Sunset Meadows Park getting a nature-oriented playground with other features, and some controversyBy Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 5, 2024
A ground-breaking celebration for the new park at Sunset Meadows was held under sunny skies this week, but questions remain about the single bid that was accepted by the city to build the nearly $460,000 play area and gathering spot.
But several were happy to see the start of a park they have long awaited. “It is about time,” said Linda Hoover, who has lived in the same vicinity for more than 25 years. Like others in the neighborhood, she’s glad to see it finally becoming a reality after more than 10 years since it was announced.
However, some residents said they wondered where the money is now coming from, given the delays. “It would have been so much more economical to do this sooner,” said one. Recently, reports of the city’s strained budget have become public knowledge among some, due to budget cuts that closed the Independence Library on Saturdays.
Inquiries by Trammart News about the park plans last week – following a divided vote at the city council on whether to fund the facility for nearly $460,00 – went unanswered. The evenly split ballot was decided in favor of the plan after the mayor cast a “yes” vote.
At that meeting, City Councilor Sarah Jobe expressed surprise – the sum is far more than the $75,000 in grant money that was often cited as the source of funding, she noted. In fact, in Mayor John McArdle’s “State of the City” speech earlier this year, he identified that grant money as paying for it.
“With the help of a state grant, we will be installing nature-play equipment and seating,” he said at the time.
Yesterday, before his address at a public function, Mayor McArdle was informed by Trammart News of failed attempts seeking clarification on the issue from the city’s communications coordinator, Emmanuel Goicochea, who was contacted by email, hand-delivered note and phone calls.
“Thank you for sharing that,” McArdle responded. “Kenna West is his supervisor,” he added, referring to the Independence city manager.
McArdle declined to comment when told that, after months of attempting to try to get the city’s side of financial concerns, Trammart News will be forced to make public records requests that will take up “valuable time of the city recorder,” when they might be easily answered by the tax-supported communications coordinator.
Later in the day, Jonathan Jay, who chairs the city’s Parks and Recreation Board, clarified some of the information that initially seemed to be missing. “Glad to help,” he commented.
Jay confirmed that Parks & Rec never discussed the current plans as they appear now, and that may have been one reason for the confusion.
The 2015 Master Park Plan – a document to which Independence Public Works Director Gerald Fisher frequently alluded – was performed at a time when not all of the streets were constructed around the grassy area now destined for a playground and benches. The southwest subdivision was still in development, Jay pointed out. One of the main thoroughfares was titled “Birch,” a street that doesn’t exist there, he said.
The construction contract for the park improvements was awarded to GT Landscape Solutions in the amount of $457,112.20. In response to the sum, Councilor Dawn Roden introduced a motion at the meeting to deny the bid, apparently so that more than one bid could be sought. The motion failed.
Prior to the vote, Fisher explained: “The price seems high, but I am not shocked by the price.” Roden countered that she was “extremely shocked by the price.”
“I think it is totally inappropriate to go through with this, at this price,” she said.
Councilor Kate Schwarzler observed during the meeting that those funds are available through system development charges that builders pay.
However, the amount of money in the current budget shows the Parks SDC fund is only $434,735. Sunset Meadows Park also received $75,000 from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, and a private donation of $50,000. Pacific Power has donated $3,500 for the installation of trees.
The vote against funding the park at an amount that exceeds the current SDCs occurred when councilors Roden and Jobe dissented; Councilor Shannon Corr was absent from that March city council meeting and counted as a “no.” Passage was affirmed when the mayor broke the tie. ▪
SEDCOR got fast feedback during report on housing to the Polk County Board of CommissionersBy Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 5, 2024
When representatives of the Salem-based Strategic Economic Development Corporation (SEDCOR) paid a visit to the Polk County Board of Commissioners to give their annual report this week, the commissioners gave them one, too – personal observations of deeply felt workforce worries.
The high cost of living is creating tough workforce challenges in Polk County. Living “where you work” has become harder, said Commissioner Jeremy Gordon. “I got into my house by sheer luck before the prices skyrocketed,” Gordon said.
He and his family probably wouldn’t be able to afford the house where they currently live if they were buying it now, he added. In fact, he wouldn’t be able to pay the typical amount for a one-bedroom apartment with the mortgage payment he and his wife currently make, he pointed out.
SEDCOR’s president, Erik Andersson, and Alex Paraskevas, Polk County’s business retention and expansion manager, presented a year’s worth of experience and tracking of organization projects in the Willamette Valley. Although the global marketplace for regional goods and services seemed to be an important feature of their presentation, Board of Commissioners Chair Craig Pope urged “refocusing the center back a little bit.”
Pope expressed deep concern about the cost of food for local consumption, as well as housing prices, and urged SEDCOR to not forget “the challenges we have right in front of us every day.”
Costs that interfere with workforce recruitment have been a source of concern by SEDCOR, as well, Andersson confirmed, explaining that a program underway in Newberg that involves the city government and local employers in an effort to meet the need for “missing middle housing.” For instance, many Newberg school district teachers live outside the area now, a fact discovered during a recent snowstorm, Andersson said.
He offered his own first home ownership as an example of the wage mismatch for securing housing. Thirty years ago, he bought a home in Port Townsend WA for $105,000; It is currently valued at $650,000.
However, the job he had when he made that purchase paid an annual salary of around $60,000 – that same job today probably doesn’t exceed a salary of $90,000, though the home is worth six times what it was when he lived in it.
Commissioner Lyle Mordhorst asked Andersson to share more details about the Newberg program, which seems to have affordable housing as its goal. “Can you expand on that?” Mordhorst asked.
Zoning for multiple units, less emphasis on aesthetics and installing system development charges that make those fees easier on developers all have been proposed, Andersson said.
Pope stressed that “It’s not just mortgages, it’s food supply.” Dairies have been closing, including the one in Rickreall, and grain and vegetables aren’t being produced in Oregon in the numbers they once were, either, he said.
This week, a report on “job polarization” in Oregon – high-paying jobs compared with middle- and low-paying ones – showed dramatic differences, according to figures released Wednesday by Oregon’s Office of Economic Analysis. Jobs that generate middle-income-earning wages – those typical of office administrators and teachers, for example – dropped 6% while higher-paying jobs substantially increased.
Typically, when the middle part of overall income distribution declines in a city or state, the middle class shrinks there, too. Meanwhile, housing costs continue to tick up.
A little over a year ago, Joshua Lehner, senior economist for the state, reported that more than half, or 54%, of renters don’t have enough income left over after paying rent to afford even the “basics.”
After the meeting Mordhorst stated that he believes it’s more difficult today for young adults to gain the same advantages previous generations did – more money is needed just to support a medium lifestyle. Gordon has reiterated the same message in presentations, as chair of the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance. Recently, he received an award for “exceptional leadership” from the Mid-Valley Council of Governments for his work. ▪
Meet Dr. Matt Friesen, an Independence resident who authored a book to help college studentsBy Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 5, 2024
Matt Friesen of Independence has published a book that's not just for college students, but that's certainly his aim. For anyone in a book club that loses track of multiple characters and for any high school student who feels overwhelmed by facts and figures that appear in long descriptive paragraphs, this book is for you, too. Titled "Dr. Matt’s Gutsy Guide to Reading in College," it is an easy-to-read -- no huge and unfamiliar words! -- guide on how to read dense text. As Friesen notes, college is a time with "hundreds of pages coming at you."
Friesen will be at Brew Coffee and Tap House, in downtown Independence, at 1 pm on
April 20 to talk about the book. Recently, in an interview with Trammart News, he describes
his own academic journey, which helped prepare him with the kind of experience that proved beneficial for authoring this book. And he shared observations from years of working with college students.
TN: Well, it may seem a bit off-topic to start with my own college days but I liked your book so much for addressing the fact that the way material is studied — the thing I call study habits — is so important. Because I sure went down a few rabbit holes as a freshman.
Friesen: I think that can happen a lot. I think it is a matter of figuring out learning. I think one unfortunate part of college is that it can be discouraging if you have difficulty. I saw this as both a faculty member and as a college advisor.
TN: There seem to be more supports now for entering freshman. But, in some ways, it still seems like a sink-or-swim challenge, so different from high school. I liked how your book seemed to address the kind of student I was — I arrived for college a little bit in awe of a campus, frankly, unlike some.
Friesen: The book is written with traditional, non-traditional, and first generation students in mind. Sometimes “student support” books can be written primarily with 18 to 22-year-olds in mind. While this book certainly has those students in mind, it’s also written for those who are the first in their family to go to college and those who are returning after being away for a while.
TN: There are a lot of books aimed at helping students learn. Why did you think another one was needed?
Friesen: Mine was written with the student at the center. Many books written to support students put the classroom or a list of the “right ways” to do college at the center. This can sometimes create a list of great ideas that are also pretty unrealistic for today’s students. I worked hard to imagine every sentence landing in the ears of a student who is juggling jobs, taking care of kids, managing finances, and learning all the university’s mysterious rules and policies.
TN: Is there anything about today's college student that seems strikingly different from when you were an undergraduate?
Friesen: A lot has changed. A lot has stayed the same. One big change is that college costs so much now. There is so much money at stake with some of these students. They are working multiple jobs, trying to pay for it. The balancing act is just such a challenge ...
TN: I know you have seen this up close as a faculty member. I seem to remember you from Western Oregon University. Full disclosure: I am a student there, off and on.
Friesen: I worked with many of the “non-traditional” students during my time at WOU. Their diligence was inspiring and was at the front of my mind when writing.
TN: You also were a faculty member at another university. Is that right?
Friesen: I was on the faculty at Bluffton University in Bluffton, Ohio. It has about a thousand students, in a small town of about 5,000 people. I learned a lot there. When I came here, I worked at WOU
TN: Do you miss anything in the Midwest? FYI, I hail from Kansas and was born in Missouri. OK, after this question I promise to quit referencing myself ...
Friesen: There is a lot to miss from the Midwest. A lot of it has to do with the land and the weather. There were dramatic thunderstorms, not dangerous but loud. The sunsets were really spectacular, too. It looked like painted sky above the horizon. In Ohio, there was this tremendous sense of space — landscape permeates everything.
TN: But you were enticed by the west coast, as so many are?
Friesen: Yes, but it was like coming home. I got my PhD in sociology from the University of Oregon. Oregon is a hard place to leave and a great place to return.
TN: Yet you settled here, in Independence, not Eugene.
Friesen: Well, WOU hired me to advise college students (in the office of Experiential Learning Service Learning Career Development WOU). And I really love the downtown here in Independence. So we live here.
TN: So, you have been a college professor, and worked in college advising, and now you've become an author. Anything else?
Friesen: Now I work from home, doing data analysis. I guess you could call it "IT."
TN: I think that, in itself, is an important lesson for today's college students. There may be different careers in your future, not just the one you've trained for in a college setting.
Friesen: Yes, and that's why the book is for adults in college, too, not just those coming from high school. Learning — and using reading to do that — is a marathon, not a sprint.
TN: Apart from the guide your book provides, what have you learned about college students that is important.
Friesen: Find your group. That is just so important. Find your people. Connect with them. That is really essential to the college experience, too.
TN: Anything else that college students, particularly those who are the first in their family to go to a university, might benefit from?
Friesen: Don't lose your confidence. This is one reason I wrote the book. Say you get grades you think are bad — they don't say who you are. They say you can do better.
TN: Let me say I love that sentiment. I was such a slow starter ...
Friesen: A lot of college students are, and it can feel very lonely. But it's not the whole story. It is just the start of one. Writing this book was a way of showing how reading — a foundation for study — can be broken down into steps that can make it more effective, in a very straightforward way.
TN: Thank you for what seems to be an inspiring take on reaching success in college for those of us who, at first, found it to be — or currently find it to be — a real struggle, at least initially. ▪
Trammart News Service, April 5, 2024
A ground-breaking celebration for the new park at Sunset Meadows was held under sunny skies this week, but questions remain about the single bid that was accepted by the city to build the nearly $460,000 play area and gathering spot.
But several were happy to see the start of a park they have long awaited. “It is about time,” said Linda Hoover, who has lived in the same vicinity for more than 25 years. Like others in the neighborhood, she’s glad to see it finally becoming a reality after more than 10 years since it was announced.
However, some residents said they wondered where the money is now coming from, given the delays. “It would have been so much more economical to do this sooner,” said one. Recently, reports of the city’s strained budget have become public knowledge among some, due to budget cuts that closed the Independence Library on Saturdays.
Inquiries by Trammart News about the park plans last week – following a divided vote at the city council on whether to fund the facility for nearly $460,00 – went unanswered. The evenly split ballot was decided in favor of the plan after the mayor cast a “yes” vote.
At that meeting, City Councilor Sarah Jobe expressed surprise – the sum is far more than the $75,000 in grant money that was often cited as the source of funding, she noted. In fact, in Mayor John McArdle’s “State of the City” speech earlier this year, he identified that grant money as paying for it.
“With the help of a state grant, we will be installing nature-play equipment and seating,” he said at the time.
Yesterday, before his address at a public function, Mayor McArdle was informed by Trammart News of failed attempts seeking clarification on the issue from the city’s communications coordinator, Emmanuel Goicochea, who was contacted by email, hand-delivered note and phone calls.
“Thank you for sharing that,” McArdle responded. “Kenna West is his supervisor,” he added, referring to the Independence city manager.
McArdle declined to comment when told that, after months of attempting to try to get the city’s side of financial concerns, Trammart News will be forced to make public records requests that will take up “valuable time of the city recorder,” when they might be easily answered by the tax-supported communications coordinator.
Later in the day, Jonathan Jay, who chairs the city’s Parks and Recreation Board, clarified some of the information that initially seemed to be missing. “Glad to help,” he commented.
Jay confirmed that Parks & Rec never discussed the current plans as they appear now, and that may have been one reason for the confusion.
The 2015 Master Park Plan – a document to which Independence Public Works Director Gerald Fisher frequently alluded – was performed at a time when not all of the streets were constructed around the grassy area now destined for a playground and benches. The southwest subdivision was still in development, Jay pointed out. One of the main thoroughfares was titled “Birch,” a street that doesn’t exist there, he said.
The construction contract for the park improvements was awarded to GT Landscape Solutions in the amount of $457,112.20. In response to the sum, Councilor Dawn Roden introduced a motion at the meeting to deny the bid, apparently so that more than one bid could be sought. The motion failed.
Prior to the vote, Fisher explained: “The price seems high, but I am not shocked by the price.” Roden countered that she was “extremely shocked by the price.”
“I think it is totally inappropriate to go through with this, at this price,” she said.
Councilor Kate Schwarzler observed during the meeting that those funds are available through system development charges that builders pay.
However, the amount of money in the current budget shows the Parks SDC fund is only $434,735. Sunset Meadows Park also received $75,000 from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, and a private donation of $50,000. Pacific Power has donated $3,500 for the installation of trees.
The vote against funding the park at an amount that exceeds the current SDCs occurred when councilors Roden and Jobe dissented; Councilor Shannon Corr was absent from that March city council meeting and counted as a “no.” Passage was affirmed when the mayor broke the tie. ▪
SEDCOR got fast feedback during report on housing to the Polk County Board of CommissionersBy Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 5, 2024
When representatives of the Salem-based Strategic Economic Development Corporation (SEDCOR) paid a visit to the Polk County Board of Commissioners to give their annual report this week, the commissioners gave them one, too – personal observations of deeply felt workforce worries.
The high cost of living is creating tough workforce challenges in Polk County. Living “where you work” has become harder, said Commissioner Jeremy Gordon. “I got into my house by sheer luck before the prices skyrocketed,” Gordon said.
He and his family probably wouldn’t be able to afford the house where they currently live if they were buying it now, he added. In fact, he wouldn’t be able to pay the typical amount for a one-bedroom apartment with the mortgage payment he and his wife currently make, he pointed out.
SEDCOR’s president, Erik Andersson, and Alex Paraskevas, Polk County’s business retention and expansion manager, presented a year’s worth of experience and tracking of organization projects in the Willamette Valley. Although the global marketplace for regional goods and services seemed to be an important feature of their presentation, Board of Commissioners Chair Craig Pope urged “refocusing the center back a little bit.”
Pope expressed deep concern about the cost of food for local consumption, as well as housing prices, and urged SEDCOR to not forget “the challenges we have right in front of us every day.”
Costs that interfere with workforce recruitment have been a source of concern by SEDCOR, as well, Andersson confirmed, explaining that a program underway in Newberg that involves the city government and local employers in an effort to meet the need for “missing middle housing.” For instance, many Newberg school district teachers live outside the area now, a fact discovered during a recent snowstorm, Andersson said.
He offered his own first home ownership as an example of the wage mismatch for securing housing. Thirty years ago, he bought a home in Port Townsend WA for $105,000; It is currently valued at $650,000.
However, the job he had when he made that purchase paid an annual salary of around $60,000 – that same job today probably doesn’t exceed a salary of $90,000, though the home is worth six times what it was when he lived in it.
Commissioner Lyle Mordhorst asked Andersson to share more details about the Newberg program, which seems to have affordable housing as its goal. “Can you expand on that?” Mordhorst asked.
Zoning for multiple units, less emphasis on aesthetics and installing system development charges that make those fees easier on developers all have been proposed, Andersson said.
Pope stressed that “It’s not just mortgages, it’s food supply.” Dairies have been closing, including the one in Rickreall, and grain and vegetables aren’t being produced in Oregon in the numbers they once were, either, he said.
This week, a report on “job polarization” in Oregon – high-paying jobs compared with middle- and low-paying ones – showed dramatic differences, according to figures released Wednesday by Oregon’s Office of Economic Analysis. Jobs that generate middle-income-earning wages – those typical of office administrators and teachers, for example – dropped 6% while higher-paying jobs substantially increased.
Typically, when the middle part of overall income distribution declines in a city or state, the middle class shrinks there, too. Meanwhile, housing costs continue to tick up.
A little over a year ago, Joshua Lehner, senior economist for the state, reported that more than half, or 54%, of renters don’t have enough income left over after paying rent to afford even the “basics.”
After the meeting Mordhorst stated that he believes it’s more difficult today for young adults to gain the same advantages previous generations did – more money is needed just to support a medium lifestyle. Gordon has reiterated the same message in presentations, as chair of the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance. Recently, he received an award for “exceptional leadership” from the Mid-Valley Council of Governments for his work. ▪
Meet Dr. Matt Friesen, an Independence resident who authored a book to help college studentsBy Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 5, 2024
Matt Friesen of Independence has published a book that's not just for college students, but that's certainly his aim. For anyone in a book club that loses track of multiple characters and for any high school student who feels overwhelmed by facts and figures that appear in long descriptive paragraphs, this book is for you, too. Titled "Dr. Matt’s Gutsy Guide to Reading in College," it is an easy-to-read -- no huge and unfamiliar words! -- guide on how to read dense text. As Friesen notes, college is a time with "hundreds of pages coming at you."
Friesen will be at Brew Coffee and Tap House, in downtown Independence, at 1 pm on
April 20 to talk about the book. Recently, in an interview with Trammart News, he describes
his own academic journey, which helped prepare him with the kind of experience that proved beneficial for authoring this book. And he shared observations from years of working with college students.
TN: Well, it may seem a bit off-topic to start with my own college days but I liked your book so much for addressing the fact that the way material is studied — the thing I call study habits — is so important. Because I sure went down a few rabbit holes as a freshman.
Friesen: I think that can happen a lot. I think it is a matter of figuring out learning. I think one unfortunate part of college is that it can be discouraging if you have difficulty. I saw this as both a faculty member and as a college advisor.
TN: There seem to be more supports now for entering freshman. But, in some ways, it still seems like a sink-or-swim challenge, so different from high school. I liked how your book seemed to address the kind of student I was — I arrived for college a little bit in awe of a campus, frankly, unlike some.
Friesen: The book is written with traditional, non-traditional, and first generation students in mind. Sometimes “student support” books can be written primarily with 18 to 22-year-olds in mind. While this book certainly has those students in mind, it’s also written for those who are the first in their family to go to college and those who are returning after being away for a while.
TN: There are a lot of books aimed at helping students learn. Why did you think another one was needed?
Friesen: Mine was written with the student at the center. Many books written to support students put the classroom or a list of the “right ways” to do college at the center. This can sometimes create a list of great ideas that are also pretty unrealistic for today’s students. I worked hard to imagine every sentence landing in the ears of a student who is juggling jobs, taking care of kids, managing finances, and learning all the university’s mysterious rules and policies.
TN: Is there anything about today's college student that seems strikingly different from when you were an undergraduate?
Friesen: A lot has changed. A lot has stayed the same. One big change is that college costs so much now. There is so much money at stake with some of these students. They are working multiple jobs, trying to pay for it. The balancing act is just such a challenge ...
TN: I know you have seen this up close as a faculty member. I seem to remember you from Western Oregon University. Full disclosure: I am a student there, off and on.
Friesen: I worked with many of the “non-traditional” students during my time at WOU. Their diligence was inspiring and was at the front of my mind when writing.
TN: You also were a faculty member at another university. Is that right?
Friesen: I was on the faculty at Bluffton University in Bluffton, Ohio. It has about a thousand students, in a small town of about 5,000 people. I learned a lot there. When I came here, I worked at WOU
TN: Do you miss anything in the Midwest? FYI, I hail from Kansas and was born in Missouri. OK, after this question I promise to quit referencing myself ...
Friesen: There is a lot to miss from the Midwest. A lot of it has to do with the land and the weather. There were dramatic thunderstorms, not dangerous but loud. The sunsets were really spectacular, too. It looked like painted sky above the horizon. In Ohio, there was this tremendous sense of space — landscape permeates everything.
TN: But you were enticed by the west coast, as so many are?
Friesen: Yes, but it was like coming home. I got my PhD in sociology from the University of Oregon. Oregon is a hard place to leave and a great place to return.
TN: Yet you settled here, in Independence, not Eugene.
Friesen: Well, WOU hired me to advise college students (in the office of Experiential Learning Service Learning Career Development WOU). And I really love the downtown here in Independence. So we live here.
TN: So, you have been a college professor, and worked in college advising, and now you've become an author. Anything else?
Friesen: Now I work from home, doing data analysis. I guess you could call it "IT."
TN: I think that, in itself, is an important lesson for today's college students. There may be different careers in your future, not just the one you've trained for in a college setting.
Friesen: Yes, and that's why the book is for adults in college, too, not just those coming from high school. Learning — and using reading to do that — is a marathon, not a sprint.
TN: Apart from the guide your book provides, what have you learned about college students that is important.
Friesen: Find your group. That is just so important. Find your people. Connect with them. That is really essential to the college experience, too.
TN: Anything else that college students, particularly those who are the first in their family to go to a university, might benefit from?
Friesen: Don't lose your confidence. This is one reason I wrote the book. Say you get grades you think are bad — they don't say who you are. They say you can do better.
TN: Let me say I love that sentiment. I was such a slow starter ...
Friesen: A lot of college students are, and it can feel very lonely. But it's not the whole story. It is just the start of one. Writing this book was a way of showing how reading — a foundation for study — can be broken down into steps that can make it more effective, in a very straightforward way.
TN: Thank you for what seems to be an inspiring take on reaching success in college for those of us who, at first, found it to be — or currently find it to be — a real struggle, at least initially. ▪
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