Council meets on Monday and the main item of interest here was Councilor Stapleton's proposal for a downtown safety study.
On the rest of it, the lead item for most people was not the safety study but will be the conversation about the City budget. In the near term simply eliminating vacant positions is a reasonable move. But within that there are distinctions to make. One is that the Library is suffering a disproportionate burden.
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| via FB |
Over on FB, Jim Scheppke's on-going series, with installments on Salem's decline from past service levels and under-investment in comparison to Oregon peer cities, has been illuminating.
Councilor Nishioka has an idea about relaxing mural requirements and making provision for time-limited public art to be deployed for less than the current minimum of seven years. This looks like a helpful attempt to simplify some red tape. The discussion in the agenda item remains a little opaque and testifies to our cumbersome regulatory scheme for murals and public art:
Art displayed publicly meets the definition of a “sign,” under the City’s sign code. "Sign” is defined as a thing that is designed, used, or intended to attract the attention of the public. SRC 900.015(f) exempts public art and murals that are owned by the City. For murals, the City obtains an easement agreement for a seven-year period. This motion directs staff to investigate ways to allow for a shorter time period to allow murals and other artworks to be publicly displayed.
There are grant opportunities for temporary art projects. Temporary art projects will increase cultural and community involvement in art projects within our neighborhoods and parks. A thriving arts scene can stimulate economic growth by attracting tourists, supporting local businesses, and creating job opportunities. Community art projects provide opportunities for relaxation, stress relief, and emotional expression, contributing to overall wellness and quality of life.
Hopefully there will be a way for this to move forward. More art should be understood as ephemeral, as existing in time with an end, and we should have a better City legal framework for this and a greater general cultural acceptance of non-permanent art.
There's notice for an appeal of a project for 27 apartment homes at the northwest corner of Center Street and Cordon Road. |
| 27 apartments on Center & Cordon Road |
The Neighborhood Association is concerned it would be on top of and fill a seasonal wetland. You can see from the tree pattern the way the roads cross over a source of water, and the view from the street shows a slight depression where water would collect and linger.
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| Project site context at Center and Cordon |
The Hearing at Council will be scheduled for some future date, and it might be the last of a kind. This was a class 3 site plan review, and the new rules Council approved would end that. Last month Council scheduled Staff to work on new rules for the call-up and appeal process and to present on March 25th.
In light of the Goal 5 riparian resource project the City is currently conducting (but still no public materials!), and in light of the proposed changes to the call-up and appeal process, this will be interesting to follow.
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| April 21st, 1953 |
And there are two lease renewals in the ground floor storefronts under the Chemeketa Parkade, one and two. It's great there is sidewalk level retail and office there, and a small income stream for the City, but the parking structure is still heavy and brooding, and dampens sidewalk life. The loss of the Eldridge block for parking, first for Lipman's and then for the City parkade, was a real drain on City vitality.
For more on the Eldridge block see:
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