I asked a great question at today's DemoForum session on whether a Third Bridge is needed in Salem, Oregon. "Mr. Fernandez, what is the most important reason a Third Bridge is needed? Please provide facts to back up your answer."...

There are things I wish downtown Salem (Oregon) had more of: night life, throngs of people, cool shops and art galleries, vegetarian-friendly restaurants, street musicians. Parking meters... that's something I've never wished for. Yet the City of Salem is determined...

If you're a Salem-area resident who cares about providing the best education possible for our children, in the May 21 election be sure to vote for Cris Brantley, Nancy MacMoriss-Adix, and Rick Kimball. They're running for the Salem-Keizer school board....

Oh, yeah. I'm almost a Bollywood star. Defining almost to mean... Someone who caused Shahid Kapoor, a Bollywood star, to become a vegetarian. Since what Kapoor eats is what makes him up, and I changed what he eats, ergo: I'm...

I only had one request to make of the Salem Weekly editors: if you have to shorten my opinion piece about the City of Salem's outrageous approval of a US Bank request to cut down five beautiful Zelkova trees, please......

If I was a betting man -- and Vegas placed odds on ill-advised city public works projects -- I'd put money on the City of Salem's Third Bridge project going down in well-deserved flames. I wasn't able to attend last...

Ooh! Here comes my theoretical physics-based putdown: "You're not even wrong!" Take that, Statesman Journal editorial board. Today's opinion piece about a proposed Third Bridge in Salem was so confusingly argued, it deserves the "not even wrong" -- a phrase...

Yawn. That's the right reaction to the unceasing efforts by Fox News commentators and other Republicans to convert the Benghazi tragedy into some sort of impeachable offense. Isn't working. Recent GOP hearings have told us what we already knew. Politicians...

Having noticed my series of outraged posts about the utterly needless approval by the City of Salem of a US Bank request to remove five large trees in front of the bank building in downtown Salem, recently someone sent me...

I've said it many times before, and I'll likely be saying it many times more: There was no good reason for the City of Salem (Oregon) to approve a request by US Bank to remove five healthy, beautiful, large Japanese...

Last Friday I spent an enjoyable hour at the Salem City Club, watching Michael Davis, the new executive editor of the Statesman Journal, charm everybody in the room (so far as I could tell). I sat in the back. Since...

Us opponents of the senseless cutting-down of five beautiful Japanese Zelkova trees in downtown Salem are on a pretty good publicity roll: A few days ago the Statesman Journal published online a guest opinion by Carole Smith and me, "US...

Being a writer, I'm used to rejection notices. But this one hurt more than usual. Because the cause I had written about was saving the last two beautiful US Bank trees in downtown Salem, which are on the chopping block...

Twitter rocks! Thanks to whoever put up the tweet that I saw on my feed a few days ago, directing me to this link -- where I read the info below. [Note: it's too late to take part in this...

A few weeks back I was asked by a reporter, "Do you think you're going to make a difference?" Then we talked about why I've been so intensely focused on trying to save the last two beautiful US Bank trees...

Mind-opening. Intuitively persuasive while being counter-intuitive. An appealing vision for what downtown Salem (Oregon) could be, but isn't now. A walkable streetscape where it is tougher to get around by car than at present. That's one of the counter-intuitive lessons...

I haven't been much involved with the debate over whether Salem needs a third bridge over the Willamette River. I've read newspaper stories, followed posts on the always-interesting Salem Breakfast on Bikes blog, and talked with people who have some...

Excellent Earth Day timing by my attorney and me. At 3 pm today Sean Malone emailed me a letter to hand-deliver to Pete Fernandez, City of Salem Public Works Director, and Ryan Allbritton, US Bank Regional President. The letter notifies...

I've gotten some lawyerly confirmation of what I said in the "Looks like US Bank trees were cut illegally" post written three days ago. Not being an attorney, I asked Sean Malone, who is, to offer an opinion about whether...

It's frustrating to see headlines like, "Senate fails to pass gun control legislation." Not true. The expanded background checks bill was supported 54-46, a clear majority. Only problem is, under the Senate's stupid filibuster rules and current Republican intransigence, it...

When I came across this map that shows the spread of liberalized marijuana laws in the United States, the first state that turned light green leapt out at me. Oregon! (click on image to activate; or check out the Atlantic...

Last night I blogged about how surprised I was that nobody appealed the screwy decision by the City of Salem to allow five beautiful mature downtown trees to be removed after US Bank asked for permission to kill them. I've...

After reading more closely the City of Salem document dated March 12, 2013, non-pithily titled "Background, Findings and Decision regarding the removal of the State Street Trees (302 State Street S: Ladd and Bush Building -- US Bank)," my initial...

Today I received a PDF file of the City of Salem Public Works decision that allowed US Bank to cut down five large beautiful Japanese Zelkova trees that have graced State Street in downtown. Download US Bank State Street Trees...

Losing five large beautiful trees in downtown Salem is bad enough. How this travesty occurred is equally disturbing. The full story remains to be fleshed leafed out. (The chapters so far are described in previous blog posts, here, here, and...

Today I got an excellent comment on my blog post, "U.S. Bank kills large downtown trees. Don't bank with them." It's the best explanation that I've seen so far about how this (one of five trees that has been, or...

Yesterday the U.S. Bank tree killing spree began in Salem, Oregon. Three of five large Japanese Zelkovas, which have beautified downtown Salem for about fifty years, were cut down for no good reason. The other two trees are on the...

Who doesn't love trees? Well, yesterday and today the Statesman Journal ran stories about two Salem entities which don't: U.S. Bank and the City of Salem. (photo by me and my iPhone; taken this afternoon while trees are still standing)...

Ah, my first blog post title inspired by David Hume, a philosopher whom I've only admired through the admiration of others, not directly through his writings. Until recently. Today I read Hume's ideas about the liveliness of sensual, emotional, and...

I'm a frequent critic of the town I've lived in or near for 36 years, Salem. Us cynical old-timers like to call it, So-Lame. Compared to Portland, Corvallis, Eugene, Ashland, Bend, and other Oregon cities with a lot more creativity,...