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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 2018)
PAGE D2, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 9, 2018 Safety issues dominate River Road conversation By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes The Keizer Chamber of Commerce’s Community Conversation regarding the future of River Road drew about 40 business owners and residents who shared ideas and hopes. The town hall-style event took place at the Keizer Civic Center Wednesday, Feb. 28, and the primary theme that emerged was increasing safety. Keizer Community Devel- opment Director Nate Brown began the proceeding with a brief history of River Road improvements drawing the through-line from when it was two-lane unimproved county highway up to the creation of an Urban Renewal District to put utility lines underground and more recent aesthetic im- provements. “We want to get a feel for the threshold of change and how assertive (the community) wants us to be,” said Brown. Hersch Sangster, a mem- ber of the Keizer Traffi c Safety, Bikeways and Pedestrian Com- the intersection of River Road and Manzanita. Beautifi cation – and main- taining what already exists along River Road – was an- other hot topic. “When I was very young and came to this community, there were trees up and down River Road. I would like to see more of them,” said Carol Doerfl er. While there were no objec- tions to added greenery, Bob Shackelford, a Keizer resident and River Road business own- er, said keeping existing green- ery from causing safety issues was already a problem. “I like everything to look perfect, and a lot of places look really nice, but having trees and shrubs that overhang the street is an issue,” Shackelford said. Shackelford’s comments tapped a vein into the larger issue that spawned the com- munity conversation in the fi rst place: a proposed 1 percent fee on new construction and major remodels that would be used to create public amenities. City staff proposed the fee mittee was among the fi rst to speak and safety was at the top of his mind. “All of our major injury ac- cidents are on River Road. I want to emphasize safety south of Chemawa, where the road is narrower,” Sangster said. “River Road at Wells Fargo is 62 feet across and, with that, you can’t make improvements for multi- modal transportation. We can’t afford the right-of-way and we have to look at how we can re- design the lanes and the strip- ing to maximize it.” Sangster’s comments tipped off a string of safety-themed is- sues. Some of the suggested safety improvements included: • Installing more street lights. • Reducing the number of lanes and driveways. • The improvement or ad- dition of parallel roads and al- leys allowing travelers to move along River Road without having to exit and re-enter. • Installation of a signal- ized entrance/exit at Creekside Shopping Center. • A fl ashing yellow light at KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald James Hutches, an insurance agent and Keizer resident, responds to the potential of assessing construction and remodeling efforts along River Road with a public amenity fee. in 2017, and it was approved by the Keizer Planning Commis- sion, but the idea died when it went to the Keizer City Coun- cil after strong rebuke from members of the business com- munity. Danielle Bethell, speaking on behalf of business owner Valerie White, asked when funds would come available to beautify River Road. “What business owners are looking for is partnership and incentives,” Bethell said. Brown responded, “The concept behind the 1 percent was that we had a major busi- ness come to River Road and there was very little investment in improving the quality of life in Keizer,” Brown said. “ It’s not about who can write who a check, it’s about taking own- ership in the community.” Keizer Chamber of Com- merce member James Hutches said that a city-installed bench near the end at one River Road intersection was rarely used and wanted to see more thought put into what consti- tutes public amenities. “Should we force things that are not functional just to say we put in an amenity? I think we should have incentives to put functional things in the com- munity,” Hutches said. Fighting for their right to not comic sans McNary Club started with a joke, fi nds widespread interest By RANDOM PENDRAGON Keizertimes intern Font Club is new to Mc- Nary this year, and they’ve already got big plans. According to Paul Shuir- man, a math teacher at Mc- Nary, the club was born out of a joke. “[Jonas Honeyman] asked why I’d used two differ- ent fonts in a slide, and even named them off,” Shuirman recounted. “So I was bluff- ing about starting a club… Jonas and David immediately jumped onto it.” He views it as a sort of “hand- written version of fonts,” and is toying with the idea of holding calligraphy lessons. While they enjoy blurring the lines between irony and seriousness, their opinion of Comic Sans is crystal clear: “It has no use anywhere except, y’know, comics,” Beal assert- ed. “Even then, Comic Serif is a better option.” They’ve launched a “crusade” upon the font in hopes to com- pletely destroy it. “It’s offen- sive to the eye,” Beal added. While you likely won’t see Brooklyn Flint, President of the Font Club, had little interest in fonts prior to join- ing the club. She joined on a whim out of a desire to try something new. Flint also attends Write Club on Thursdays, and sees both clubs as a way to enrich her goals in becoming a writ- er. She is looking forward to exploring the visual aspect that writing relies on. David Beal, self-pro- claimed Chancellor of the Font Club, comes from a background in calligraphy. Spring Into Smart Savings! Honda Lawn Mowers are the ultimate mowing machines! 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A cornerstone of the club will be debates, where a certain font will be presented and club members will discuss its merit. “We’ll also discuss when to use fonts, how to use fonts, and how to blend them well so that it doesn’t look cheesy,” Beal said. The club isn’t all about crusading and debating, how- ever. They’ve planned to sell club T-shirts by the end of the year to raise funds for the Salem Health Foundation. “We chose them because it’s nearby,” Flint said. “We’re a community, we’re supposed to stick together and help each other. Beal added: “Ev- eryone donates to those big charities, but our local hos- pital deserves a bit of atten- tion.” “We’re starting a revolu- tion,” Shuirman said. “To change the world through fonts.” Editor’s note: Flint is no lon- ger a member of the Font Club. This article fi rst appeared in the McNary Piper. Support the Keizer Community Food Bank with your fi nancial and food donations
