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.
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4764 PORTLAND RD NE, SALEM
them marching with helmets
and chainmail, they will be
arming themselves with the
likes of Times New Roman
and Courier New to spread
good typographic principles
across the school.
While their fi rst few
meetings have been devot-
ed to fl eshing out the club’s
goals and plans for the future,
Shuirman says you can expect
to see them in action soon. 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.
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