City Council, January 13th - Mildred Lane

The first Council meeting of the year brings a light agenda. Swearing-in will be the main feature.

August 2020

The most relevant item here is a proposed settlement over a fatal crash (not any accident as the Staff Report says).

A lawsuit is currently pending regarding a car accident at Mildred Lane SE and Liberty Rd S. Through settlement negotiations, the City has agreed to resolve all claims associated with the lawsuit in consideration of a payment of $133,600.00....Under the terms of the settlement, the City does not admit fault, however, to avoid the cost of litigation, the proposed settlement, which constitutes a full and final settlement of all claims related to this incident, will resolve this claim.

For a City that professes now to hold a Vision Zero goal, on the City's side this seems like a paltry settlement. The legal-liability-insurance context is disconnected from the self-critique and policy iterations necessary to attain Vision Zero. Like many streets, Mildred Lane is overbuilt and induces speeding, but the City can't admit that and has to stonewall. That is messed up.

via the former Twitter

On Mildred Lane and its crashes see:

• "Catastrophe on Mildred Lane Shows Problem with Road Design" (2021)
  
• "City Response on Mildred Lane focuses on Signal, not enough on Speed" (2022)
  
• "Remedy on Mildred Lane Misses Real Cause of Problem" (2023)
  

And two other items:

• For the duration of the seismic retrofit and remodel of City Hall, the City proposes to lease space from SAIF at 440 Church Street SE.
• Councilor Varney proposes a new committee: "I move that the City of Salem form a City Budget Efficiencies Committee with a membership structure as requested by the Salem Chamber of Commerce in their December 11 letter to Council, and that the Salem Chamber of Commerce be invoiced for all costs associated with maintaining and supporting this committee." [italics added] But to slash City government, the Chamber might be prepared to pay. This could be an interesting conversation, and might even backfire.
  

Housing Production Strategy

Not on Council agenda at all, but very much a large issue that will come to Council this year, is the Housing Production Strategy.

Whole neighborhoods destroyed, LA Times today

In addition to local demand for housing from those who already live here, climate disasters are going to prompt increasing numbers of climate refugees and migrants from other areas of the United States, and they will add to the demand for housing and to upward pressure on the cost of housing.

Table of potential actions, page 1 of 6 (Nov. 2024)

The City has a new web presentation scheduled for January 22nd on the Housing Production Strategy in process, and has published some new documents:

• Notes on "City Councilor and Planning Commissioner Meetings" (Nov. 2024)
• "Focus Group Summary" (Nov. 2024)
• "Redevelopment Analysis" for five areas of close-in Salem (Dec. 2024)

As the meeting approaches there might be more to say, but the documents are worth reading.