City Council, August 10th - New Park at Fairview, Preserving Le Breton Hall

Just in time for Monday's Council agenda, there was a nice note in the paper about the digital archives project at Willamette University.

Turns out an "unidentified" image is a little relevant!

"Unidentified Building" - pretty sure that's Le Breton Hall
shortly after construction at
the Oregon State Institution for the Feeble-Minded
circa 1908 - WU Archives

The only agenda item of any real interest is a proposal for the City to purchase nearly 30 acres at the Fairview Redevelopment for a new City "community park."

Just as important as the park is the prospect for the preservation of Le Breton Hall of 1908, the first building at Fairview, and one designed by Walter D. Pugh, an important early architect who did our old City Hall and the Grand Theatre.

The oldest building at Fairview, Le Breton hall,
is not slated for demolition, and it's the one we should preserve.

Unfortunately, there are few details about the building, or about the City's intent for it, other than that it will not be demolished.

Driver Kills Woman Crossing Key Bike Boulevard Intersection, 6th Death this Year

This is the worst.

At one of the key crossings for the proposed Maple/Winter Family-friendly Bikeway, and a current crossing for the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway, the intersection of Pine and Maple, a driver struck and killed a person on foot last night. Caroline Storm was killed and her husband William Storm was injured.

On Maple looking north at Pine (bikeway sign in green)

From the paper:

A pedestrian was killed and another injured Thursday night, Aug. 6, when a man driving a luxury car struck them at Pine and Maple streets NE, Salem Police said.

The crash occurred about 9:15 p.m. as the two pedestrians, a male and a female who were walking their dog, crossed Pine Street northbound in an unmarked crosswalk, police spokesman Lt. Dave Okada said in a press release.

The driver was identified as Delbert Gossen, 70. He was westbound on Pine Street in a Lincoln Town Car when the crash occurred. He remained at the scene and cooperated with police, Okada said.

According to the press release, the female pedestrian died while being taken to the hospital. The male pedestrian suffered non-life threatening injuries and was taken to Salem Hospital. Police did not identify them while notified next of kin.

The dog was taken to an animal hospital, but its condition was not known.

No citations were issued or arrests made at the scene. Police are continuing to investigate.

This will be updated...

In the meantime, apart from the awful event, the language here is mostly good to see: "a man driving a luxury car struck [the people on foot]" - mo more of this autonomous "a car hit a pedestrian" business, effacing the agency of the driver, and abstracting the person into "a pedestrian." (I'm not sure the "luxury car" part was absolutely necessary, however.)

Again, more to come. This is the sixth death of a person on foot this year claimed by car violence.

Previously:

• William Hatch 
• Travis Lane
• David McGregor  
• Michael and Christine Crossland

Just Walk and Mixed Messaging

The imagery in our approach to walking here in Salem continues to be more than a little interesting. It very clearly shows a set of mixed messages and contradictions.

Wholesome family activity? (yesterday)

Lawless anarchy? (a year ago)

Is walking a good thing? Or is it the act of lawless miscreants?

Yesterday's piece in the South Salem supplement also shows one important set of reasons that walking isn't always an easy sell.

Open Houses at Gaiety Hollow Opportunity to Plot Better Bike Parking

Over at the Gaiety Hollow blog, there's an announcement about an set of three Open Houses so you can acquaint yourself with the house and garden of Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver.

Shows the alley, but says use Mission Street

The first one is this weekend. They will be:

• Sunday August 9th from 2-5 p.m.
• Saturday August 15th from 7:30-10:00 a.m.
• Sunday September 13th from 2-5 p.m.

In the photo and announcement, there's an interesting mismatch between the image and the instructions, though, that points to one of the questions about the museum project.

The photo in the blog post shows the house and garden from the alley.

But the invitation says to enter from Mission Street:

Wander, absorb, reflect. Garden only…the house will be closed. Please enter from Mission Street…(545 Mission Street…right across from Bush’s Pasture Park.)

There's some ambiguity, really, about which entry should be primary. The formal house address is on Mission Street, so that is the official primary entry, but if you are on foot or on bike, the alley gate and entry might be more attractive, especially as it opens directly onto the business part of Gaiety Hollow, the garden.

You might also recall that there is a question about where to locate bike parking.

Planning Commission likely to Delete Walking Path at Golf Course Redevelopment

A couple of interesting items on the Planning Commission agenda this evening.

One is for the State Street project.  Commissioners Fox and Fry will be appointed to the State Street Corridor Plan Advisory Committee.

Given Commissioner Fox's interest in State Street, that sounds like a great idea!

Walking path alignment in green at arrow
City of Salem zoning map

There's also a proposal to rezone a proposed apartment complex at the former Battle Creek Golf Course site. Most of the details don't seem very relevant here, but one detail is.

Same area from the Staff Report

In the first image you can see a strip in green on the border of the proposed development. That strip is zoned "public amusement," and a previous condition for the development had specified a walking path along this strip.

The applicant proposes to delete this requirement and to satisfy the walkability requirements of the development by the sidewalk along Waln Drive, skirting the southern perimeter of the development.

MWACT to Meet Thursday, Updates on the STIP and ARTS - updated

Our local area commission on transportation, MWACT, the Mid-Willamette Valley Area Commission on Transportation, meets on Thursday, and it remains astonishing that given the importance of agriculture to Yamhill, Polk, and Marion counties, drought, heat, harvest dates, and climate change don't seem to register much. (Full agenda and meeting packet here.)

You might have seen a couple of front-pagers over the weekend.

The articles, unfortunately, don't make any attempt to relate the summer's weather to larger climate change, to put our local conditions into a larger context of time and space.

But the information is out there, and at some point folks will realize that the argument is not abstract, and can be felt directly. And that this should have great implications for our transportation planning. (But, you know, sooner rather than later please?)

At the last MWACT meeting in June, ODOT gave an update on the new Bike/Ped plan in process.

Blue Moon and Dead Salem

Here's a couple of examples of how our land-use patterns just absolutely kill city life in Salem.

Blue moon over Salem pic.twitter.com/oUROT5RRCm

— David Davis (@DavidDavisSJ) August 1, 2015

This image looks to be taken from the apartment tower at Union and Winter looking east-ish, with a little bias to the southeast. You can see the Barbara Roberts Human Services building and the Fortress of Revenue.

There's also the large parking lot. (Where right now is the Saturday Market!)

The image was taken shortly after moonrise, so let's call it about 9pm.

That's 9pm on a Friday, mid-summer night with a glorious full moon, when the temperatures finally have started to fall, and people might venture out to enjoy the evening.

But nope. Complete, utter desolate nothingness. Not a person to be seen. The parking lot's empty, the government buildings have no activity - except perhaps janitorial services. Maybe there's some activity on the sidewalks off the edges of the image, but that doesn't seem likely.

These are blocks in the heart of Salem, immediately adjacent to downtown proper, and they are a total void.

We should see or be able to see some people strolling, lovers canoodling, kids frolicking in the twilight!

Our mania for parking and parking lots and our commitment to single-use buildings carefully separated from residential districts together ensure the deadness.

Look at all the highway and empty parking lots here

For another angle on this, consider Marion Park.