City Council, September 26th - Low Income Housing and Transportation Burden

Council meets Monday and there are some interesting things on the agenda - but just summary bullet points today. Next week I may return to back-fill with more extensive notes, but maybe not. The meeting agenda wasn't posted 'til Thursday, and the first weekend of fall promises what might just be a summery last hurrah. You've probably got better things, too! (And the week before the UGB hearing on the 12th will be a dispiriting slog in the civics mire.)

Low-income Housing

Totally car-dependent

• $749,000 in Urban Renewal funding for affordable housing at 3350 Portland Road, NE
• $400,000 of FY 2017-2018 and $100,000 of FY 2018-2019 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development HOME Investment Partnership money for the same Portland Road project and the Caplinger project. (This probably merits the most comment, as the Caplinger site is utterly car-dependent and will create a hidden transportation burden that compromises the magnitude of assistance for cost-burdened households.)

City has leverage with the Hospital and should have used it on Howard Hall:

• Approval of Revenue Refunding Bonds Issued by the Hospital Facility Authority of the City of Salem, Oregon, in an Aggregate Principal Amount not to Exceed $225,000,000, to allow Salem Health to refinance certain bonded indebtedness. (The City should be more willing to extract concessions from the Hospital in return for things like this refinancing.)

Other bits

• Work Session on a new website for the City!
• Councilor Dickey proposes the City gather information on compensation for Councilors
• Approval on the Pembrook apartments.
• The proposed Schools-Parks swap.

Again, some of these might merit more comment with an update early next week. Know something about one or more of them, chime in with a comment!

But that's all for now. Have a great weekend!