Congressman Schrader: Hey Salem, How About Some Sidewalks?

This is great.

While the goal might have been to ask why the Social Security Office wasn't located downtown and nearer the transit center or other transit hubs, Congressman Schrader's walk along McGilchrist yesterday also highlighted the execrable conditions for walking too often seen in Salem.

Photo clips from the Statesman

I mean, this is embarrassing, isn't it? Not just for the Administrator who thought the office would be good there, but also for the City. 

Coverage back in October

Tell Congressman Schrader that we don't need more highways! Instead, we need to make sure that a much larger proportion of transportation funding goes to basic transportation infrastructure like sidewalks and bike lanes, things that serve all people, including those on fixed incomes and who may not be able to afford a car. (Senator Wyden's Salem staffer Fritz Graham is also in the pictures, and you might contact Senator Wyden's office, too!)

Equally, make sure your City Councilor knows about Congressman Schrader's visit. Ask them to start moving on the recommendations in Bike and Walk Salem!

Update - see Jim's comment below. 

He proposes that the SSA should reuse the old First National Bank building designed by Pietro Belluschi!
 

First National Bank, Liberty & Chemeketa - UO Digital Collections

(Complete City Councilor contact info and ward map after the jump!)

Youth Bike Safety Education to Roll Again at Boys and Girls Clubs

This May the Boys and Girls Clubs are taking the next step in youth bike education!

For several years now the Boys and Girls Clubs have operated a youth performance team, the "flow riders." But it has been restricted to a small group, and its goals aren't necessarily right for everyone.

Practicing on the Roads

Starting in May, they will expand the program to offer bike safety education to a broader range of youth and oriented towards more everyday kinds of bicycling - like to school!

Flow Riders Practice Maintenance

A $9,800 grant from Kaiser Permanente Northwest will support the program. The fleet of bikes in Salem will remain in Salem and the Portland Bicycle Transportation Alliance, which had been running bike education statewide, including here in Salem, has formally donated them to the Boys and Girls Club. The fleet had been purchased by donations from the Salem Bicycle Club.

Ready to Roll

The fleet had been idle for almost two years.  In late 2010 and into 2011 the Bicycle Transportation Alliance reconfigured to focus on Portland-area advocacy, and the status of the Salem fleet and bike safety education program became uncertain . So after the hiatus, it's great to see the education program back!

Classes will commence in May at the Swegle Center, and programs at other sites will follow.  

Trail and Path System in new Parks Master Plan Finally Posted

In mid-December you may recall that the draft Parks Master Plan was released for public comment.

But it wasn't complete!

Yes, they were missing.

Well now they have the maps. You can see the full pdf here.

Here's Map 4, the Proposed Trail System!

In Chapter 6, "Recommendations," there are four "linear parks" proposed and some 50 "connector trails." They're hard to see on the dinky clip, so click through to the full pdf if you're interested.  Still, you can see the straight shot along a power line easement in West Salem, a riverfront trail along the Willamette River to Keizer, a 25th St./Airway Drive path, a long path along Kuebler/Cordon Road, an I-5 connector, and a Mill Creek path.  Plus lots of other smaller ones.

In Chapter 7 on "Implementation" and priorities, only two trails rank highly enough for "tier 1" listing:  The Croisan Trail Connector and the Minto Park Path and Bridge.

Legislative Update Presession 3 - The CRC Octopus

This week House bills got referred to committee, but otherwise there was no meaningful activity. (Points to Senate President Courtney for earliest referrals!)

Here are the bullets.  Below them is a longer bit on the giant Columbia River Crossing bill.

•  House Joint Resolution 9 -"Proposes amendment to Oregon Constitution to allow revenue from taxes on motor vehicle fuel and ownership, operation or use of motor vehicles to be used for transportation projects that will prevent or reduce pollution and congestion created by use of motor vehicles." Referred to Transportation and Economic Development committee.
• House Bill 2453 - "Requires persons operating certain high-mileage motor vehicles to pay per-mile road usage charge or flat annual road usage charge." It's a hot potato! Referred to Transportation and Economic Development with subsequent referral to Revenue, then Ways and Means.
• House Bill 2500 looks to expand the "types of costs that qualify as approved transportation costs for purposes of State School Fund distributions."  These would include "Expenditures made to improve  safety for students traveling to school by means that are not provided by the school district and that:
  (i) Include walking or using a bicycle, scooter, skateboard or similar device..." Referred to Education with subsequent referral to Revenue, then Ways and Means.
• Senate Bill 9 filed by Senator Courtney would "increase the penalty [for using a cel phone while driving] from a Class D violation to a Class B violation, which means the maximum fine would increase from $250 to $1,000. The minimum fine would increase from $60 to $130." After first reading it was assigned to the Judiciary Committee.
• Senate Bill 247 would use lottery funds and creates an "Alternative Mode Transportation Fund. Requires that nine percent of net proceeds from Oregon State Lottery be deposited in Multimodal Transportation Fund, and that nine percent of net proceeds be deposited in Alternative Mode Transportation Fund. Continuously appropriates moneys in Alternative Mode Transportation Fund to Department of Transportation. Provides that moneys may only be used for capital improvements and operational costs of mass transit, passenger rail, bicycle and pedestrian projects."  After first reading it was referred to Business and Transportation, then Ways and Means Committee.
• Senate Bill 332 would establish a "Task  Force  on  Bicycle  Safety."  Senator Jackie Winters proposed this, and the bill as introduced is mostly procedural and otherwise content-free at the moment.  After first reading it was referred to Business and Transportation, then Ways and Means Committee.

Standard Oil Monopoly, 1904. Detail:   Library of Congress

Naturally enough there's starting to be some chatter about the CRC bill, House Bill 2260.

Pioneering Healthy Communities, Meet Bike and Walk Salem

Salem's really not that big. But as small as it is, it sure seems sometimes like too many conversations remain siloed, and efforts all-too-piecemeal instead of coordinated.

Today's column by Saerom Yoo is a great example.

Oh boy:  Juvenile Bike Salmon + Top 10 Worst Intersection

Pioneering Healthy Communities meet Bike and Walk Salem! Bike and Walk Salem, meet Pioneering Healthy Communities!

Yoo writes:

I live within walking distance of Bush’s Pasture Park, and it happens to be one of my favorite spots for a run or a walk. Crossing two main busy streets, then sometimes using the narrow sidewalk along equally busy Mission Street SE, dodging cars barreling by, was always part of the adventure.

It was strange to hear public health leaders in the community point the area out as a problem that could and should be addressed, instead of a fact of life....

Eventually, PHC will work with the city parks and planning departments to offer suggestions on small and simple changes that could make a big public health impact.

There's a whole lot of "changes that could make a big public health impact" already identified in Bike and Walk Salem!

The intersection of South Liberty and Commercial, for example, has been identified as an intersection needing high-priority attention!

Pioneering Healthy Communities shouldn't feel it needs to reinvent the wheel and generate a whole new project list.  Instead, it should work to mobilize City Staff, Electeds, and public opinion to fund and construct the slate of projects identified in Bike and Walk Salem as well as the Downtown Mobility Study.

The planning studies are done or in motion.  What's needed now is political support and political will!

City Council, January 28th - Killer Bs, Boondoggles and the Budget

At City Council on Monday are few urgent action items or decisions - but several interesting updates. We'll call them "the Bs."

Bridge Boondogglery

Most interesting are worksessions on transportation funding and the bridge:
WORK SESSIONS – Held in the Library Anderson Rooms unless otherwise noted:
Proposed Fee for Transportation Funding ~ Monday, February 11, 5:30 p.m.
Salem River Crossing ~ Tuesday, February 19, 5:30 p.m. ~ Location to be determined

The Budget

Funding is of the moment, and the City has announced meetings on the budget.  Killing the Third Bridge process would free up budget for things like potholes, fire, and police!

COMMUNITY FORUMS ON CITY BUDGET:
West Salem Neighborhood Association – West Salem Roth’s ~ Monday, February 4, 7:00 p.m.
South Salem High School Library ~ Wednesday, February 6, 6:00 p.m.
Latino presentation – McKay High School ~ Tuesday, February 12, 6:00 p.m.
Center 50+ ~ Wednesday, February 13, 6:00 p.m.
BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETINGS – Held in the Council Chambers
Review Department Operations and Second Quarter FY 2012-13 Financial Information ~ Wednesday, February 20, 6:00 p.m.
Presentation of FY 2013-14 Budget by City Manager ~ Wednesday, April 10, 6:00 p.m.
Budget Reviews ~ Wednesday, April 17, 24, May 1, and May 8, 6:00 p.m.

Another Boondoggle

There's also more on the other boondoggle, the big airport this city needs!
Ordinance Bill No. 2-13 Adopting the Updated Airport Master Plan to Replace the 1997 McNary Field Airport Master Plan as a Detailed Plan of the Salem Area Comprehensive Plan; Amending SRC Chapter 64 ~ Monday, February 25

Other Bits

There are several bits on downtown parking. Apparently the stretch from two to four hours free parking downtown over the Holidays cost the City about $21,000 in revenue from "unissued" parking citations based on the two hour limit.  Hopefully the Parking Task Force will find this a useful data point as they seek a more rational system to allocate and properly price car storage.  The City is also considering new parking meter technology.  And Council will decide on an updated schedule of parking fees.

Council will fill two positions for the Planning Commission. Two of the three applicants specifically call out bike transportation in their applications! Having survived hearings on both Bike and Walk Salem and the Pioneer Cemetery and Alley, former Councilor (appointed to fill out Bob Cannon's term in Ward 7) Sheronne Blasi writes:

We have heard from Salem residents that they want to be able to walk and ride their bikes to the park and to the store, and the Planning Commission is in a position to help achieve that by further encouraging developers to design and build that support these types of communities.

Stephen Elzinga describes himself as a bike commuter:

As a bicycle commuter myself, I understand firsthand the importance of improving the safety and accessibility of alternative transportation routes.

There's also an update on the railroad Quiet Zone, which will reduce or eliminate much of the horn blowing in downtown, and staff thinks a spring implementation might be possible.

Finally, more Eminent Domain:  An update on the Wallace Road sewer easement.  (See here for more more discussion.)  And a new case on Edgewater at Rosemont, arising from a death and title complication in probate. 

Learn about Bike Friendly Business Districts on the 7th

Looks like a great talk!

Thursday, February 7th on Bike Friendly Business Districts.  5:30pm in Eugene, at the Downtown Athletic Club, Ballroom A, 999 Willamette St.  Maybe folks from the Salem Downtown Partnership, Downtown Advisory Board, and Downtown Mobility Study would be interested?

(Here's a League of American Bicyclists note on April Economides.)

Salem City Club to Talk Transit and Third Bridge

Tomorrow, Friday the 25th, the Salem City Club holds its second "Grassroots Ideas" luncheon and presentation:

[I]nspired by a recent transit study published by the League of Women Voters of Marion and Polk Counties... the focus will be on citizen-generated ideas for a more livable and vital Salem. The League study points to a need for enhanced transit service in the Salem-Keizer region while noting policy and financial constraints. “Public Transportation in the Salem Area” will shed light on these needs, policy options, and financial and other constraints with the hope of stimulating thought and discussion....

Allan Pollock, General Manager for Salem-Keizer Transit and Salem City Club Board member will moderate the podium program. Sandra Gangle, chair of the League’s Transit Study committee, will discuss myths and facts of transit emanating from the League’s study report. Ron Kilcoyne, General Manager of Lane Transit District, will focus on the challenges transit systems face when attempting to provide the appropriate level of service to communities. He will also offer perspectives on how transit systems vary across the country in light of local service demands and financial realities. Jim Lewis, Executive Officer of the Salem Association of Realtors, will provide his insights into business community requirements and concerns pertinent to transit policy and financing.

The League also notes that

An additional feature of the January 25 event will be the presence of Poster Presenters from our local community. Each poster will explain why efficient transit service is important to the people they serve. The Poster Presenters, who will be available from 11:30 to noon, and the topics they will present, include:

• Cheryl Stone, Municipal Court Administrator, City of Salem--Lack of transportation is cited most frequently as the reason for defendants' failure to appear for court hearings.
• Cecelia Monto, Dean, Education and Evening/Weekend Programs, and Steph Fregosi, Sustainability Coordinator, Chemeketa Community College--College students need bus transportation, including evenings and weekends.
• Kat Baird, Manager, The Book Bin, and Kathy Henderson, Executive Director, Salem Downtown Association--Downtown store employees and customers need efficient bus transportation, including evenings and weekends.
• Kathleen Daniel, Program Director, Marion-Polk Food Share, and Lori Beamer, President, CoActive Connections, a community non-profit that fosters strategies for creating a community free of hunger--Low-income families need safe and efficient bus transportation, including evenings and weekends.

Next up on Friday, February 8th, will be a session on the Third Bridge.

City Club to Talk Bridge Feb 8th

New County Transportation Plan Drafts and Crowd-Sourced Design Manual

Marion County has been working to update the 2005 Rural Transportation System Plan.

There have been a couple of updates (here and here) and another one is out.

Now you can look at new draft chapters for the rural strategy or the urban strategy.

Bike recreation and bike transport don't get much attention. Mostly it's about paved shoulders.

Indeed, the road inventory they've now posted has no notes on bike lanes!

County Road Inventory Matrix ignores bike facilities!

If you'd like to see the County use asphalt rather than chipseal on important recreational routes, consider commenting. If you'd like to see better ways to be able at least occasionally to commute from Silverton to Salem by bike, consider commenting.

It's all potential and upside, as they say!

Feats of Engineering: Move of Sellwood Bridge is Neat

This is neither here nor there, but I'm tired of slagging on bridges.  

So here's something nice on a bridge! It may be filler here, but it's pretty grand anyway.  Time-lapse on the recent move of the Sellwood Bridge in order for it to become a temporary bridge while the new one is constructed.


Here's one from inside the structure!


You can see more photos here.

Apparently they even used liquid dishwasher detergent as part of the lubrication for sliding the structure.

Amazing. Go Engineers!

Council to Discuss Third Bridge Tuesday

Tomorrow night, Tuesday the 22nd, City Council will hold another work session on the costly and oversized bridge and highway proposed to cross the river. It will be in the Anderson room, downstairs in the Library, at 5:30pm.

Low income, minority, elderly groups
concentrated near proposed bridge alignment
Map from Bike & Walk Salem

The session was moved up by a month, having been originally scheduled for mid-February, and you would not be paranoid at least to consider the possibility of shenanigans.  Something might be up!

Over at No 3rd Bridge advocates promise lapel stickers for folks who show up. Work sessions have tended historically to be quiet, and the fact that citizens are showing up even when there is no prospect for public comment or testimony has got the attention of Council and staff. If you can, show your support for rational transportation policy and spending!

Councilor Bennett's ward would see the biggest bridge impacts

As you can see from the map, Ward 1 in yellow, Chuck Bennett's, really would bear the great brunt of construction and traffic, and it has not been surprising to see him asking more probing questions.  Many of his constituents are not wealthy, and would be disproportionately affected.  (See the Environmental Justice chapter of the DEIS.) 

Diana Dickey's Ward 6 and Dan Clem's Ward 8 would also be impacted.  Dickey is the wife of a Cherriots executive, and she works in Public Health for her day job, and she should be fully attuned to the transportation implications - if perhaps also sometimes constrained by other politics.  Dan Clem has been on the spend and build, build, build bandwagon, alas. 

This is really how big would be

It will take 5 votes on Council to accomplish anything, and the Mayor and new Councilor Warren Bednarz have also expressed an inclination to spend and build.

Councilors Clausen and Nanke may be the key swing votes, therefore.

Especially if you live in ward 3 or 4 in particular, consider sending Councilor Nanke or Clausen a message that there are better ways to solve congestion than to spend and built a giant tolled highway and bridge.  (Complete contact info and ward map after the jump!  Any email to your councilor helps!)

At the Legislature: Bills in Week 2 of the Presession

There was actually some movement at the Legislature last week.  A few bills were even referred to committee, all on the Senate side.  And commenters on last week's note pointed out a few new bills to follow.

Here's an update on the first group of bike- and relevant tranportation-related bills:

•  House Joint Resolution 9 -"Proposes amendment to Oregon Constitution to allow revenue from taxes on motor vehicle fuel and ownership, operation or use of motor vehicles to be used for transportation projects that will prevent or reduce pollution and congestion created by use of motor vehicles."  Already had first reading on the 14th, and it awaits a referral to committee.
• The first CRC bill, House Bill 2260 would declare "that it is in state’s interest to undertake Interstate 5 bridge replacement program. Enacts provisions relating to tolls for program. Specifies borrowing authority of Department of Transportation for program." This isn't specifically about bikes, of course, but the CRC has tremendous implications for the Salem River Crossing and all state transportation projects, as its budget would have cascading effects on the budget for other projects.  First reading on the 14th and  awaits a referral to committee.
• House Bill 2453 - "Requires persons operating certain high-mileage motor vehicles to pay per-mile road usage charge or flat annual road usage charge."  First reading on the 14th and  awaits a referral to committee.
• House Bill 2500 looks to expand the "types of costs that qualify as approved transportation costs for purposes of State School Fund distributions."  These would include "Expenditures made to improve  safety for students traveling to school by means that are not provided by the school district and that:
  (i) Include walking or using a bicycle, scooter, skateboard or similar device..."  First reading on the 14th and  awaits a referral to committee.
• Senate Bill 9 filed by Senator Courtney would "increase the penalty [for using a cel phone while driving] from a Class D violation to a Class B violation, which means the maximum fine would increase from $250 to $1,000. The minimum fine would increase from $60 to $130." After first reading it was assigned to the Judiciary Committee.
• Senate Bill 247 would use lottery funds and creates an "Alternative Mode Transportation Fund. Requires that nine percent of net proceeds from Oregon State Lottery be deposited in Multimodal Transportation Fund, and that nine percent of net proceeds be deposited in Alternative Mode Transportation Fund. Continuously appropriates moneys in Alternative Mode Transportation Fund to Department of Transportation. Provides that moneys may only be used for capital improvements and operational costs of mass transit, passenger rail, bicycle and pedestrian projects."  After first reading it was referred to Business and Transportation, then Ways and Means Committee.
• Senate Bill 332 would establish a "Task  Force  on  Bicycle  Safety."  Senator Jackie Winters proposed this, and the bill as introduced is mostly procedural and otherwise content-free at the moment.  After first reading it was referred to Business and Transportation, then Ways and Means Committee.

And again, do you know of other transportation and especially bicycle-related bills to follow?

The regular session kicks off on February 4th and all of this year's legislative updates are tagged 2013 Legislative Session.

Tracey Sparling Memorial to be Dedicated the 25th in Portland

Tracey Sparling Pedal Garden:  PNCA/M Miller

A stray tweet the other day alerted me to the Tracey Sparling Memorial Pedal Garden. According to a Pacific Northwest College of Art press release, it will be dedicated on January 25th.

@bikeportland These new bike hangers/racks on the corner of NW 13th & Johnson are pretty sweet. twitter.com/foddtoster/sta…
— Todd Foster (@foddtoster) January 15, 2013

Sparling was a recent graduate of West Salem High School attending PNCA when in 2007 a person driving a large truck struck and killed her as she waited on her bike at an intersection.

The dedication will be at 11:30am in Swigert Commons of PNCA at 1241 NW Johnson Street in Portland.

(For more on the crash, on a memorial and ghost bike at St. Stephens in Portland, and links to Portland media see here.   A PNCA piece on the design process has more photos of the installation.)

Take City Survey about Downtown Housing and Shape the Future

Via the Urban Renewal Agency, the City is collecting responses on a survey about housing preferences for the downtown area north of Union. 

North section of Riverfront-Downtown Urban Renewal Area

Previous downtown projects like the Meridian and the Rivers have misfired and missed the actual market, and it will be helpful naturally enough for future development to hit the mark squarely.

From the announcement:

Salem’s Urban Renewal Agency has identified the area north of Union Street as likely to develop into a new, mixed use neighborhood with housing available to a range of income levels. We’re pursuing the North Downtown Housing Investment Strategy as a first step in identifying demand for housing in this area. Your responses in this survey will help to inform decisions about the downtown area, including related to future housing. In this survey, your responses will be kept confidential.

There are some good transportation questions in it! This is important since above and beyond the pricing and design issues with the Meridian and Rivers, there's also the transportation element:  They front major arterials and urban highways, not exactly a prime walkable environment.

You can start the survey here.

Rail Meeting tonight at Chemeketa Center for Business and Industry

Don't forget the rail meeting today!

It should be repeated often that almost exactly a century ago, in the summer of 1912 Salem had 8 daily round trips to Portland on the Oregon Electric. The Southern Pacific line had 6 northbound and 10 southbound.

That's 14 total to Portland and 18 total from Portland!

And that's not even high-speed rail - it's a model of regular-speed rail we ought to think long and hard about.

For the next phase of the Oregon Passenger Rail project, there's an open house tonight the 17th:

Jan 17, 2013 - 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Chemeketa Center for Business and Industry, 626 High Street NE, Salem, OR, 97301

The open house materials have been posted and they look pretty good.  So if you can't make it to the meeting, you can easily submit comments online.

And if you'd like to do some homework before the meeting, you can do that too!

The chief question seems to be which alignment.  In Salem that means a choice of three:  The existing Oregon Electric tracks along River Road and Front Street, the existing Union Pacific tracks along 12th street, or a new set of tracks along I-5.  Of course trips have destinations, too, and each of these alignments offers different end stations for trips originating in Salem.  It's not necessarily a simple matter, and each alignment has different advantages and disadvantages. 

Along the way there are other policy and project goals you can assess and prioritize. 

Parks Foundation Grant Could Fund Public Workstand Downtown

The Salem Parks Foundation is this month going out to neighborhood associations to talk about their grant program.

One idea that's floating around for the downtown area and its neighborhood association, CANDO, is a public bike workstand for minor repairs.

Workstand

The Parks Foundation announced last week that

It's Neighborhood Parks Grant time. SPF boardmembers will be visiting all 19 of Salem's Neighborhood Associations over the next month talking about the neighborhood parks grants. If there is an item you would like added to your neighborhood park, work with your neighborhood association in applying for one of our grants.

Last year we approved grants for a security light in Eastgate Basin Park, an information kiosk in Aldrich Park, replacement of the gazebo roof at Nelson Park, a piece of exercise equipment at Englewood Park and a chess table at the new Hoodview Park opening this year. We hope you come up with some great ideas. The application will be given to each chairperson when we attend the meeting and will also be available on our website later this month. We look forward to receiving some great grant applications this year.

Folks downtown are interested in talking about a repair station.

Drinking Water Supply and Climate Change and Other Newsbits

A stray news item caught my attention the other day. The new draft Climate Assessment Report is out for public comment. The chapter on the Pacific Northwest contains this alarming map:

Creeks feeding the Santiam and Willamette Rivers will be low in 2040!

The dry-as-dust caption reads:

Across most of the Northwest, flows during the already low summer flow period would be significantly reduced in the 2040s compared to baseline (1915-2006) conditions under the same scenario (A1B) (Littell et al. 2011). This would put stress on freshwater fish species such as endangered salmon and bull trout and necessitate increasing trade-offs among conflicting users of summer water....annual hydropower production is much more likely to decrease than to increase; economic impacts of hydropower changes could be substantial, on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars per year (Markoff and Cullen 2008).

The report doesn't seem to address drinking water supplies, but those cities in the Willamette Valley that depend on mountain water will surely feel the impact. See that brown and dark brown in the mountains?  The creeks that feed the Santiam River are all in there!  The reservoirs will help manage supply, but it's hard to imagine that we won't be affected.

We all knew this in a vaguely general way already, of course, but to see the dark brown and reductions of up to 80%!  That's a lot of dry and a lot of thirsty in frightening droughty colors.

Couple of Third Bridge Notes

(Some recent developments on bridge maneuvering are of interest, but since facebook is a closed system with limited commenting options, it seemed easier make the observations here with pictures and links.  Apologies for the fragmented conversation.)

The traffic light on Front

Back on the 26th of Dec the No 3rd Bridge advocates posted a note about the traffic light on Front Street where the off-ramp from the Center St Bridge merges onto Front. The matter has come to the fore again in the proposed move to tranfer Riverfront Park property to the City proper from the Urban Renewal Agency.

Traffic Signal at Front from Center St Bridge - N3B

Back in the December note advocates wrote that "The 1998 Bridgehead Study recommended a free-flowing turn lane exiting the Center Street bridge north to Front Street."

Perhaps rhetorically they also observed, "It makes one wonder if the reason for installing the stoplight was to build up pressure to gain public support for a 3rd Bridge. It also makes one wonder what other tricks the City might consider to slow traffic if this ever comes up for a public vote."

Here is the official reason for the stoplight! - which of course may or may not be sincere:

In January of 2010, in a Staff Report to Council on the proposed signal, City Staff wrote, "The 1998 Bridgehead Engineering Study recommended installation of a traffic signal at the Center Street bridge off-ramp and the northbound Front Street intersection as a short-term capacity improvement to extend the capacity of the Center Street bridge."

There may not be an outright contradiction here, but there certainly is tension between the two statements!  Can anyone resolve this?

Riverfront Park transfer

In the discussion of the proposed transfer of Riverfront Park from the Urban Renewal Agency to the City, Walker pointed out that designating the land as Park could limit options to modify or otherwise improve the bridgeheads.  No 3rd Bridge advocates felt this was a strong enough concern that they went to Council to argue against the transfer and prevailed.

It's difficult to know how to assess this without more information.  As I see it, prompted by Walker's comment, the critical piece is the zoning, not the agency/entity who has the deed.  But there are many variables here, and there may well be other factors.  Hopefully someone can chime in with more detail on how ownership by the Urban Renewal Agency is better and offers more flexibility than ownership by the City proper? 

Boise Project Tonight at Downtown Neighborhood Association Meeting

Last fall there were some murmurings about a possible new design for apartments at the Boise site.

Photo: Model of proposed 120 unit apartment bldg at Boise site in #SalemOr. Construction set for June.#cre twitter.com/mrose_SJ/statu…
— Michael Rose (@mrose_SJ) November 15, 2012

Finally, the public may get a look at the proposed design!

Tonight, Tuesday the 15th, the downtown neighborhood association meets and will have a presentation on the development. Neighborhood association meetings are open to the public!

CANDO meets January 15, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. in the First Christian Church, 685 Marion St NE.

Also, there may be informal conversation for folks interested in a public bike repair stand and kiosk!

The Bills are Here! Presession Filings: The First Legislative Update for 2013

Whoo-hoo! We got ourselves some bills!

The presession filings are finally posted to the website of the Legislature, and here's the first group of bike-related bills:

• The first CRC bill, House Bill 2260 would declare "that it is in state’s interest to undertake Interstate 5 bridge replacement program. Enacts provisions relating to tolls for program. Specifies borrowing authority of Department of Transportation for program." This isn't specifically about bikes, of course, but the CRC has tremendous implications for the Salem River Crossing and all state transportation projects, as its budget would have cascading effects on the budget for other projects.
• House Bill 2500 looks to expand the "types of costs that qualify as approved transportation costs for purposes of State School Fund distributions."  These would include "Expenditures made to improve  safety for students traveling to school by means that are not provided by the school district and that:
  (i) Include walking or using a bicycle, scooter, skateboard or similar device..."  This looks good!
• Senate Bill 247 would use lottery funds and creates an "Alternative Mode Transportation Fund. Requires that nine percent of net proceeds from Oregon State Lottery be deposited in Multimodal Transportation Fund, and that nine percent of net proceeds be deposited in Alternative Mode Transportation Fund. Continuously appropriates moneys in Alternative Mode Transportation Fund to Department of Transportation. Provides that moneys may only be used for capital improvements and operational costs of mass transit, passenger rail, bicycle and pedestrian projects."
• Senate Bill 332 would establish a "Task  Force  on  Bicycle  Safety."  Senator Jackie Winters proposed this, and the bill as introduced is mostly procedural and otherwise content-free at the moment.  It could be good or it could be bad. You may recall the attempt to ban babies on bikes from the last session.  It's not clear whether this means making bicycling more difficult under the guise of "safety" or whether this is offered as a sincere investigation into bicycle safety.

Do you know of other transportation and especially bicycle-related bills to follow? There may be more to say, too, as folks have time to read the bills more closely and figure out both what they mean, in both intended and unintended ways, and who's behind them. 

Depending on how the session goes, I'll look to have one update a week each Monday or so.  In past sessions BikePortland has generally had more specific analysis of the legislation driven by Portland, and so it has not been necessary to duplicate Jonathan's terrific coverage.  At the same time, sometimes there's stuff that is easier to cover from Salem, or has a less Portland-centric focus, and I'll try to fill in the gaps there.

Though there's preliminary activity this week, the session really kicks off on February 4th.

City Council, January 14th - updated

Back into the new year!  First here are a few upcoming dates for important worksessions:

Transportation Funding ~ Monday, January 28, Immediately following City Council Meeting

Salem River Crossing ~ Tuesday, February 19, 5:30 p.m. N3B reports it's been moved up. Now it's Tuesday, January 22nd, after the Economic Development Strategy worksession at 5:30pm. This is a curious move!

Other interesting upcoming dates:

Ordinance Bill No. 2-13 Adopting the Updated Airport Master Plan to Replace the 1997 McNary Field Airport Master Plan as a Detailed Plan of the Salem Area Comprehensive Plan; Amending SRC Chapter 64 ~ Monday, February 25

Citywide Economic Development Strategy (work session #2) - Tuesday, January 22, 5:30 p.m.

On the Actual Agenda

As for matters on the Council agenda itself, maybe the most interesting are two contrasting sets of Eminent Domain proceedings.

For the Eola Drive widening project, several agreements have been reached with homeowners, but the City is "unable to obtain a release from the mortgage lender" and so needs to continue down the path of a forced action.  I don't know if this is because the lenders aren't returning messages, because title is unclear, or because mortgages have become bundled and nobody knows who holds the mortgage.  Whatever it is, it's surely a product of the current housing/finance crisis and the antecedent conditions that caused it.

For a large apartment complex proposed on Wallace Road, things look much trickier.  Let's just assume for the moment that the Eola Drive project is completely warranted.  (I mean, it's currently missing sidewalks and bike lanes, so as far as improvements go, the "urban standard" of three-lane cross section with turn pockets is often more widening than is necessary, but the sidewalks and bike lanes are welcome.)  Here, though, we have a private development that is stranded from a sewer connection, and so the private developer is invoking the City's power for Eminent Domain in order to secure an easement for the sewer line connection across somebody else's property.  If in this context the public good is more-or-less uncontroversially served by improving Eola Drive, it's not at all clear how the public good is served by seizing an easement for a private developer!  Maybe this a sign the site is not appropriate for the planned development?  This is an interesting thing to watch.

There's an update on the widening of Keubler road spread amongst several projects.  (These are widening projects that less obviously serve the public good, and really just represent a commitment to MOAR CARS!)

Street trees get some love!  There's also a draft Community Forestry Strategic Plan.

Urban Renewal Agency is transferring Riverfront Park to the City of Salem proper.  (Even though its board members are identical to City Council, the Urban Renewal Agency is incorporated separately and constitutes a different legal entity.)  The fragmented nature of the tax lots, stemming from their origin as industrial and the original wharves and waterfront commerce of the very early city, is interesting as historic trivia.  Otherwise it's of only procedural import.

Finally, there's an update on the status of Council Goals, the formalized high-level goals adopted by City Council.  The Downtown Mobility Study is explicitly called out as addressing a number of the subitems in the Main Goal of Transportation Connectivity:  "Pursue opportunities to improve overall bike, pedestrian, and vehicular connectivity; reduce congestion; and enhance mobility."  Hopefully this will mean that Council will get behind the final project recommendations this summer as things that really do instantiate the high-level goals and values Council has formally adopted.

In Media: Friday Newsbits on Transportation

My column today: It's time to practice what we preach when it comes to the environment statesmanjournal.com/article/201301… via @salem_statesman #sjnow
— DickHughes (@DickHughes) January 10, 2013

In his Thursday "connecting the dots" column, Dick Hughes spends most of the piece writing about transportation:

Drive-thru fast-food joints, coffee stands, banks, etc., must be among the most environmentally irresponsible businesses around....

I’m referring to drive-thrus where you wait in line, with the engine running or being turned off and on, and you pull ahead as each vehicle is served. Think of all the exhaust, especially toxic carbon monoxide, being spewed into the air....

But the reality is that many Oregonians, including me, are ecological wimps despite our reputation to the contrary. We prefer using pollution-creating drive-thrus to getting wet in the rain (although most of us have waterproof skin). Or we perceive ourselves as too busy to park and walk inside — although that might be faster than using a crowded drive-thru....

One of his conclusions is about staggered work times:

I’d bet that most of Salem’s traffic congestion could be eliminated if public and private employers radically changed their work schedules and fewer people were on the roads at the peak hours.

So what about that $800+ million "solution" to congestion you were writing about in December? Won't it just encourage more driving and drive-thrus???

But will the SJ connect the dots?

Wednesday's Salem Weekly had a couple of nice pieces.

Placemaking in Salem: Before I Die to Speak and Spark in Riverfront Park

Riverfront Park can be a site of great coincidence. You may recall back in 2009 a random encounter with the Family 6tzen as they biked the west coast on holiday from France.

French 6tzen Family on Holiday in 2009 with the Shelter in Back

The conversation was a great testimony to cities and the role of chance encounter. (The family is still touring with bikes, by the way!)

Encountering people you hadn't planned on seeing is a huge ingredient for innovation and the intellectual, artistic, and economic life of cities.  Facilitating encounter and exchange is, in fact, one of the roles of a city.

On Sunday the 13th, "Before I Die" will launch under the shelter in Riverfront Park.  It will be a cube built under the shelter and will have a chalkboard mounted on the sides for people to complete the sentence, "Before I die I want to..."  In addition to the solitary act of making public a great personal hope or desire, there will be a social component as strangers meet and perhaps strike up a conversation. 

The project uses death to spark life and conversation. In this way it is about community as much as it is about private things.  And in addition to being a project about our individual desires, hopes, dreams - and mortality, "Before I Die" is also an act of placemaking.

The original "Before I Die" wall was installed on an abandoned house in New Orleans.  It reclaimed a dead, maybe even ruined place, for a vibrant sense of life. Where before there was a nothingness, the wall, its visitors, and their desires made a place.

Original Before I Die Wall:  Civic Center, Candy Chang, New Orleans

Fortunately Salem has escaped the devastation and depopulation of Detroit or New Orleans.  We don't have many ruins.  But while we have some lovely old buildings, we have fewer lovely new buildings, and a great deficit of lovely urban places where people gather regularly.  We have "places" like the Transit Mall, Peace Plaza, and the Marble Ghetto.  Ugly or empty voids.  Our tremendous 99-foot wide downtown streets are all about cars, cars, cars.

BTA Legislative Agenda Revealed Monday Night in Portland

The 2013 Legislative session is coming into focus and yesterday BikePortland reported on the three legislative priorities for the Portland Bicycle Transportation Alliance.

Sharing details from a meeting Monday night Jonathan Maus of BikePortland said the BTA would have three main goals:

• An expanded bill to make it easy for cities to create a residential 20mph speed limit, the "The Safe Neighborhood Streets Act of 2013."  
• Expanded provisions for "unmanned photo radar cameras" and "remote enforcement."
• And remedying and expanding ConnectOregon for its fifth round, ConnectOregon V.  The ConnectOregon program is ostensibly multimodal, but is for "air, marine, rail, and public transit infrastructure improvements" only.  "ConnectOregon Plus" would add "funding for 'non-roadway' bike paths/trails, sidewalks, and transit operations (as opposed to capital infrastructure) projects."

I was a little surprised to read Maus reporting that BTA Advocacy Director Gerik Kransky "said he doesn't expect much opposition to the bill. 'There are not a lot of reasons to oppose reductions in speed when it comes to safety, especially on neighborhood streets where we feel it should be more of a public space.'"

The City of Salem was not in favor of the initial 20mph limit passed in the 2011 session.  They actually opposed it!  And I wonder just how strong the actual support for the expanded law will be outside of Portland in the 2013 Legislature. 

One interesting omission or silence?  The $4+ Billion Columbia River Crossing.  How strongly will they advocate for a right-sized project or none at all? 

Once the presession filings are posted, it will be interesting to see where bicycling falls this year.

Much, much more to come!  The session will start February 4th.

Keizer Girl Struck by Car in Hit and Run

10-year-old girl on bike hurt in Keizer hit-and-run bit.ly/UI7qZj
— KGW News (@KGWNews) January 9, 2013

From KGW:

KEIZER, Ore. – A 10-year-old girl riding her bicycle in Keizer was struck by a car Tuesday morning and then the driver fled the scene, according to police.

Investigators said the girl was riding westbound in the crosswalk of River Road N and Cummings Lane N when her rear tire was struck by the car and she was thrown to the ground just before 10 a.m.

The girl was not seriously injured. She told police she was hit by a gray Ford 4-door vehicle which had been traveling southbound on River Road N in the curb lane.

The driver was described as a white woman about 59 years old with chin-length curly brown hair and wearing a black jacket.

The girl was treated at the scene for minor scrapes and possible bruising, according to Dan Kelley with the Keizer Police Department.

He said police have not been able to find any witnesses to interview so far and the incident is still under investigation.

Anyone with information that may help investigators was urged to call Keizer police.

10-year-old girl on bike struck by hit-and-run driver in Keizer; suspect description here: kptv.tv/Uz9n4W
— FOX 12 Oregon KPTV (@fox12oregon) January 8, 2013

From Fox 12:

KEIZER, OR (KPTV) -

A 10-year-old girl riding her bike was struck by a hit-and-run driver in Keizer on Tuesday.

The girl's mother, Angie Gwyn, told FOX 12 her daughter was trying to cross the street in the 500 block of Cummings Lane N when a driver crashed into her around 9:30 a.m.

The car hit the girl's rear tire, causing her to be thrown to the ground as she was in the crosswalk, and then the driver continued on without stopping.

Keizer police said the driver was heading south on River Road North when she hit the girl. The only damage to the bike was a broken pedal, but the girl suffered a broken toe and scrapes to her knees and hip.

The driver is described as a white woman and about 59 years old with chin-length, curly brown hair. She wore a black jacket.

Her car was a gray Ford four-door.

No witnesses have come forward so far.

Anyone with information on who may be responsible is asked to call 503-856-3479.

North Broadway Parking Study Final Recommendations Out

The final recommendations are out for the North Broadway Parking Study!  (It had seemed moribund, and I thought we might have to bury it, but it was just napping, it turns out.)

The parking management plan and proposed ordinances were published yesterday (NB - the plan is giant, 229pp, though most of it are appendices).

Not a great deal has changed since the August open house and draft was published.  So much that was true in August remains true today.

The plan looks evolutionary and incremental, and is not a game-changer.   It doesn't lead on making the district a walker's paradise.  Instead, it is a modest retreat on the norms of Salem's auto-dependent and auto-centric development styles.

The plan will be presented to Council in late January or early February.

In the plan are the same set of short term recommendations, and bike parking shows up in several:

• Consider strategic placement of bicycle parking at key destinations
• Continue to include bicycle parking (racks) with Broadway/High redevelopment
• Provide incentives for business who supply bike parking
• Revise SRC 133.150 (Satisfaction of Off-Street Parking Requirements through Alternate Modes of Transportation) to include objective standards for allowing a reduction in parking due to proximity to transit, pedestrian enhancements, availability of bicycle parking (including covered bicycle spaces or lockers) or other transportation demand management (TDM) measures. Eliminate the need for special review.

Other short-term recommendations include:

• Continue the existing programs and practices Residential Parking Permit program
• Formalize a standard for evaluating the parking supply, the 85% Rule
• Continue Employer Education for reducing parking needs
• Establish parking agreements between weekend businesses and those open during the week (only) to offset weekday residential parking
• Create consistent on-street parking restrictions
• Put metered parking in unrestricted parking areas in southern section of study area along Broadway/High Street
• Improve bus stop locations (increase visibility, awareness and amenities)
• Allow parking to be provided at a greater distance from the development site (e.g., 800 feet)
• As an alternative to a variance, add a new code section that allows reductions of off-street parking requirements on a case-by-case basis subject to a professional study demonstrating that less parking is needed for a specific use than what is prescribed.

One that seems to have been revised out is the "on-street parking credit":

• Add an “On-Street Parking Credit” so applicants can count on-street parking that is on the block face abutting the subject land use toward their parking requirement.

But it's hard to see this as crucial.

Meetings on Rail and Street Trees. Show on Landmark Legislation: Monday Newsbits

You may recall back in October there was talk about the street trees along the south side of State Street between Commercial and Liberty at the Ladd & Bush Bank.

US Bank wants to remove trees on the right (south) side of State

State Street merchant and gallery owner Mary Lou Zeek has a note about a meeting on the 9th regarding the trees and their proposed removal. The meeting is at 3pm at Pringle Community Hall on Wednesday the 9th.

Trees have been an enduring part of the streetscape!
Note also the bikes! Photo, 1891: Salem Library
(This photo has been scanned well, and will enlarge to show great detail)

While street trees are an important part of traffic calming and pleasant sidewalks, the cast iron facade of Ladd & Bush Bank is unique in Salem and historically rare in Oregon. The Ladd & Tilton and Ladd & Bush banks were nearly twins, and in the 1960s when the bank was nearly completely rebuilt, the facade from Ladd & Tilton was incorporated into the facade of Ladd & Bush.

The bank's facades and elevations belong to a very small number of Salem buildings whose aesthetic and historical interest may trump the natural order.  Note how dark is the sidewalk in the top photo.  We should be able to see more of Ladd & Bush!  (Apparently the trees' root systems are also interfering with sewer lines.)

I like the west facing wall, with the new, smaller trees, so much more than the north facing wall, with the existing trees.  Whether you also find them oversized is of course a matter of personal opinion, and we should not want to remove street trees lightly.  But I hope that a compromise can be reached that will open the canopy to let more of the building be visible while also retaining the virtues and charm of the street trees.

Help Make Sure we have a Good Purpose & Need for Rail

A Train Spotter Wedding? 

At present we have extremely limited passenger rail service up and down the I-5 corridor.  For some purposes, like commuting and other business, it's not just limited - it's lousy, even useless. 

Happily, ODOT is working on a project we actually need:  Improved passenger rail!  You shouldn't need a car to go to Portland or Eugene.

For the next phase of the project, there's an open house on Thursday, the 17th:

Jan 17, 2013 - 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Chemeketa Center for Business and Industry, 626 High Street NE, Salem, OR, 97301

The open house materials haven't been posted yet - but look here this next week.