Meeting Bits: Parks & Rec, SCAN, Highland

The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meets Thursday the 14th, and in the February minutes and March agenda are many interesting items to note briefly.

From the February minutes, mostly sentiment was very supportive of the concept for a West Coast League team and associated ballfield improvements at Bush Park, but one person was wary of it and expressed concern. (At SCAN also is a tidbit that organizers might seek funding from the Legislature, as on a larger scale the Hillsboro Hops successfully did for their new stadium. If more detail comes out on that, there may be more to say, as economists generally are skeptical of stadium subsidies.)

Beaver Board and Qing Ming Shrine

There was interesting news on the Beaver Board across Broadway/High from Boon's. Do we need two of them? Marking the Mission site seems like it remains appropriate, even if it also needs some new contextualization. Totally removing that marker might be a mistake, however. A new marker at Riverfront Park also seems appropriate to mark an original indigenous village site. That's an interesting conversation to watch.

A renovated Qing Ming shrine also sounds very interesting.

Battery chain saws and trimmers?

In new information reports for March, there is talk about converting at least some gas-powered tools to electric. (Previously on Quiet & Clean Salem.)

ODOT wants to hog space for Center St. Seismic

Unsurprisingly, ODOT wants to take over a lot of parking lot area for staging on the Center Street Bridge Seismic retrofit. They also want to take out a bunch of trees and other riparian plants.

A break in cost escalation!

And in surprising and welcome news, this is the first cost de-escalation to appear in a while. That's nice!

Other Meetings and Places

In the Highland Neighborhood minutes there's more on the enhanced crosswalk proposed at North River Road and Fred Meyer.

Crosswalk on Liberty/Front at North Salem Freds

It remains odd there's not a crosswalk directly to the park. But this certainly will help, and also connects to the little neighborhood to the west that's a little isolated.

Highland also meets Thursday the 14th.

SCAN meets on Wednesday the 13th and they have been discussing a proposed speed radar sign on Gaiety Hill. The City had determined the average speed on the hill was 26mph, and the 85th percentile was 30mph — so 15% of drivers are going more than 30mph over this hill with limited visibility in several spots and an advisory speed posted for 15mph.

Proposed location for speed radar sign
High Street southbound, on downhill slope at Leslie

Marganne Allen was not speeding when a jaydriving law enforcement agent ran the stop sign on Leslie, so this project, it is important to say, is not a direct response to that crash and her death. There is a separate problem of drivers on High Street going too fast. But as SCAN advocates for a Church/High bikeway connection at this intersection, slowing car speed will be helpful.

Addendum

It turns out the paper has a front page story and there are a few things to add.

Front page today

The group did secure money from the Legislature, $3 million.

The article claims

The allocation has sparked an outcry from neighbors of Bush’s Pasture Park, who say the games will destroy the historic and natural feel of the park and neighborhood....they say the move is contrary to a detailed management plan for the park that the city completed in 2021, contrary to tribal ancestral interests, and will displace traditional uses of the park like walking, running and picnicking.

But it also quotes only one person, and it may be doing a lot of rounding up in quantifying skepticism or opposition. Is there really an outcry? This will be something to monitor.