Keizertimes., May 10, 2019, Image 1

SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 40, NO. 32
SECTION A
MAY 10, 2019
$1.00
Skate park upgrades draw crowd
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Chris Styler grew up in Salem-Keiz-
er and was in high school when Carlson
Skate Park opened. Unfortunately, even
then, it didn’t live up to his hopes and
expectations.
“I was very excited in the beginning,
but I was also a little disappointed. I
know a lot of work and energy went
into it, but I’d seen other skate parks
and this just wasn’t that,” Styler said.
After moving away, Styler returned
to the area fi ve years ago and makes
regular, almost daily, trips to Silverton
and Newberg where the parks have a
fl ow that Keizer and Salem’s skate parks
largely lack.
The city is hoping to remedy some
of that pent up frustration by remod-
eling some of the most dilapidated ar-
eas of the park, the two bowls and the
halfpipe.
The owners of Dreamland Skate
Parks, Mark and Danyel Scott, along
with Keizer Parks Supervisor Robert
Johnson, met with users of the parks on
Wednesday, May 1, to discuss current
plans and how they mesh with hopes of
users. Almost 30 park users turned out
to give feedback, making it was one of
the largest gatherings for a city meeting
in the past year.
Currently, the two bowls in the skate
park are unused for the most part. Over
time, the concrete at the lower portion
of the walls – where riders would begin
an ascent – has developed large cracks.
There is essentially one path rider can
take: down one wall, up and over the
other side of the bowl and into the larg-
er park.
One attendee at the meeting said the
Please see SKATE, Page A5
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Keizer Parks Supervisor Robert Johnson (left) goes over planed upgrades
with users of Carlson Skate Park at a public forum Wednesday, May 1.
What a city’s
budget reveals
News and oddities
arising from a
5-hour review
In a city like Keizer, where
fi nancial surpluses to do much
of anything seem few and far
between, budget committee
meetings are spaces where the
term “status quo” seems to
echo endlessly as administra-
tors join in a common refrain
when they present their pro-
posals.
Nevertheless, the meetings
persisted over two days, April
30 and May 2, as the commit-
tee took a deep dive into the
city’s fi nancial workings.
Keizertimes put the full pro-
posed budget up on its web-
site, www.keizertimes.com, but
there were some takeaways as
the meeting progressed that
shed light into how the city
works on a more granular level
in departments ranging from
human resources to law en-
forcement.
Here’s some of what the
committee and attendees
learned:
Human resources
• The city has two human
resources employees and most
everything is being done by
hand. This is because the budget
doesn’t have enough room for
a $15,000 human resources
information system software
7 Celts sign
on for college
sports
PAGE A13
Band
members
score medals
PAGE A4
Please see BUDGET, Page A7
City, Rotary at
impasse over rent
The Force
is strong with
these ones
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Stephanie and Brighton Hamil turned out with dozens of others at Free Comic Book Day
on Saturday, May 4. For more photos see Page A4.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
An issue of room rental is
putting the city at odds with
one of its most longstanding
nonprofi t groups.
In a letter to the Keizer
City Council, the president of
the Rotary Club of Keizer, AJ
Nash, and the president of the
Keizer Rotary Foundation,
Marc Adams, take the city to
task over its insistence that it
pay more to continue weekly
usage of a conference room in
the Keizer Civic Center.
“In the design phase, the
Community Center was never
intended to be a money-mak-
ing enterprise for the city, and
yet we fi nd today it is … and
sadly, it seems, making money
is the fi rst priority,” the letter
Please see RENT, Page A5
McNary cooks second to only one
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
The culinary team at Mc-
Nary High School made
up of Rebecca Hall, Dakota
Smith, Madelyn Hurst and
Isaac Mallery placed second
at the Oregon Restaurant and
Lodging Association Educa-
tion Foundation ProStart In-
vitational on Saturday, March
18.
“It was a really big deal. We
didn’t think that we would
place that well. We were ex-
cited to get second. It was a
really cool moment,” Hall said.
With the second place fi n-
ish, these McNary students
earned more than $18,000
in scholarships from culinary
schools across the country.
“Watching them grow and
develop a passion for culinary
arts has been really rewarding
for me,” McNary culinary in-
structor Wendy Bennett said.
“I’m proud of each student.
They were dedicated, took
the feedback and the reward
belongs to them. It was fun to
watch.”
“This is something they
will never forget for the rest
of their life. They will think
about it, they will talk about
it, they will share it. It should
be a very proud moment for
them.”
Along with Bennett, these
McNary students were also
instructed for months lead-
ing up to the competition by
mentors Austin Stinson and
Irina Bakun, who both bring
a number of years in the culi-
nary industry to the table.
“We’re here to help them
with execution and fl avor,”
Stinson said.
The ProStart Invitational,
which is similar to the Food
Network show Iron Chef, re-
quires students to create a
unique and delicious three-
course menu all in under an
hour — which is one of the
most diffi cult aspects of this
competition.
“You defi nitely can’t take
your sweet time when you’re
Please see COOKS, Page A5
PAGE A9
Baseball
team falls
short vs. Olys
PAGE A16
Submitted
McNary’s culinary team of Isaac Mallery, Dakota Smith, Rebecca Hall and Madelyn Hurst took
second place in the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association Education Foundation
ProStart Invitational in March.
LAUNCH PARTY
FRI, MAY 31
Salem-
Keizer will
add school
counselors
Keizer
JOIN US FROM 2PM TO 7PM. We will have on and
off- road demonstrations including a closed off- road
course to show Ranger’s amazing capabilities.
3555 River Road N, Keizer
(503) 463 - 4853
www.skylineforddirect.com