PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 17, 2017
Parks, police, youth outreach
take spotlight in council goals
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Today in History
The fi rst St. Patrick’s Day parade is held in New York City,
honoring the Catholic feast day of St. Patrick, the patron
saint of Ireland, is held by Irish soldiers serving in the
British army.
— March 17, 1762
Food 4 Thought
“The best or nothing at all.”
— Gottlieb Daimler
inventor of the motorcycle,
born March 17, 1834
The Month Ahead
Through Saturday, March 25
Emma’s Child at Pentacle Theatre. Drama with adult
themes. Visit pentacletheatre.org for show times and
tickets.
Through Saturday, April 29
Batman! at the Keizer Heritage Museum, from the private
collection of David Sherman. Free admission. Museum
hours are 2-4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m.-4
p.m. Saturdays. keizerheritage.org.
Friday, March 17 – Sunday, March 19
Cherry Blossom Theatre Festival. Twenty performances,
six venues in downtown Salem. Hosted by Salem
Theatre Network. Performance schedule available at
salemtheatrenetwork.org/performanceline-up/. Tickets
available at pentacletheatre.org.
Friday, March 17 - Saturday, March 18
McNary High School drama department presents Crimes
of the Heart, 7 p.m. each night at the school. Matinee at
1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets are $5 at the door.
Saturday, March 18
Clean-up at the Keizer Civic Center. All volunteers
welcome. Dress appropriately and bring any tools you are
willing to lend to the effort, 9 a.m. to noon.
The McNary High School Jazz Night, hosted by the
McNary Golf Club Restaurant and Lounge, 165 McNary
Estates Drive N. 7 p.m. Tickets available at the door.
Chefs for Liberty House, 5:30 p.m., Salem Convention
Center. Enjoy a gourmet meal prepared by award-
winning chefs supporting Liberty House, an organization
providing free assessments to victims of abuse or neglect.
Live auction, silent auction, dinner and dancing all
included. $100 per person or $800 for a table. More info
at libertyhousecenter.org
Monday, March 20
Keizer City Council meeting, 7 p.m. Keizer Civic Center.
McNary High School choir spring concert, 7 p.m., in the
school auditorium.
Tuesday, March 21
Free admission all day at Hallie Ford Museum of Art, 700
State Street. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Keizer Public Arts Commission meeting, 6 p.m. Keizer
Civic Center.
Keizer Fire District Board meeting, 7 p.m., 661 Chemawa
Road NE.
Thursday, March 23
Salem Grow & Show Garden Club, 7 p.m. at Center 50+,
2615 Portland Rd. N.E., Salem. Speaker will be a Master
Food preserver from the OSU Extension Service. Free.
Salem Poetry Project at Barrel & Keg, 1190 Broadway NE
in Salem. Featured reader at 7 p.m. open mic follows.
The Naked Magicians at the Elsinore Theatre, 7:30 p.m.
Three of the world’s top, close-up magicians perform their
illusions with items that are displayed “naked,” mixing
outstanding sleight of hand with a fun game of strip poker.
18 and older only. Tickets at elsinoretheatre.com.
Friday, March 24
The Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival begins in Woodburn. open
daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $5 per person or
$20 for a family car. More info at www.woodenshoe.com.
Monday, March 27
Keizer Festival Advisory Board meeting, 6 p.m. Keizer
Civic Center.
Friday, April 21
Laila Ali is the featured speaker at the annual benefi t for
the Medical Foundation of Marion-Polk Counties, 7 p.m.
at the Historic Elsinore Theatre. Tickets range from $32 to
$47. Proceeds benefi t individuals without health insurance
or are underserved. mpmedicalfoundation.org.
Spotlight on Literacy Award Dinner & Silent Auction at
the Willamette Heritage Center at 6 p.m. Tickets are $50.
More information at www.midvalleyliteracycenter.org.
Add your event by e-mailing news@keizertimes.com.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The Keizer City Council examined its
short- and long-term goals in a work ses-
sion Monday, March 13, but even before
it got started, Mayor Cathy Clark said her
hopes for the coming years have been tem-
pered by experience.
“Two years ago, I was a lot more idealis-
tic than I am this time. I had to be realistic
about the things we can get done,” Clark
said.
Despite that introduction, the council
found it had met or exceeded its hopes in
some areas.
The fi rst goal on the previous short-
term list was determining a policy direction
on expanding the Urban Growth Bound-
ary (UGB) Salem and Keizer share. In some
respects, those talks have yet to get off the
ground despite years of hand-wringing on
the issue.
Keizer Community Development Di-
rector Nate Brown said that two studies are
currently progressing that will pave the way
for more meaningful dialogue.
“We are looking at about two years and
these studies will produce the data to begin
talking about expanding the urban growth
boundary,” Brown said. The studies will
look at the effects of expanding the UGB
in infrastructure and public services.
“The realistic two-year objective then
is to have the data pieces in place to start
having that conversation,” Clark said. The
council approved the new goal by consen-
sus.
Councilors updated a prior goal of add-
ing a third parks employee and fi nding sus-
tainable funding for the city’s 19 parks. Pre-
vious attempts to expand funding available
to parks have fallen victim to increases in
payments to the Public Employee Retire-
ment System (PERS).
The council’s new goal is creating a
sustainable funding mechanism for parks
maintenance and staff, a process already
well underway at the Keizer Parks and
Recreation Advisory Board.
The council agreed to continue its work
in outreach to Keizer residents. The last
time the council met to discuss goals, there
was talk of assembling a task force on the
matter of engaging city residents, but the
current council has gone well beyond what
Clark had ever hoped for.
“I think with this council in particular
it has been a foundational value and part of
what we do. Can we do more? Absolutely,”
Clark said.
City Manager Chris Eppley said that the
council members’ efforts in this area had
exceeded those of any other council he had
worked with.
Councilor Roland Herrera championed
the idea of fi nding ways to bring more
people to the Keizer Civic Center to see
what the council and city staff are work-
ing on through a major public event. The
council agreed to begin thinking about a
way to do that in 2018.
“Changing demographics is affecting
the character of our community because
people are getting pushed out of the Port-
land market,” Clark said. “It makes it even
more important for us to embrace these
residents and make them feel like part of
the community.”
The council also hopes to expand the
youth council program with youth liaisons
at each of the city boards and commissions
as well as the city council. After going near-
ly half the academic year without a youth
councilor, McNary High School senior
Giancarlo Marcello joined the city council
two weeks ago.
Marcello brought his own ideas to the
table at the work session.
“We have a career center at the school
made for presentations and it would be a
good place to let people know about what
is available,” Marcello said.
Councilor Laura Reid wanted to see the
program reach out to homeschooled stu-
dents and those enrolled in private schools.
Next on the short-term goals list is fi nd-
ing ways to collaborate with local youth
sports groups. Keizer’s parks board has be-
come – more or less – supervisor of Keiz-
er’s parks and it’s been up to private groups,
like Keizer Little League and Keizer Soccer
Club, to provide recreation in them. Clark
hopes to fi nd ways for the city to facilitate
conversations between those groups and
foster succession plans.
“If we are going to sustain volunteer
programs, we have to fi gure out how to
hand them off to the next generation of
volunteers,” Clark said.
Councilor Bruce Anderson, a veteran of
such groups with his own kids, said there
are lots of conversations that are not hap-
pening and he would like to see such pro-
grams get back to feeding the sports pro-
grams at McNary.
Eppley suggested the council take up
the issue more formally at an upcoming
city council meeting and then hand it off
to the Parks Advisory Board once goals and
parameters have been established.
The fi nal item on the short term goals
list is fi nding a way to address police staff-
ing. Keizer Police Department is currently
understaffed by most measures and talks
about how to progress haven’t cropped up
on the council agenda since last August.
Area transportation draft
plans ready for comment
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The Mid-Willamette Val-
ley Council of Governments
(MWVCOG) has released a
draft of its upcoming transpor-
tation improvement program
and the public is being invited
to comment on it through the
middle of April.
The full report is avail-
able at www.mwvcog.org, but
an open house is scheduled
Wednesday, March 22, for the
public to drop in and ask ques-
tions between 4 and 6 p.m. The
open house will be held at the
MWVCOG offi ce, 100 High
Street N.E., Suite 200, in Salem.
The draft report includes
three Keizer-specifi c projects
and a Salem-led project that
will include parts of Keizer.
First up is a transportation
impact study that is expected to
begin later this year. The study
will evaluate the traffi c impacts
and costs associated with three
different growth scenarios. The
goal is creating conceptual
transportation
infrastructure
plans for each type of growth.
The study will be funded
mostly through a federal high-
way funding program with
Keizer providing $19,513 in
matching funds. The total cost
is $190,000.
The second project on the
list would extend a fi ber op-
tic connection of traffi c sig-
nals from Shangri La Avenue
Northeast to the intersection of
River Road North and Wheat-
land Road North. Extending
the connection will provide
capacity for future traffi c co-
ordination and growth. The
total cost of the project is $1.9
million. Keizer will provide a
$202,319 match to a federal
grant that will cover the rest.
Construction would begin in
2020.
The biggest Keizer-only
project on the list would add
sidewalks and bike lanes to
Verda Lane between Dearborn
Avenue Northeast and the Sa-
lem-Keizer Parkway. The road-
way provides access to two el-
ementary schools and a middle
school with minimal facilities
for bikes and pedestrians. The
only portion of the project
budgeted for in the current
plan is the preliminary engi-
neering, which would begin in
2021, but construction is tenta-
tively slated for 2023.
looking
back in
the KT
Current estimates of the
overall project cost are $3.2
million. Keizer would provide
about $328,000 in matching
funds to federal grants.
Keizer intersections would
also be included in a City of Sa-
lem project targeting signal en-
hancements at 52 intersections
between the two cities. Pos-
sible improvements range from
hardware upgrades to pedes-
trian countdown timers, fl ash-
ing yellow arrows and green
bike lanes. The total cost is esti-
mated to be around $3 million.
The City of Salem controls the
intersection signals throughout
Salem and Keizer.
Scholarships
available
The Marion County Farm
Bureau is accepting applica-
tions for several scholarships.
The Scott Miller Scholar-
ship will award one $1,000
scholarship and one $500
scholarship. Applicants must be
part of a family with voting
or supporting membership in
Marion County Farm Bureau.
The deadline is May 1.
The Mary Petzel Scholar-
ship will award two $1,000
scholarships. Applicants must be
part of a family membership in
the Marion County Farm Bu-
reau or be enrolled in FFA or
4-H or be majoring in agricul-
ture. The deadline is June 1.
To apply, go to www.mari-
oncofarm.com.
sudoku
Enter digits
from 1-9 into
the blank
spaces. Every
row must
contain one
of each digit.
So must every
column, as
must every
3x3 square.
5 YEARS AGO
Clear Lake fi re
measures fail; Marion
County FD prevails
Local voters opted not to
change the fi re protection
system in Keizer, giving the
nod to Marion County Fire
District No. 1 over Keizer
Fire District.
10 YEARS AGO
Norovirus strikes
retirement home
A
Keizer
retirement
community,
Willamette
Lutheran, had to cancel
group activities in the wake
of a Norovirus outbreak
which affected nearly half of
the residents. Residents are
recovering.
15 YEARS AGO
City still on hold
for Qwest fees
Qwest Communications, the
telephone provider for most of
Keizer, has been ordered to pay
city franchise fees to Keizer
and other Oregon cities.
20 YEARS AGO
It’s a rough road
to the new stadium
Heavy truck traffi c is wear-
ing out Radiant Drive, leaving
deep ruts along the edges and
creating potholes that work
crews can’t keep fi lled. Trucks
have been using Radiant to
haul dirt from the stadium site
and to haul in gravel.
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Web Poll
Results
How would you prefer
the Salem-Keizer
School District handle
overcrowding?
59% – Build more
schools
23% – Expand capacity
at existing sites
18% – Something else
Vote in a new poll every Thursday!
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