Salem in 2009

World Events

• Hamas rocket attacks on Southern Israel answered with air strikes in 22 days of war. This conflict ends with a cease-fire and the Israeli forces withdrawal from Gaza.
• North Korea conducts a second successful nuclear test.
• The Icelandic government and banking system collapses amid the "Pots and Pans" protests by the citizens. This resulted an Icelandic Constitutional assembly of 26 common citizens of no political party. The new Prime Minister, Johanna Siguroadottir, is first openly lesbian head of a national government.
• An AirFrance flight from Brazil to Paris crashes in the Atlantic, killing all 228 passengers on board in addition to the entire crew.
• US Jobless rate hits 10.2 % despite stimulus measures.
• Congress wrestles with health-care reform as debates continue.
• The outbreak of H1Ni, "Swine Flu", is a global pandemic.
• Sonia Sotomayer becomes first Hispanic justice on Supreme Court. (My Beloved World, Sonia Sotomayor, 2013)
• Barack Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.
• Academy Awards: "The Hurt Locker" (US), "The Secret in Their Eyes" (Argentine). Prize-winning books: "Let the Great World Spin", Colum McCann and Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.

In Salem
After an intensive local campaign, 20 months and three competitive phases, the Salvation Army was awarded a portion of the Ray and Joan Kroc fortune to build and operate a Kroc Center in Salem. The Kroc grant provided nearly $35 million for construction and the same amount for an operating endowment, but the Salvation Army asked Salem residents to kick in $8 million, a royal sum in the city of about 154,500, without many deep pockets. They charged into fund raising. More than 1,700 donors pitched in, from kids who held penny drives, to foundations and individuals such as Gerry Frank who gave $1 million to help pay for the center's aquatics center. In all, residents raised more than $10 million. The center is faith-based and no tax dollars were used.

When you visit
The Kroc Center is within the circle of Bill Frey Drive and can be reached by car from Portland Road or Industrial Drive. There are bus lines that accommodate the site. The doors are open to visitors seven days a week and receptionists will supply information about recreational programs, classes and other services.
Salem sold the Salvation Army this 11-acre parcel in the Northgate neighborhood, which borders Keizer and is defined by industrial properties, a city natural park area, housing and vacant lots. Designers, craftsmen and construction workers built an angular, L-shaped structure, filled with materials and decorative themes that evokes Oregon: boulders from the Columbia River Gorge, sturdy wood beams, and massive glass walls that let in ample light even under slate-gray Northwest skies.

Other events

• Linda Norris, the City Manager, conducts community meetings before the first Budget Committee meetings in April to explain the shortfall in the city budget and cuts that would have to be made. The Library is reduced from a Department to a division of Administration and the Director position eliminated. Other department responsibilities and personnel are shifted in order to cut the budget by $5 million.

•  In May, the transformation of the Union Street Railroad Bridge and Trestle is complete and opens to the public with an official ceremony and parade led by Mayor Taylor. Three interpretive panels had been produced by Ed Austin, local designer and author of books about regional railroads, and were places at either end of the bridge and trestle. The bridge was an immediate success and was filled with local families, bicyclists, individuals with their dog companions, and visitors to the city. The lofty walk over the Willamette River gives views at one of the widest parts of the river to the north and toward the city and Willamette Slough to the south. The Trestle continues over Wallace Marine Park and at the end, paths lead down into the park or straight on the Wallace Road in West Salem. (The pedestrian/biker path closed in November in order to encapsulate the lead paint, but opened again in May of 2010.) This City of Salem project has already gained recognition, winning an Engineering Excellence Award, the Oregon Heritage Award and the national Transportation Planning Award.
• Sanyo Solar of Oregon LLC opens a $40 million plant in Salem. In the 80-acre Renewable Energy and Technology Park, Sanyo's 130,000-square-foot factory houses the first two steps of solar manufacturing: growing crystals and slicing them into wafers.
• Oregon State Hospital continues to be the target of complaints about patient care while the demolition of the historical buildings continue on that site. Taking measures to save the original front aspect of the "J" building has been a local concern: the tower has been removed for repair. Creating a museum to honor the former patients and the staff is still being planned within the renovated building.
• Broadway Town Square, a TELOS mixed-use project on the site of the former Eagles Building at the intersection of Market and Broadway is completed with a ribbon cutting as the Salem Cinema moves into the new 3-theater facility. Town homes, apartments and retail spaces are also available.

Historic and Modern buildings at Willamette University: Gatke and Ford

• The modern, copper-clad Ford Hall rises next door to the historic Gatke building on the Willamette University campus.
• Several other construction projects are put on hold during the economic crisis. Downtown they include demolition of the First National/Wells Fargo Bank on Liberty Street for a mixed-use project including the parking lot where the old City Hall stood and prospective building on the McMahon Furniture Store site. The Meridian and Rivers condominiums projects are completed.
• In legal and criminal news: Sunwest Management Inc. and founder Jon Harder of Salem are sued by the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission; parents are arrested after three children report abuse since their arrival from the Ukraine in 2003; Marion County Sheriff Russ Isham resigns after accusations of personal misconduct.

Salem in 2004

World Events

• President George W. Bush is reelected; Barack Obama wins an Illinois Senate seat.
• Tsunami ravages the Indonesian coastline causing over 200,000 deaths.
• "Friendly fire" is discovered to have killed former professional football player, Pat Tillman, in Afghanistan.
• Facebook launches.
• Academy Awards: "Million Dollar Baby" (US), "The Sea Inside" (Spain). Prize-winning books: The News from Paraguay, Lily Tuck and The Known World, Edward P. Jones

In Salem
Anyone approaching A. C. Gilbert's Discovery Village or Riverfront Park from Water Street has to turn in at Union Street. As one makes the turn, this is the scene in 2004. The railroad bridge had not been used for many years and the city has an opportunity to buy it for $1. The three-year option is about to close and no action had been taken.
The bridge, originally designed for passenger service across the Willamette River, opened in 1913 to connect two north-south lines: one line ran through our Salem railway station on 12th Street, the other through a station in Gerlinger, just beyond West Salem. However, by the time the long-planned bridge and trestle were finished, the automobile was beginning to be an alternative to the train for travelers. The bridge was increasingly used for freight until the 1950s when trucking supplanted commercial rail transport. Even the track leading to the bridge, along 12th Street on the east, and 2nd Street in West Salem, became disconnected as city streets were improved.
This is the situation when the vote to buy the bridge is taken at city council this year. Only seven members are present that evening to hear Mayor Taylor make a passionate plea to save this potential asset. There is opposition because of the cost and doubt of its value. The vote is 4-3 in favor.

When you visit

The bridge and trestle renovation took five years with the result seen here. Cost was borne by federal and state grants, city urban renewal funds and private donations. It opened in 2009 and was instantly popular with residents for the beauty of the walk across the river and as a handy, and safe, bicycle path for recreation and transport between home and work. The final piece of the project was encapsulating the lead paint: federal stimulus funds to Oregon Department of Transportation were used for this purpose, causing the bridge to close for seven months, much to the disappointment of Salem users, until it reopened in May of 2010. The Union Street Bridge and Trestle has won state and national awards for its engineering, utility and value as a community asset. It is an excellent example of local cultural preservation providing a wholesome, family amenity for residents while promoting valuable heritage tourism.

Other events

• In January, Bob Wells was named Interim City Manager. He was officially appointed Manager as in September. In December, Linda Norris was hired as Assistant City Manager.

Ferry Street view of the Grand Hotel with Convention Center in background

• The Conference Center and adjoining Phoenix Grand Hotel ( Grand Hotel) opens this year providing another important asset to our city and the downtown area. The Conference Center stands on the site of the venerable Marion Hotel, a hundred-year old establishment that burned in 1971. The lobbies of the two buildings are connected by a corridor lined with historic photographs of the former hotel. On the glass-walled landing of the steps leading to the second floor of the Conference Center, an interpretive panel describes the historic buildings of the Ferry and Commercial Street intersection visible outside.
• A proposal to create a local Library District, elect a Board of Directors, and become independent from the on-going crisis of the city's general fund, gains enough support through petition to be placed on the ballot. Volunteers feel confident after addressing local service clubs and canvassing neighborhoods for support, however the proposal is soundly defeated in the November election.
• Salem has four charter schools this year: the alternative high school downtown, popular with 300 students applying for the 30 to 40 spaces open; the Jane Goodall Environmental Magnet School, within Waldo Middle School; the West Salem Language Academy; the Optimum Learning Environment; and the Howard Street Charter School.
• In October, flu shots were in short-supply and elderly or ill residents lined up at the Marion County Department of Health on Center Street, waiting for hours at one of the two clinics.
• Salem is competing for a multi-million dollar Salvation Army community center funded by the estate of the late Joan Kroc. The Salem proposal, judged best of the nine Oregon submissions, requests $70 million, half each for the construction and later maintenance. It may include swimming pools, library, gymnasium, classrooms, theater and other amenities.
• Another project moving forward is Keizer Station. The developer is obtaining permits for construction of Target and Lowe's, the two major tenants.
• Train deaths continue with four in the same number of weeks at the Union Pacific track near downtown. None were judged to be suicides, with unawareness or a rush to beat the approaching train as likely causes.
• Sixteen soldiers with Salem ties die in the Iraq war this year. More than 1,700 National Guard are serving there with other units deployed at Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan. Other military personnel are scheduled to depart for overseas duty in 2005.