City Council, October 28th

In light of reluctance to advance a concept for new City revenue in a "Livability levy," City Council on Monday has an opportunity to think more about the system of property tax exemptions.

On the agenda is a proposed renewal of an Enterprise Zone for E-commerce. But the Staff Report says, "There have been no E-commerce Zone applicants between 2020 and the date of this resolution." This looks like real evidence the City doesn't need it!

Council should take the opportunity to think more critically about the benefits of these exemptions.

Also on the agenda is the quarterly business development report, and its vagueness and generality is also evidence that we don't think critically enough about the costs of inducements to new and existing business.

When will the Enterprise Zone expire?

The report, previously text only, now has photos and more snazzy design. It references instances of property tax revenue "once the...Enterprise Zone incentive has ended," but no indication that the exemption is definitely going to end. Businesses will sometimes create an expansion for a new round of exemption, churning things so they remain exempt.

An entry on a different business and set of incentives says

It is located on the newly-constructed Logistics Street SE. Logistics Street SE also provides new multi-use path connectivity through the centrally located 100 acres of wetland area.

But the whole Mill Creek Corporate Center area is utterly car-dependent, and "multi-use path connectivity" here is theoretical and Potemkin show, not anything in reality for real people.

The quarterly reports should be more analytically detailed and read less like the puffery of a press release. They don't actually have enough information for Council to think critically about trade-offs and about real success and real failure.

c.1990 the stroady design is clear

The City also is moving to remove the brick structure with the welcome sign at the border with Keizer. The Staff Report erases the driver in the "hit by car" trope and says

Since its construction the brick structure has been struck multiple times by motor vehicles, necessitating its reconstruction, which has become burdensome to the City.

Nothing about overengineered wide roads that induce speeding.

• "Maybe it's not such a Mystery why Drivers Demolish a Sign Repeatedly"

The administrative purchases report has a few interesting items.

• Nearly $1 million to Avelo Airlines for "a three year period and...the full amount of the minimum revenue guarantee agreement." What is that about?
  
• More happily, also about $1 million for "Preliminary Engineering and Right of Way Services for Commercial St: Vista Ave SE to Ratcliff Dr SE." Filling in that missing sidewalk and a new traffic signal was scheduled for 2026 construction, but in grappling with various cost escalations it had seemed likely to be pushed out to 2028. So it's nice to see real evidence of progress on it.
  
• And a little over $200,000 for the "Goal 5 Riparian Corridor Project. This project will provide an inventory of riparian corridor inventory, planning, and public engagement work." It had seemed like things were farther along, and the project was closer to wrapping up than just beginning. The way the City has talked about this over the last three years since its initiation in 2021 has not seemed very straightforward. In any case, it will be good to see it finally.
  

Heat pumps! There's a grant application to fund heat pumps in supported housing.

The City of Salem, in partnership with the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency (MWVCAA), intends to apply for $20 million from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant Program. The funds will be used to create a resilience hub network ($12 million) and to improve energy efficiency in low-income housing, including providing portable heat pumps to multifamily residents ($8 million). The grant has no match requirement.

The "resilience hub" also sounds interesting, and it will be interesting to learn more.

Finally, Councilor Stapleton has a motion to initiate a business license ordinance. Is this prompted by the AirBnB problem? It will also be interesting to learn more about that.