It has been a while coming, but to most residents it appears that development in and around downtown Salem is booming with signs of revitalization everywhere. Salem City Club’s last program for the spring season will feature a panel of three experts discussing the future of Salem’s downtown and riverfront developments. Panel members include: 

Shelly Ehenger, Urban Development Program Manager for the City of Salem, who replaces Kristin Retherford, Director, City of Salem Community and Urban Development.

Jim Vu, Board President, Salem Main Street Association.

Jordan Truitt, Broker at First Commercial Real Estate Services and, previously, Plant Manager of the former Truitt Brothers Cannery in North Salem.

The pandemic raised attention on efforts to help people facing mental illness.

Nationally, according to Mental Health America:

• 1 in 5 adults lives with a mental illness
• 50% of chronic mental illness starts before 14 years of age.
• In 2023, Oregon ranked 5th out of the 50 states with the highest rates of serious mental illness.

To help us understand the causes and possible solutions to our behavioral health issues, we have invited three experts:

• State Representative Rob Nosse of Portland serves as chair of the Joint Committee on Behavioral Health in the House.
• Ann-Marie Bandfield is a Marion County Health and Human Services Program Manager for many behavioral and mental health areas.
• Heather Jefferis is the Executive Director for the Council for Behavioral Health which helps support behavioral health workers in Oregon.

Edit: SENATOR DEB PATTERSON and REP. PAUL EVANS (D)

The Salem City Club program committee is very grateful to Senator Deb Patterson, D-Senate District 10, for her willingness to step in at the last minute for her colleague Senator Kim Thatcher, who had a scheduling problem and is unable to appear on April 7.  Senator Thatcher recommended Senator Patterson as a possible replacement to talk about what is going on in the Senate. Patterson will be joined by Representative Paul Evans, D-House District 20, who will discuss activities in the House.

Halfway through the session, big issues remain to be debated and solutions found. Two local legislators from different parties and chambers will share their thoughts and insights on what is possible before time runs out on Oregon’s 82nd legislative session.

A discussion with members of City club regarding how it can:

Increase its impact and contribution to creating an informed community. Discuss whether a change in dues is advisable.

Hear and comment on different membership and dues options.

Keith Stahley comes to Salem as our new City Manager from his position as the Assistant City Manager for the City of Olympia, Washington, where he managed the Office of Community Vitality since 2019. Prior to that he led community development, climate, community court, housing and homeless response, and economic development programs as Olympia’s Community Planning and Development Director for 14 years. He has been in local government since 1985 serving in a variety of planning and management roles in Florida, North Carolina and Washington. Keith received his Master of Public Administration degree from Florida Atlantic University, his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Syracuse University, and is a Credentialed Manager in the International City/County Management Association. The City Club looks forward to hosting Keith as our speaker on Friday, March 17 and learning more about him professionally and personally as he settles into this important position in the Salem community.

This program will dive into the issue of commercial air service to Salem. At least one airline has shown interest in operating commercial flights in Salem, initially to LA and Las Vegas and eventually to Phoenix and San Francisco. Our City Council has made a $2.3m commitment to get this project started. The expectation is that this would be a boon to our economy. However, opinions are divided over the economic benefits, feasibility, expense and environmental impact of the project. Our program panel includes two proponents of adding commercial air service, Brent DeHart and Mark Becktel, and, in opposition Dr. Phil Carver.

· Brent DeHart, Chair of the Fly Salem Steering Committee.

· Mark Becktel, City of Salem, Public Works Operations Manager.

· Philip Carver, Co-Coordinator of 350 Salem Oregon.

Presented in Partnership with the Salem Public Library Foundation and Salem Reads: One Book, One Community. The 2023 book selection is Trevor Noah’s, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, available at the Salem Public Library and from your favorite book seller.

With over 40,000 students, Salem-Keizer Public Schools District 24J is a kaleidoscope of cultures, ethnicity, economic circumstances, and languages. As the second largest district in Oregon, Salem-Keizer “serves the greatest number of students living in poverty, the most students learning English, and the most migrant students of any school district in Oregon. In addition, the district serves a large number of refugee students.

Join us for a discussion of the importance of achieving an equitable education for all Salem-Keizer public school students, including historically marginalized and underserved students of color.

The Panel:

Cynthia Richardson, Director, Office of Student Equity, Access and Advancement (OSEAA), Salem-Keizer Public Schools.

Christy Perry, Superintendent, Salem-Keizer Public Schools.

Ashley Dunn, OSEAA Community Resource Specialist for African American Students, K-12.

In this past election we heard many candidates and individuals and read media reports

commenting on the rise of crime in our country. Recently, the FBI published their 2021 crime statistics for the nation. It showed overall crime has decreased slightly with violent crimes climbing and property crimes dropping. Do Salem’s law enforcement and neighborhoods agree with those directions on this issue?

There is a nationwide shortage of public defenders. The shortage is especially acute in Oregon. There are several reasons for this, the main one appearing to be a lack of funding. This has led to the abrogation of the constitutional right to have an attorney for at least 500 defendants and to unconstitutionally long detentions of some of them. At least 300 cases in Multnomah County alone have been dismissed; there simply was no one to represent the defendants, preventing the criminal cases from legally proceeding.

According to Mike Schmidt, the Multnomah County District Attorney, “This is a public defender crisis.“ Carl Macpherson, Executive Director of Metropolitan Public Defender in Portland, commented on OPB’s Think Out Loud, “This is a total public safety system failure.”

Please join us to hear a panel of experts discuss this important issue.

Mayor-elect Chris Hoy, who currently represents the residents of Ward 6 on the Salem City Council and is the state representative for House District 21 until 2023, will present a comprehensive look at the bond measure and what the City hopes it will accomplish if passed. The proposed bond measure was designed for use in improving streets, sidewalks, parks and public safety without increasing the City's property tax rate. Several previous bond measures will be retired and removed from the tax rolls over the next decade, providing up to $300 million to invest – supposedly without increasing tax rates. This informational program will include a segment for Hoy to take questions from the audience.