Salem Political Snark

My approach to politics, and to life itself, is reflected in a basic principle of Tai Chi -- which I've practiced for about twenty years. Yang follows yin; yin follows yang. So two yang moves in succession is a Tai Chi no-no. Expressed in plain English, the notion is that when strength meets strength, a battle ensues. Which doesn't mean that conflict should be avoided. It means that a forceful attack shouldn't be met with an equally forceful counterattack, but with a redirecting of the opponent's energy, a softness that deflects hardness, allowing for a more favorable outcome than, as…

Last Thursday I spoke with a KATU reporter about the news that Governor Kotek had blocked the sale of property owned by the state that was going to be used by a data center proposed to be built in south Salem's Mill Creek Corporate Center. Referring to the massive turnout at last Monday's City Council meeting of people who were almost entirely opposed to the data center, I said: This is democracy in action. People came out. Loud, angry, sometimes impolite. It got the city’s attention. And it looks like it got Governor Kotek’s attention. When I heard that Kotek…

Having done quite a few interviews with local television news reporters over the years, I've learned that I should feel fortunate if a few seconds of my much longer brilliant observations on some subject make it into the televised story. After all, they only have a few minutes to tell the entire story, and I'm just a small part of that much bigger picture. So one of the last things I said to Jennifer Singh, the KATU (Portland) reporter who interviewed me yesterday about a major new development in the Salem data center saga, was something like, I really enjoyed…

Verrus, the corporation wanting to build a 75 acre, $5.1 billion data center at the Mill Creek Corporate Center in Salem, has already received a three-year property tax abatement. Meaning, if the data center is built, for three years neither the City of Salem nor other taxing districts would receive any property tax revenue from the project. However, there's a special meeting of the Salem City Council next Monday, August 3, where a moratorium on data centers will be discussed. If this applies to the Verrus project, the property tax abatement may be a moot point. Still, I want to…

Kudos to the Salem Reporter for providing live updates on the City Council meeting underway at the moment (9;30 pm), having started at 6 pm with a packed house, drawn by an agenda item about the five billion dollar Verrus data center planned for the Mill Creek Corporate Center. The council president, Linda Nishioka, said they expected five hours of public testimony. Most of it will be in opposition to the data center. Which is to be expected, since nationally about 70% of Americans are against them, with Republicans, Democrats, and independents all on the same page on this issue.…

We all want to be heard, listened to, taken seriously. But when it comes to commenting on a development project that falls under land use, zoning, and similar sorts of rules, some usual tendencies should be kept in check. Like getting too emotional. And being too general. Both of which I'm prone to, as most of us are. I understand why so many people oppose the Oakline at Mill Creek data center planned to be built in the Mill Creek Corporate Center. Often this stems from a hatred of AI, artificial intelligence, and from horror stories regarding data centers elsewhere…

It's a tough time for a corporation seeking to build an AI data center anywhere in the United States. Resistance is stiffening. So it's no wonder that Oakline at Mill Creek, the data center Verrus is proposing to build here in Salem, is trying to project a warm and fuzzy image. This is a tongue-in-cheek editing (by an AI, naturally)  someone sent me of the Verrus mockup of what the data center would look like. The deer peacefully grazing on the grass in front of the building is a nice touch. How noisy could the data center be if deer…

Here's my open letter, which will become an open email, to the nine members of Salem's City Council. My subject is whether Betsy Vega meets the requirements in the city charter to be a city councilor. *************************************************************** Dear Mayor Hoy and councilors Paul Tigan, Linda Nishioka, Shane Matthews, Deanna Gwyn, Irvin Brown, Mai Vang, Vanessa Nordyke, and Micki Varney: As you're aware, the City of Salem has issued a statement regarding Betsy Vega's eligibility to be on the November 2026 General Election ballot after she was certified as the winner of the Ward 6 city council race in the May…

In my previous post I criticized the legal opinion by Eugene attorney Truman Stone of whether Betsy Vega meets the qualifications to be a Salem city councilor following her victory over Ward 6 incumbent Mai Vang in the May 19 primary election. My main concern was that Stone downplayed the language in Section 25 of the city charter that says: A councilor shall have resided in the ward the councilor represents during the 12 months immediately before being elected or appointed to the office. Stone considered that domicile was the correct term for judging whether Vega met that residency requirement,…

When I learned today that the City of Salem had issued a public statement about a decision that Betsy Vega was qualified to serve as the Ward 6 city councilor despite a challenge by Paige Barton, the campaign manager for incumbent councilor Mai Vang, who Vega defeated, I was surprised. After all, Barton had presented evidence that Vega (photo above)  hadn't lived in Ward 6 for the twelve months prior to the election -- regardless of whether "election" means the May 19, 2026 primary election at which Vega got over 50% of the votes, or the November 3, 2026 general…