Muscle Car Mural at the Public Art Commission

Tomorrow on Wednesday the 9th, the Public Art Commission will consider accepting into the public art collection an existing mural commemorating muscle cars.

On the backside of a building across from the Police

The notice says

The painting pays homage to the long-time former use of the property as home to multiple car dealerships in the area, in addition to recognizing significant points of interest in Oregon, specifically Mt. Hood and the Oregon State Capitol. The intention was to bring vibrancy to the building and property and to highlight its historical association with automobiles, which goes back to the 1950’s. These businesses have a long history of participation in our city, selling and repairing various vehicle makes and models. This mural, depicting two iconic car models, is a salute to these dealerships and their many years of involvement in our community.

The rhetoric here isn't false, but it shows the way we launder the legacy of our autoism by appealing to long-established businesses and "classic" cars. The mural looks more like an ad for cars than any homage to long-time businesses and civic involvement.

What was your Favorite Walk in Salem this Year?

So much rain and gloom. I know we need the rain - if not exactly the gloom.

To dispel the gloom, partly anyway, it is consoling to think about pleasant walks in fair weather earlier this year.

Late this summer on a long weekend ramble, you might say even a hike, an out-of-town guest curious about the Fairview project spotted a hops bine on the side of the road. It was a little past its prime, the cones dried out and open but still fragrant.

Hops at the former Fairview site

An abandoned Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places did not discuss any hop growing at the farm.

No hops, in a National Register Nomination

A different historical assessment of the Fairview property didn't turn up anything either, nor a brief newspaper search. We hoped the hops might be a survival from early or even mid-century farming, but more likely it was just a volunteer.

Later we passed a garden with some cultivated hops that had already been harvested.

Thompsons in 1965 (Salem Library Historic Photos)

So it seemed natural to toast the harvest and find refreshment with a fresh hop ale near the end of the walk.

There were of course other small pleasures on the way, and between the terrific company and the unexpected hops it just went to another level. 

It was the best walk of the year so far, and it's hard to see anything in the next two months overtaking it.

What was your best walk in the Salem area?

Mahonia Crossing, the Wexford and former Whitlocks, Ornamental Emptiness - Bits

There's a Public Notice for what will apparently be an affordable housing development out south on Battle Creek Road.

Two views of the proposed project

It does not rise to the level of a formal Public Hearing and will be a decision by the Planning Administrator.

Structurally, it looks like a cluster of three-story walk-ups. But the style is a very stripped down mode with a box, windows, and gable.

And because of that it has to apply for a design exception:

Allow portions of the upper floor facades of buildings I.1, I.2, I.3, H.1, and H.2 to exceed a maximum length 80 ft. without an articulating facade design element a minimum of four feet in depth (SRC 702.020(e)(9))

It will be interesting to see how that is resolved. I like the minimalism as a change of pace from the usual here.

Our CAP calls for Supporting Alternative No. 3 in Cordon-Kuebler Corridor Study

The Cordon-Kuebler Corridor study just opened a second online open house.

There's a lot of detail, but if we take our Climate Action Plan seriously, Salemites should strongly support a framework based on Alternative No. 3.

There are two other alternatives, but they are very much in a 20th century and autoist mode.

Summary cross-sections (red, yellow added)

The framing associated with the third alternative is unfortunate and skeptical: Look at this hard goal we have set. But if you really want to, we can try.

The mode shift goal in the third alternative

But a different framing, one with a climate lens, might say, here is our mode shift goal and VMT reduction goal, which alternative helps us get there?

Look! Our CAP has the same 10% reduction

As it happens, in Scenario No. 1, our Climate Action Plan contains a very similar goal for a 10% reduction in car driving and traffic volume.

Summary assessment on function (red, yellow added)

That is our policy goal, and the framework in Alternative No. 3 is most consistent with that.

We should manage the whole of the Cordon-Kuebler corridor to that goal.

We should adopt some version of Alternative No. 3. That's the nutshell.

Here are some other considerations.

Driver kills Kelly Joseph Fields on Cordon Road

In a late night crash a couple of days ago, a driver killed Kelly Joseph Fields on Cordon Road near the Mushroom Plant redevelopment and Auburn Road.

Cordon Road looking north to Auburn Road

From Marion County Sheriff:

On November 1, 2022, at approximately 12:48 a.m. a 911 caller reported a pedestrian was struck by a car on Cordon Road NE near Auburn Road NE, just east of Salem. Emergency responders arrived on scene within minutes of the call, tragically the pedestrian was pronounced deceased at the scene.

The pedestrian has been identified as Kelly Joseph Fields (44) of the Salem area.

The 22-year-old female driver of the involved vehicle, a 2011 Toyota Camry, remained at the scene.

Investigators from the Marion County multi-agency CRASH team were called out to investigate the incident. Preliminary information suggests the driver had been traveling northbound on Cordon Road NE when the pedestrian was struck in the lane of travel. There is no indication speed or impairment by the driver contributed to the crash.

The investigation in the crash remains open, no additional information is available for release at this time. [map link added]

Cordon Road is a problem. Earlier this year a driver killed an unnamed person also on Cordon Road. And there was the horrific crash on Cordon and Sunnyview with a van of agricultural workers back in 2019. As you think about the Cordon Road design alternatives, on which there will be a note later, consider safety and speed. (Update: Link added)

In the rewrites of the Sheriff's release, the Statesman erases the driver in the passive voice, but Salem Reporter uses an active verb.

Passive Voice and Erasing the Driver in SJ

Active Voice in Salem Reporter

 Columbia Journalism Review  (2018)

For more discussion of language see these recent examples:

• "Headline Omits Verb, Erases the Driver; New TRB Paper Addresses Problem" (2019). This also has links to a follow-up study on framing and reader interpretation.
• See the way the story develops with different publications in "Driver Strikes and Kills Marshall Leslie on Foot near Downtown Safeway." (2019)

This post may be updated.

Strong Towns Still Weak on McGilchrist

Strong Towns published a follow-up on their critique of the McGilchrist project. It digs into the numbers and makes some good points about it. (Part one here.)

Part two (but shows 12th, not McGilchrist)

But its overall shape is still frustrating, even a little baffling.

First the strong part. They are right to criticize the math.

For example, they surface an egregious error in the property valuation map, pointing out that a cluster of clinics have already been developed on properties identified as "vacant."

From the Benefit Cost Analysis (May 2020)

That alone is enough to call into question a lot of the projections and method.

City Council, November 2nd - Mayor Hoy - and Ripples for Climate Committee

Council meets tomorrow the 2nd for a quick special session to accept Mayor Bennett's resignation, and presumably to appoint Councilor Hoy as Mayor and Julie Hoy (no relation) to the resulting vacancy in Ward six.

They will also appropriate a little over $100k for the airport design work.

Seattle Times, SF Chronicle, Salem SJ
all on climate last month

One consequence of all this is now Councilor Stapleton looks to have a regular seat on the Climate Action Plan subcommittee, and soon-to-be Mayor Hoy will chair it. There are still four votes only, so there is that possibility of deadlock, but they haven't been taking contested votes, so at the moment that's a moot critique of the committee. Councilor Stapleton's presence as a regular member will make deadlock less likely also.

The committee will meet on Monday the 7th, and among the laundry list of updates, mostly items with "low" potential for GHG pollution reduction, they have two meaty things to consider.

First is whether to recommend funding a Climate Action Plan manager. Hopefully Council can advance and implement this. Having one person responsible for advocating and coordinating will help greatly.

CAP Manager

The second is to recommend parking reform. I am not exactly sure why they are making a recommendation, as the recent Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities rule-making now requires the reform. (Right-priced downtown parking, for which the Downtown Advisory Board has made frequent request, and which seemed to be deferred until after the election, is not directly referenced in this agenda item, however.)

State parking reform summary

This is, I suppose, an instance where it is politically convenient for Council and the subcommittee to say "our hands are tied."

The other items did not seem very interesting; and, again, had "low" potential and were generally just stuff we should be doing anyway.

The next meeting for the committee is listed as TBD, and it would not be surprising if they chose not to meet in December. Hopefully in January they will reconvene refreshed and energized, ready to take stronger actions for pollution reduction, and not willing to accept merely meeting four times a year.