10 million.

It should be possible to (1) build a perfectly adequate new police facility, (2) make the Library and City Hall earthquake-safe, and (3) save at least $10 million to spend on other needs in Salem for the current price tag of $83 million -- which only pays for a police facility. 

There will be lots of debate and discussion about the proposed $83 million police facility bond between now and the November election.

Here I wanted to explain in general why I'll be urging citizens to vote NO -- so people in Salem can have a better YES after the over-priced bond is defeated and a more sensible revised plan is adopted. 

Statesman Journal editorial about Orlando killings irritatingly silent on solutions

After so many tragic mass shootings in this country, I've got no patience left with the "thoughts and prayers" crowd -- unless their thoughts and prayers are accompanied by a strong call for action. This is why I found a recent Statesman Journal editorial so irritating.

A few years ago I wrote about this in "Why I don't like 'Our thoughts and prayers are with you.'"

After the [Boston] bombing I came across a Twitter Tweet by someone I follow, "scriptdave" here in Salem. He's a screenwriter with a great sense of humor. Also, some wise observations. He tweeted:

I respect the need people have to pray. But that prayer is meaningless unless you get off your knees and do something.

To which I Twitter-replied, "Amen." Later someone else commented on scriptdave's tweet. He told them:

I hear you. People need to reflect, meditate, process tragedy. But prayer being the end all is ludicrous. Do something real.

A double Amen to that.

And only last December, I blogged "Another mass shooting. No more 'thoughts and prayers.' Gun control ACTION!"

Only in America do we have this much gun violence. Why? Because we have way more guns per capita than any other nation. So we have way more gun deaths. 

Responsible gun control is the answer. 

Thoughts and prayers are useless. They accomplish nothing (if a person directly affected by a shooting is told you are personally thinking of them, then they might feel a little bit better, but this rarely happens).

So, please Americans, stop with the thoughts and prayers.

All these rote expressions of sympathy accomplish is relieve your guilt that you're not doing anything to stop the needless gun violence.

Instead, ACT!

Support those calling for universal background checks and other reasonable gun control measures. Refuse to vote for politicians who mindlessly do the bidding of the NRA. Put pressure on federal, state, and local officials to prevent more mass shootings.

It's fine to feel for the victims. But if this is all we do, feel, we're being uncaring, not compassionate. One direct action to stop gun violence is better than a thousand thoughts and prayers.

So it was frustrating to read Dick Hughes' editorial in the Salem Statesman Journal about the Orlando mass shooting -- the worst in the history of the United States -- and find a lot of thoughts, but a zero call for action beyond vague platitudes like these (emphasis added by me):

This is a day for rational people to stand strong — shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm, hand in hand — with people whose sexual orientation or religious practices or world view differ from our own.

This is a day to remember that America was founded on the ideals of political freedom and religious tolerance, by people who rejected the state-enforced religion of their British master. It is a day to remember that throughout our history, America has been seen as the great melting pot of civilization, where people of different heritages and different beliefs and different skin colors can live together and promote the good of all.

Wow. Stand strong and remember. That'll do a lot to stop the next mass shooting. (NOT!) 

After I went to our paper box, got that day's Statesman Journal, and read Hughes' exceedingly toothless editorial, I sat down at my laptop and expressed my frustration in a comment on the online opinion piece.

This editorial gets the problem wrong. "Rational" was mentioned many times. But more rationality isn't going to stop mass shootings. The gunman, Omar Mateen, almost certainly wasn't mentally ill. He just believed in some weird stuff, like Donald Trump does, like a majority of Republican primary voters do, like WE ALL do.

Yes, religions are the source of much of the weird stuff people believe. Many Muslims and Christians share a mistaken belief that homosexuality is forbidden by God (who somehow also creates gays and lesbians). But we're not going to be able to do away with religions, no mattter how good this would be for the world.

Modern psychology and neursoscience understand that emotion, not reason, is the foundation of most of our actions. We FEEL that something is right, then we find reasons to support that feeling. Science, by and large, is our best way to use facts and reason to understand the world.

But scientific understanding isn't going to stop mass shootings. As I said in a blog post last night, it's obvious that the problem isn't people, it is guns. The United States doesn't have more people with weird beliefs; it has way more guns. That's why our nation's gun death rate is so far above that of other countries.

Universal background checks is one thing that could be done to prevent people from getting guns who shouldn't have them. Banning assault-style weapons is another good idea. See:

http://hinessight.blogs.com/hinessight/2016/06/tough-to-know-what-to-do-about-mass-shootings-in-united-states.html

This editorial failed to say anything about what concrete, realistic steps should be take to reduce the number of mass shootings. Big omission. It just talks about the usual useless "thoughts-and-prayers," "be kind to each other" stuff that has done, and will do, exactly NOTHING to stop innocent people from being killed by shooters.

Let's see another Statesman Journal editorial with specific recommendations to stop mass shootings. Only then will I believe that the SJ editorial board really wants to do something about this.

As noted in my comment and the linked blog post about the Orlando killings, here's four things that I think would help to stop the endless string of mass shootings in this country:

(1) Elect Hillary Clinton as the next president, so she has a chance to appoint Supreme Court justices who will revisit the horrible 2008 Court decision to overturn the previous long-held legal position that allowed reasonable regulations on the individual "right to bear arms."

(2) Pass a federal ban on assault-style weapons, just as President Ronald Reagan favored.

(3) Pass legislation across the country for strong universal background checks on gun purchases, an action favored by about 90% of American citizens. 

(4) Pass stronger gun-control legislation in the 2017 Oregon legislative session. 

So what are your recommended actions to help stop mass shootings, Dick Hughes and the rest of the Statesman Journal editorial board? 

Do you have any specific realistic actions? Or are you guys content with "thoughts and prayers" -- which so far has done nothing to stop people from being killed in mass shootings?

[Update: I just came across a New York Times piece that supports what I said in this post. "Why Do Terrorists Commit Terrorism?" concludes that it really isn't possible to know why someone does something (applies to everybody, not just terrorists). Instead, the focus should be on what they want to do. Like, commit a mass shooting. 

Stopping them from doing the what doesn't require knowing the why behind the what. Yet the Statesman Journal editorial wrongly said:

But we also know that the number of mass shootings has increased in the U.S. And to stop such actions, we must understand what drives them.

No, we don't need to understand the why of what drives them. We simply need to stop the actions undertaken in a mass shooting: one of which is buying guns and using them to kill people.]

To save lives, in November vote NO on Salem police facility bond

Last night the Salem City Council decided to press on with an unwise $83 million plan for an over-priced and over-sized new police facility. 

Sadly, this means making the Library and City Hall earthquake-safe likely won't happen for many years, if ever.

Reason: the hugely costly police facility proposal, which has doubled in cost and square footage from $36 million/75,000 sq. ft. to $83 million/148,000 sq. ft., has squeezed out the money that previously was going to be spent on seismically retrofitting the Civic Center so lives aren't lost when, not if, the Big One Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake hits (could be any time, according to geologists). 

Don't be fooled by what is in today's newspaper story, "Council passes next step for new police facility." (The reporter should have said "city hall and library," because the library is part of the civic center.)

Mayor Anna Peterson also requested a study of the seismic safety of the civic center and library to be undertaken and completed by the end of 2016 to ensure the safety and security of city staff and visitors. The motion also passed unanimously.

Whoopee. Another study.

City officials already know that the Civic Center isn't earthquake-safe. An engineering study of City Hall was completed in 2011. An engineering study of the Library was completed in 2014. 

So for the past five years, the Mayor and city councilors have sat on their butts and done nothing to save the lives of the people who work at, and visit, City Hall and the Library. Yet now we're supposed to believe that a new study is going to lead to immediate action.

Yeah, right.

I testified at last night's City Council meeting, spending my allotted three minutes urging City officials to make seismic upgrades to City Hall and the Library a top priority now. City staff have said that the cost would be approximately $26.6 million. 

Maybe that cost estimate needs updating. Maybe not. If it does, that could have been done months ago. Instead, Mayor Peterson admitted at a June 1 City Council work session that the focus has been solely on finalizing plans for the newly supersized $83 million Police Palace.

So I am deeply skeptical that the Mayor's motion to do another study of seismic conditions at the City Hall and Library is anything more than a thinly veiled attempt to assuage the concerns of citizens who are wondering, "What the hell happened to the money for making the Civic Center earthquake-safe, which previously was going to be part of a Public Safety bond that included funds for a new police facility?"

Last night I talked about this in my testimony. 

 

And here's my video, which I mentioned in my testimony, that provides more detail about the shameful failure of the Mayor and City Councilors to protect the lives of people who work at and visit City Hall and the Library.

 

Only a week ago, at a June 1 City Council work session on the police facility, Councilor Tom Andersen asked why updated cost estimates for making seismic upgrades to the Library and City Hall hadn't been requested in February -- since now he's been told that it would take two or three months to get those estimates.

Mayor Peterson took Andersen to task, saying that City staff hadn't been authorized by the City Council to work on seismic upgrades to the Civic Center. So it was strange to see Peterson making a motion at the June 8 meeting to get estimates for what it would cost to seismically retrofit buildings owned by the City of Salem -- including the Library and City Hall.

I can't be sure what Peterson's motivation was for doing this. However, her newfound interest in making the Civic Center earthquake-safe came at the very last moment in the planning for a supersized $83 million, 148,000 square foot police facility.

So I strongly suspect that the motion approved by the City Council, which calls for the cost estimates to be prepared by the end of 2016, is viewed as a way to tamp down criticism that it makes no sense to get Police Department staff out of the ground floor of City Hall so they aren't crushed to death when the Big One earthquake hits, while leaving other City employees vulnerable to the same "pancaking" of the seismically deficient building. 

Well, this isn't going to work for one critic, moi. 

There's good reason to believe that the only way City Hall and the Library are going to get urgently needed seismic upgrades is if voters defeat the police facility bond measure that will be on the November, 2016 ballot. If the measure fails, City officials and the City Council will have to reduce the cost and size of the current over-priced $83 million plan. 

This will allow Civic Center seismic upgrades to become part of a revamped Public Safety bond measure. So for the same cost, or even less, citizens will get a much more appealing deal: a perfectly adequate new police facility, plus seismic retrofitting of the Library and City Hall.

Below is a video I made of a portion of yesterday's meeting that supports my contention that defeating the police facility bond measure is the best way to ensure that lives are saved when the Big One earthquake hits.

As background, the current property tax rate for paying off City of Salem bonds is $1.01 per $1,000 assessed valuation. City staff are recommending that this rate be raised to $1.25 per $1,000, which is about a 25% increase. This would allow bonds already issued, plus a police facility bond and a planned "streets and bridges" bond, to be paid off over 20 years.

But that's it. Lewis says, "that would be what we could do for 20 years."

 

Meaning, no bond for seismic upgrades to City Hall and the Library could be issued, unless the property tax rate was raised above $1.25 per $1,000 assessed valuation. Thus the Mayor and City Council are planning to raise taxes by 25% in order to pay for their over-priced Police Palace, then close the door on other bond measures for Salem needs (other than streets and bridges) unless City taxes are raised substantially again.

Is the 2017 City Council going to ask citizens to approve another Public Safety bond measure for seismic retrofitting of City Hall and the Library if the police facility bond passes? Very doubtful. This is why money for the seismic upgrades should have been part of the Public Safety bond being presented to voters this November.

Which was the original plan by City officials, until the size and cost of the police facility doubled, squeezing out money for seismically retrofitting the Civic Center.

So voting NO this November is the best way to say YES to saving lives. 

Salem Police Facility planning staggers on to uncertain outcome

Dedicated observer that I am of our "public servants" at the City of Salem, I eschewed staying in the sun this gorgeous afternoon and ventured into Room 220 at City Hall, where the Mayor and City Manager oversee their kingdom. 

Topic of the day for a City Council Police Facility subcommitee: an update on police facility planning efforts.

Thankfully, the meeting only lasted about 40 minutes. This felt much better than the 3 1/2 hour City Council work session on the police facility a few weeks ago that fried my brain and frustrated my patience.

This time Mayor Peterson seemed to be keeping track of what was going on.

At the previous meeting Peterson presided over the goings-on for about three hours before coming to the realization that I and seemingly everybody else in the room found obvious: that the entire discussion at the work session to that point had been about a downsized 125,000 square foot police facility rather than the original 148,000 square foot plan. 

Today City Manager Steve Powers said that consultants and staff are working on a revised site plan and cost estimate for the 148,000 square foot, $81 million option that excludes the Mill Creek Medical Plaza building adjacent to the O'Brien site north of downtown -- the chosen location for a new police facility.

The alternative 125,000 square foot, $70 million option leaves out the regional 911 Center (Willamette Valley Communications Center). It's pretty clear that the Mayor and some city councilors still have the hots for including a much larger 911 Center in the new police facility.

However, Powers made some statements about an upcoming staff report on the 911 Center that showed the "build new" option is going to come out looking economically bad compared to the "continue to lease space" option.

"The cost-benefit analysis of building may not be compelling," Powers said judiciously. But he added that qualitative considerations (like, Police Chief Moore wants the regional 911 Center in a new police facility) could alter the economic equation.

Looking at the meeting agenda, I noticed that Councilor Warren Bednarz is no longer on the committee. Maybe this had something to do with Bednarz voting to consider a potential location for the police facility -- the block south of the Library -- without announcing a conflict of interest, because his family owns property on that block. 

That led to a complaint being filed with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. 

Mayor Anna Peterson, along with City Councilors Steve McCoid, Diana Dickey, and Chuck Bennett are the four remaining members of the Police Facility Subcommittee. McCoid was the only councilor in attendance.

I was sorry that Chuck Bennett wasn't there after I heard City Manager Powers report on progress in getting cost estimates for making the Civic Center earthquake-safe.

Bennett is running for Mayor against Carole Smith. Repeatedly he has claimed that no reliable cost estimates exist for seismically retrofitting City Hall and the Library -- a falsity that I gave him a WTF! for after hearing him say this at a Salem City Club debate between him and Smith.

Today Powers said that three studies have been made since 2005 of what it would cost to make seismic upgrades to the Civic Center so lives will be saved when, not if, the next Really Big One subduction zone earthquake hits the northwest. 

One study was for the entire Civic Center; one was for City Hall; and the most recent was for the Library and associated parking structure. Bennett has been saying that the seismic cost estimates were made by some out-of-town guy walking around and coming up with a number.

Well, Powers said that this guy is the same professional estimator who is coming up with cost estimates for the new police facility. So Chuck Bennett hasn't been telling the truth about the reliability of seismic retrofitting cost figures for the Civic Center.

Architect Geoff James, a fellow Salem Community Vision steering committee member, also attended today's meeting. You can check out his report here. Geoff laid out the timeline discussed by the council subcommitee:

HERE IS THE SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS (for the calendar)

May 11: Council receive cost estimate packets.

Wednesday June 1 Work Session (assumed to be at 5.30 p.m.)

Monday, June 13: City Council: Public Hearing on Police Facility. Also on City Budget.

Monday, June 27: City Council makes decision on the Bond Measure (in November).