Monday, September 30, 2019

What Should the City do with Scooters?

So what are we going to do about scooters?

They aren't straight-up like the  ride-hailing TNCs, but as VC-funded enterprises that are trying to scale up quickly and are premised on extracting value, disintermediation, and yes even a kind of deep data collection verging on surveillance, they have some real similarities.

Yesterday in the Sunday paper, the Register-Guard had a front-pager on problems with ride-hailing. The City of Salem has not yet reported on how our TNC regulations are working here, and it's time for a formal report. If the City can't get useful numbers and develop a meaningful analysis, then they should center the problem of reporting and transparency. They should also discuss the VMT increases and congestion that come from ride-hailing.

front page Sunday on ride-hailing safety problems
The City Manager also reports that the City is working on scooters. And the whole context of VC-funded mobility suggests it's time for the City to be more skeptical about access, and to hold a firmer line on regulations.

City Manager's update
When the ride-hailing firms came, the City, and especially the Mayor, seemed to be more interested in TNC regulation as signalling about hip culture than about real city function and mobility.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Walk and Roll to School Day is Wednesday, October 2nd

Walk + Roll to School Day is Wednesday the 2nd.

If you have school age children, it's not too late to register. See the Oregon Safe Routes site and Street Trust for more information.

A back to school ad for a high-end bike on a credit plan
School also started later because of harvest
(September 27th, 1919)
With Safe Routes to School having a part-time staff presence in Salem now for a year and a half, and as they won a grant and start planning to implement a full-time staffer devoted to schools, it is interesting to see a little bit of growth in schools participating in the day.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Too much Story-telling: When the Tree hides the Forest

Earlier in the week there was a heart-warming story of corporate munificence and upward mobility.

Alas, this is exactly how corporate PR wants us to understand the story.

Let's reconsider it. As we do so, let's just stipulate that this recipient truly needs a car, let's not question the recipient and their particular needs and situation at all. Their story is always more complex than we can know.

But there are other, more general things to question.
  • The headline disparages walking, as if walking, or taking the bus, or anything other than driving a car is second-class and inferior. This story participates in our system of compulsory autoism, shaming those without a car.
  • It sounds like easy access to affordable childcare might be an issue. This is a structural way we make it difficult for families and especially for single parents. This problem also lurks in the background of Councilor Cook's recent resignation. We don't support parents who want a career and a fulfilling intellectual, public, and economic life. We make finding childcare, affording it, and time-management a challenge, a test, instead of something parents can take for granted.
  • The whole sector of fast food underpays employees, and then asks government to fill in the gaps for those workers with supplemental aid - or special one-off corporate gifts. It's a way of extracting a hidden subsidy from the government.
  • Housing too is a factor. Affordable housing is not always available near places of employment, childcare, or frequent service bus lines.
You might have observed other factors. Though this masquerades as a sweet antidote to our difficult politics, it is much richer and more ambiguous than that. It's profoundly enmeshed in politics and policy.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Wooo! The SRC Record of Decision is Finally Out: No Build

It and the rest of the Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision are here.

I don't think there's anything else to add. (If a closer reading of some of the ancillary documents turns up anything over the weekend, I'll update this post.)

Go have a beer, glass of Champagne, soda, cider, whatever celebratory gesture suits.

(And if you're new here and wondering what is an "SRC," you can read about the whole thing here.)

Addendum, Saturday

What all is included in
"previous approvals are vacated"?
(From the "Reevaluation of the SRC DEIS")
I haven't finished reading the materials, but some questions remain. While the ROD is for No Build, the City has never made explicit what other things the LUBA decision for a remand unwound:
  • What is the status of the UGB expansion? Has it reverted to the outline of pre-2016?
  • What is the status of the TSP amendments? Ones directly about the SRC should be deleted. Some of them were not directly about the SRC, but harmed non-auto transport generally and should also be deleted.
  • Are there other code or regulatory amendments in the package from December 2016 that need to be deleted or revised?
And while formally there is a Final Environmental Impact Statement, in substance it is empty. They revised the traffic model from 2031 to 2040, concluded there was no meaningful difference, and then said, "this FEIS does not include individual responses to comments on the build alternatives found in the 2012 DEIS for the Salem River Crossing project."

In choosing not to respond substantively to critique and comment, they left intact the framework for a giant bridge and highway. All the ingredients for a Zombie remain.

Council should undertake a more thorough extirpation of SRC remnants and its virus!

Addendum 2, Monday the 30th

Well, here's a remnant bit. The MPO just announced an amendment to the TIP, and it is an acknowledgement that Marine Drive will remain a collector and will not be supersized to a minor arterial to connect with a future SRC. (We may come back to this in October in comments on the TAC or PC meetings.)



Update 3, October 10th

ODOT sent out a press release today about the FEIS and "no build" record of decision, and boy is it snotty! Again, they grant none of the critique. It's all the fault of a defiant Council.
ODOT and FHWA selected the No Build alternative because the Salem City Council chose to not respond to a Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) remand of their 2016 land use actions in support of the project. Without the City addressing the LUBA remand, the project team could not complete the Final EIS for the preferred alternative.

Earlier this year, in a Salem City Council work session, 6 of the 9 council members opposed responding to the LUBA appeal. This decision had the net effect of reversing the 2016 land use actions and withdrawing City support for advancing the FEIS with a build recommendation.

The project officially started in 2006 after the City of Salem and other regional partners approached ODOT and FHWA with a request to begin the environment process to build a 3rd bridge. The partners comprised of the cities of Salem, Keizer, Marion and Polk counties, the Salem Area Mass Transit District and ODOT.

In 2014, the partners endorsed the “Salem Alternative,” which Salem City Council had recommended as the preferred alternative. The necessary land use approvals were granted by the partners and the Salem City Council adopted its final ordinance. However, project opponents appealed the City’s land use approvals to LUBA. LUBA considered the issues appealed and remanded the City’s previously approved land use actions back to the City to address.

Without the city addressing the technical issues required by LUBA, ODOT and FHWA could not publish the FEIS for the identified preferred alternative. The only option was to file the No Build Alternative thereby ending this effort to build a 3rd bridge.

Bike Commuting Still Flat: ACS Data for 2018 Not Good

BikePortland's got a post on the Portland commute rate from the just-released 2018 census numbers, and here in Salem in broad strokes it's the same.

If we are trying to increase biking, we are failing badly.

If we want to increase biking we just can't continue to send out press releases that say "As part of a long-standing effort to make it safer to drive, bike, and walk in our community, the City of Salem will add a new safety feature at high volume intersections..."

Whatever the City thinks constitutes "a long-standing effort," its level of effort is nowhere near actually making change. We need to do something very different and to do more.

We are failing badly on walking and biking
(final June Our Salem indicators)
Fortunately, the "indicators" from Our Salem will give more visibility to this failure.

Within the margin of error, we are on a decline or flat
(See previous notes on the census numbers in previous years, 2018 and 2017. It's too much trouble to get the same exact slice of data each time, so I end up doing a new data series each year. The important thing is not that the data's exactly the same - and with margin-of-error anyway it doesn't need to be, so quibble away - but that we haven't been able to budge past wandering around a center of 1% from year to year. We should be showing a steady trajectory of increase, not the decline or perhaps flatness we actually see. See also additional notes on a Salem Reporter piece and on a City "fun fact.")

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Governor Brown Flags Low Effort on Transportation and Greenhouse Gas

Yesterday a letter from the Governor was making the rounds among transportation advocates.

In the letter of September 23rd, Governor Brown urged four State agencies, including ODOT,
to combat the impacts of climate change by implementing the Statewide Transportation Strategy (STS) as adopted by the Oregon Transportation Commission....

It is now time for your four agencies to organize an implementation plan for the STS.
In the last report to the Legislature, the Oregon Global Warming Commission noted that "STS adoption is only advisory and has no specific programmatic implications...."

Oregon Global Warming Commission 2018 Biennial Report
It has not been much implemented since 2013.

It is not, therefore, clear how effective this "urging" might be, even with admonishment of "it is now time." It could just be virtue signalling in response to the Climate Strike rallies of last weekend.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Former Public Works Director and Historian of our Water System, Frank Mauldin has Died

Here's more sad news in the paper today. The historian of our water supply and a former Director of Public Works for the City of Salem, Frank Mauldin has passed away.

Sweet Mountain Water


You can read a little more here about the first and foiled attempt at purchasing the waterworks and linking to cleaner mountain water in 1911. By this time Portland had had Bull Run water for 15 years, Eugene was in process of developing a municipal supply, and it wasn't until the later 1930s that Salem finally got hooked up to the Santiam.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Eugene Sunday Streets Contended with Rain

Especially since Salem isn't doing an Open Streets event in 2019, it was interesting to check in on Eugene's Sunday Streets this year.

The full loop on 8th and Broadway in downtown Eugene
(Map and full schedule via FB)
They held it downtown. It duplicated the downtown route last year - and then they doubled the course. In 2018 it had been a simple out-and-back on Broadway, and this year they created a full loop with 8th street.

Perhaps because of funding or volunteer staffing levels, they only held one event this year, however. Previously they had had two events.

It was also shifted to September. Last year's downtown event had been the end of July. One advantage to September is that it was more accessible to UO students than something mid-summer.

But a disadvantage was on full display Sunday: Rain. It rained pretty hard in the morning, and even though it dried out some in the early afternoon, this certainly reduced attendance. (Another band of rain came in around 4pm at the end.)

There was a steady stream of people traveling the route; it was not empty. But it never seemed crowded anywhere either.

In one place car access created an interruption. The Washington/Jefferson couplet is a minor arterial and connects with the ramp system for the I-105 spur, and this was the one place where they did not do a full closure and needed flaggers to let car drivers cross the course. There are crosswalks striped on them, they've even bumped out the curb with striping and four or five wands on each side, and at least theoretically Oregon's crosswalk law is in force. But drivers zoom on Washington and Jefferson and rarely stop for people on foot in the crosswalks.

Still needed flaggers on Washington and Jefferson Streets
Broadway is a pretty well established lower-traffic bikeway, and it was not so very novel to be on it. 8th, however, is much busier, and though it has a bike lane on part of it, it's not nearly as comfortable as Broadway, and it was a little neat to be on it without cars.

WOW Hall at Lincon & 8th: Youth bands and Big Wheel course
But maybe the best moment was the hub at the Woodmen of the World Hall (more photos here at Waymarking). The hall hosts a lot of touring bands, is a home for other arts and culture, and is on the National Register. It was dedicated in 1933.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Continuing to Assess Candidates for 2021-2026 Funding: At the MPO

Our Metropolitan Planning Organization's Policy Committee meets on Tuesday the 24th, and they continue to look at the candidate project applications for funding in the 2021-2026 cycle.

Right-sized to three lanes
And there's some good news. One of the projects looks like it has been right-sized from five down to three auto lanes. The State Street project appears to have been adjusted in response to questions from staff and the Technical Advisory Committee.

Despite questions also on the Center Street project, it does not seem to have been adjusted.

But this one's still showing the super-size section with five lanes
But overall I'm not sure there's much new to say. (See previous notes here and here.)

There's also another round of busted budgets and project overruns.

More cost overruns
We should probably regard this as the norm right now. No project estimate should be taken at face value.

Part of Civic Center Design Team, Howard Smith Passes Away


You might not have noticed, but a couple months back The Mill announced that they'd processed a recent donation, drawings and papers from Payne Settecase Smith Architects.

About it they said
The architectural plans in this collection represent the work of a firm who changed the look of Salem and the wider Willamette Valley during the post World War II era, one of the largest building booms in American history...[They] also represent the changes in architecture during the 1950-1970s. Influenced by the modern art movement, architecture during this time diverged significantly from traditional architectural styles. One of the best examples of this in Salem is the Salem Civic Center. Built in the brutalist style, the Payne, Settlecase, and Smith firm pushed the boundaries of acceptable public architecture.
One of the Principals, Howard Smith, died last week.

Godspeed.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Join the Climate Rally Friday at 1pm

If you've been wondering about a concrete action here in Salem for better transportation, consider making Friday's climate rally as big as possible. It's 1pm on the Capitol steps, tomorrow, Friday the 20th.

via 350.org and Mona Caron
Until we have a new framework - and climate action and climate justice is a very good framework - better bike lanes will continue to be one-off fragments, disconnected from the larger system and system effects, nowhere near the scale that is needed.

Though some argue incremental change is a strong enough move, it's not. We need whole system changes.

Final pie chart from Our Salem: All about cars
In transportation we need a connected suite that includes things like
  • Transit priority with bus-only lanes, signal priority, and a plan for full BRT on key corridors
  • Parking reform with right-priced parking throughout the city and an elimination of mandated parking minimums in code
  • A full commitment to building out a complete all ages and abilities bike lane system, including protected bike lanes on key arterial corridors and other busy streets and neighborhood greenways on quiet, low-traffic streets
  • Decongestion pricing (if we price parking, which is a good first step, but do not price road access, the coming robot cars will proliferate and choke the streets)
  • An end to new automobile capacity
  • Better land use so that useful destinations are more often in walking and biking distance near homes - this means more density along commercial corridors, missing middle housing in established single-family neighborhoods, and neighborhood corner commercial clusters in residential areas of all kinds.
  • Safe Routes to School training and programming at every school 
  • End commuter benefit and parking subsidies for drive-alone trips, and add new incentives for walk/bike/bus commuting
Lending your support to something on the scale of a Green New Deal is what it's going to take.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

At 10 Years, Kroc Center Remains an Autoist Failure

There's a long front-pager on the 10th anniversary of the Kroc Center, but as it is more of a feature oriented towards promoting new memberships at a celebration, it doesn't dig into the issues enough as a news analysis.

Location and transportation
are buried little on page 6
Still, in the story's continuation on page six, in a list of "10 reasons why it happened in this community," the second reason, "the location," is something of a buried lede.

The Kroc Center was intended to "help underserved neighborhoods," but because the City and affiliated boosters exiled it to a tract of industrial land, isolated and even orphaned from nearby neighborhoods by the railroads, Parkway, and additional layers of busy streets, it reinforces ways that those neighborhoods are underserved.

The Director says "we are not on anybody's way to anywhere," and that's an expression both of geographical isolation and compulsory autoism. The inherent logic of siting the Kroc Center there necessarily implies access to automobiles and making a destination car trip. That means people who can afford cars, and this operates as a kind of wealth check, completely opposite the intended function of "helping underserved neighborhoods."

This is the kind of decision that a climate policy might have helped. If we were looking at the trips and emissions the proposed site would induce, we may have had additional grounds for choosing a better location.

As we assess the Kroc Center on this 10th anniversary, we should not merely think of it as needing better marketing and visibility. We should face squarely the structural problems with the thing.

(See all previous notes on the Kroc Center here.)

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Supreme Court Building and Bush House: At the Historic Landmarks Commission

The Historic Landmarks Commission meets on Thursday the 19th and they've got a couple of items of interest on the agenda. Most interesting is a full draft (though the pagination is totally scrambled!) of the formal Nomination Form for a National Register listing of the Oregon Supreme Court building. There's also an update on Bush House.

W. C. Knighton's Supreme Court building of 1914

Nearly finished in 1913 here, dedicated in 1914

Monday, September 16, 2019

Clinic Monoculture is Defeating Edgewater Mixed Use Zone

Do you remember the offer to give away a cottage cluster just off Edgewater Street, on the corner of Gerth Avenue and Second Street NW?


The cluster of nine cottages and courtyard at center
The plan for that lot's redevelopment is out and will be at the Planning Commission on October 1st.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Salem Federal Art Center was a New Deal Project; Think about a Green New Deal Now

There's a nice piece in the Sunday paper today about the Salem Federal Art Center at the tail of the Great Depression and the run up to World War II.

Salem Federal Art Center at the old high school
(From a history of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis)

in the Sunday paper
While the piece acknowledges it as a New Deal program, it may not give sufficient weight to the context of the Depression, Keynesian stimulus in New Deal programming and employment, and the politics of it all. Instead it's framed as more of a local story in the history of arts groups and arts education. That's not at all wrong, of course, but the story isn't just about plucky locals and their love for the arts. There is more to it, and some of it more radical.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Falcons on the Union St RR Bridge: Summer's Grace Note

In August, every time I crossed the Union Street Railroad Bridge in the evening I saw one or two Peregrine Falcons.

Equally, I noticed the lack of Pigeons and their encrustations of guano on the bridge deck and beams.

I think these two things are connected!

This was one of the most wonderful details of summer this year.

I hope there's enough food for them to make residence here. It is an amazing thing and sign of improved river health to see Eagles, Osprey, the occasional Red Tail and other hawk, and now Peregrine Falcons along the river.

I don't have a long lens and fancy camera, so these are from the point-and-shoot and its limited telephoto zoom, much too small. Maybe a serious birder with the Audubon Society will publish better pictures some time. At the beginning of Summer, when the birds were younger, they did publish one, but I haven't seen any since, and there hasn't seemed to be much talk about them. (There seems to be a bias for birds in "nature" at the wildlife refuges, or even in back yards, but not so much on buildings and in the distinctly urban landscape.)

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Leader of Failed CRC Tapped as new ODOT Director

Well, on the surface this sure looks like a classic Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and Epic Fail.

From the ODOT press release:
On Tuesday, the Oregon Transportation Commission offered the position of ODOT director to Kris Strickler, who is currently Oregon’s Highway Division administrator. If Strickler accepts the OTC’s offer and is confirmed by the Oregon Senate, he will become ODOT’s 12th director. The commission decided to extend the offer to Strickler during a Tuesday afternoon meeting held by phone. The decision culminates a six-month national search for the next director by the commission. Strickler would succeed Matt Garrett, who served as ODOT director from 2005 to 2019....

Strickler brings to the position 20 years of experience on Oregon and Washington transportation issues.

In 2018, he became administrator for ODOT’s Highway Division, which oversees the design, construction and maintenance of Oregon’s highway system. Prior to that time, he was Southwest Region administrator for the Washington Department of Transportation and before that he was director of the Columbia River Crossing bridge project. He has also worked on transportation projects for various private engineering firms.
The CRC cost around $200 million and delivered nothing.

It was a giant boondoggle of epic proportion.

To understand this, then, as qualification for leading ODOT says something very retrograde and autoist about ODOT's future.

The Street Trust sent out a release fully panning the offer and prospective appointment:
There is nothing in Strickler’s experience that suggests he is prepared to lead this shift. He played a key role in the largest failed highway expansion project the Portland area has seen--the Columbia River Crossing. He offered virtually no substance in his presentation to a group of stakeholders who got to meet with three top candidates for the ODOT job.

The OTC ran a recruitment process that attracted talent from around the nation. There were two excellent choices for the job. Today, the OTC failed to select either of these candidates.
As others comment and react there may be more to say.

Monday, September 9, 2019

George Putnam Assumes Control of Capital Journal in 1919

Here's an anniversary worth noticing. As Gatehouse and Gannett merge and continue to strip-mine local newspapers, and Salem Reporter works to develop a newish digital model, exactly 100 years ago one of the most important newspaperman in Salem history, George Putnam, purchased the Capital Journal. It was announced on September 8th, 1919.

Putnam Center at Willamette University
is named after George Putnam
As founder of the Statesman, and for his larger place in Salem history, Asahel Bush might be the greatest, but he didn't own his paper for nearly as long as Putnam owned the Journal. On longevity at the newspaper Putnam wins then, and he also engaged a deeply important moral issue in the second KKK of the 1920s, and wins on that also. During Putnam's heyday, Charles Sprague at the Statesman was a worthy rival, and we should probably give more attention to the Putnam-Sprague competition also. Putnam belongs with them as one of our giants in local journalism.

September 8th, 1919
From the Oregon Encyclopedia:
George Putnam was the epitome of the fighting editor during the Progressive era in Oregon. His battles with an entrenched political machine in Medford cost him a night in jail, a libel conviction, and physical assaults. A small and nonviolent man, Putnam announced that “open season for editors has ended as far as [this] editor is concerned, and the closed season is on.” He bought a revolver, placed it on his desk, and the assaults ended....

In 1919, Putnam sold the Medford paper to purchase the Salem Capital-Journal, so he was a new editor in the capital city when the Ku Klux Klan began efforts to dominate Oregon politics. Putnam immediately became the state’s strongest newspaper opposition, ridiculing the secret society and its “senseless and silly public appearances in nightgown regalia.” His ridicule extended to fellow editors, particularly in Portland, for timidity in facing the KKK....

Putnam sold the Capital-Journal to Bernard Mainwaring in 1953 but continued to write a personal column until his death on August 18, 1961, in a fire that destroyed his Salem house. The paper was sold to Gannett Newspaper Company in 1973 and combined with the Oregon Statesman to create the Salem Statesman-Journal.

Sunday, September 8, 2019

City Council, September 9th - Salem Heights Resolution and Fairview Appeal

Council meets on Monday, and the appeal of the plan for "The Woods" at the Fairview project will get the most attention.

There is also progress on a new sidewalk on the slope along Rosemont Avenue in West Salem as it goes up the bluff.

Rosemont sidewalk, retaining wall, pipe barrier fence
On Rosemont the sidewalk has been deteriorating, the old pipe barrier is rickety and has been hit by drivers several times, and the retaining wall is sinking. The whole thing needs work. There is also the enormous intersection with Piedmont, and the total effect surely induces speeding, hence the impacts to the pipe barrier. Council will approve acquisition of right-of-way and easements for the project.

Though we are on the 2020 CIP now,
this last appears in the 2018 CIP
Hopefully they will also include speed calming treatments and appropriate separation between cars and the sidewalk so that speeding motorists cannot crash the sidewalk easily. But the entry in the 2018 CIP does not appear to include any of these things. This is also an example of the disconnect between the way funds are programmed and the actual year of construction.

Saturday, September 7, 2019

Bush Park Terrace Concept should Revive Historic Carriage Way

Over at the Mission Street Parks Conservancy, they just announced a proposal to
make several improvements to an area immediately east and south of the Bush House conservatory, including the nearby parking lot.
From the concept announcement (carriage way note added)
They identify "the neglected area between the conservatory and the parking lot" and propose changes to make it more attractive, more active, and more useful.

For connectivity, the concept appears to focus on the path skirting the parking lot down to the derby track. (Mainly phase III on the site plan map.)

But one tantalizing note asks if a different path segment should be continued.

Friday, September 6, 2019

Party and Joyride for Free with Cherriots on Saturday

It's here! The return of Saturday transit. Party with Cherriots and go ride the bus! Rides are free on Saturdays in September - all September! Check it out.

Larger map here! Hourly, and half-hourly routes
Event details:
We are having a party on Saturday, Sept. 7 on the North Block of the Downtown Transit Center from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Food Trucks:
Gourmet Hometown Heroes
Hooked On Food
Half Baked Eats & Sweets
Chez Alishon Mediterranean Bistro - Mobile Food Truck
On Any Sundae
Uncle Troy’s BBQ


Caesar The No Drama Llama
Balloon Guy - Antonio Sombrero
The Northwest Hub
DJ w/ music
Kid's Button Making
Cherriots information for riders
...and prizes!
For complete information on new routes and schedules, see here.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Art League, Ancestor to Art Association, Forms in 1919

The paper today has a piece on the new sculpture at Bush Park and the 100th anniversary of the Salem Art Association.

The SJ notes that
In 1919, a group of art enthusiasts came together to found the Salem Arts League, which would later be called the Salem Art Association.

Since then, they've seen many changes like being entrusted with operation of the Bush House Museum, relocating to a renovated horse and carriage barn now known as the Bush Barn Art Center and the addition of the annex.

"Sentinels" honors the people who helped the art association get to today. It's a contemporary piece featuring three components of varying heights made out of structural steel.

"The sentinels are looking to the future (and) represent those who have passed the baton over a hundred years," Burnett said.
October 8th, 1919
Indeed, on Tuesday, October 7th, 1919, the Salem Art League began at the Library.
That Salem's cultured life should keep abreast with its civic growth is the motive which is back of the Salem Art League, whose organization was begun Tuesday evening in the lecture room of tho Salem public library, when enthusiastic artists and art patrons of Salem assembled in first regular session.

This is the first, organization of its kind in the capital city, for although several clubs for the promotion of art have been formed their efforts have been restricted to one branch of art. The league will not only foster art, but will aid in advancing literature and music, as well.
Probably there would be something to say about the composition of the charter members. The League was overwhelmingly female, and it is significant that large numbers of women had found employment, advancement, satisfaction, and status during the war; their organizational skills and ambitions were being wasted now as the workforce ejected them, reverting to men returning from the military. In clubs they created new opportunities for themselves.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Riverbend Phase Two at Planning Commission Tonight

At the Planning Commission tonight the 3rd is a proposal for the second phase of a horizontally mixed-use project at Riverbend and Wallace Roads in West Salem.

Second phase to the north with apartments;
also expands the southern half shopping center
Just in general terms, this kind of thing has been envisioned for nearly 20 years in the West Salem plan.

This kind of thing is in our plans

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Carpenters', Street Car Men, and Printers' Unions Led Labor Day in 1919

100 years ago three Salem unions led the celebration.

August 30th, 1919, page six

Unions for carpenters, street car men, and printers
led the way. September 1st, 1919
But as Labor Day approached, indeed all through 1919, the rhetoric of the "Red Scare" was a potent force as Capital sought to diminish and control Labor's power. Governmental power was also brought to bear against strikers.

Front page, August 28th, 1919