Welcome to What's Happening Salem!

In this episode, Jacob Espinoza and Brandon Summers talk about:

• Updates on the Truitt building development project on Front Street, including plans for wine tasting rooms, food halls, and multifamily homes.
• Changes to Oregon's drug laws, including new deflection programs and penalties for low-level drug possession.
• Salem's upcoming National Voter Registration Day on September 17th, 2024.
• And much more!

Timestamps:

02:35 - Advantage's viral Facebook meme

03:13 - Updates on the Truitt building development project

05:16 - Discussion about driving on Front Street

07:57 - Oregon's new drug laws and deflection programs

10:50 - Challenges of addressing substance use and addiction

12:49 - Salem's National Voter Registration Day announcement

16:46 - The value of unbiased information in local politics

You are tuned in to the What's Happening Salem podcast presented

by Advantage Heating and Electrical, changing the contracting world with love,

empathy, and kindness, and a lot of hard work. We appreciate you being here,

Salem.

What's happening, Salem?

We're back. What's happening, Salem? August 30th,

our second episode, my good friend Brandon Summers from Advantage Heating and Air

Conditioning. How are you doing, man? I'm doing good, man. We are,

working really hard over here and doing everything that we can to

continually up our game, and that's been a big focus of ours the last few

weeks. We're going into fall. It's usually a little bit of a slower season, so

we're working out promotions and specials and all that kind of thing and then

training super hard and providing amazing service. And partly because in the

fall, we tend to do a whole lot of, like, tune ups and services and

things like that. You know, you're doing more preventative measures and

performance measures for your system. To us, that means, you know, we're focused

on service. Right? And so it's customer service all the way, customer experience. We're training

on that super hard, helping people get to know their system better, make sure it

has longevity, that kind of thing. So Yeah. Been a huge focus over here. It's

been taking a lot of time, a lot of work. We had a lot of

people, but it's been good. It's been good. It always feels good to, you know,

put in a solid day and have some intensity. And Yeah. Your team is working

harder now for sure, and you do a great job. It's awesome having, you know,

business with the longevity of yours and the community. And we were talking a little

bit earlier about social media and how you just never really know what's gonna pop

off. You had a a meme that that kind of went viral on Facebook. That's

always it's always fun when that happens. Yeah. It was kinda just,

like, you had 2 clips. Right? It was a breakdancer that was

obviously killing it in the beginning of the video, and it was kinda, like, showcasing

it was kinda showcasing, like, you get what you pay for. Right? And then it

shifted over to, Ray Gun dancing, and the music got all funky. And, yeah,

it was we it was just, like, kind of a funny thing. We didn't even

create it. Someone showed it to us and we're like, oh, that would work for

our page because it was a contractor style post. And, last minute, I was like,

yeah, Boone. Did you ever post that? He's like, oh, let me let me throw

that up and see. And a week later, it has 304,000 views and then

we shared all over. It was yeah. And it was just like a it was

kind of an afterthought of a post, but, yeah, it just went nuts. Like, you

you literally never know. I think that's why, you know, anyone who's creating

content, the game is, you know, it's not quality

or quantity. It's kinda like both, especially today. You need quality content,

but at the same time, you don't know what's gonna pop. So you need reps.

You need just consistency and let the people decide what they like.

100%. And, letting the people decide what

they like. I think people are gonna like what's happening at the

Truett building facility. This has been a, a building as a

cannery for a long time. It's an incredible location on Front Street.

I'll pull up this article that, ran on KPTV

a while back. And I think people have kind of forgotten about all the

plans for this because it's when you learn more about, like, commercial

real estate, it is such a slow burn. Like these projects

just take forever when it comes to getting the proper permits,

working on land use, just all the things involved. So

currently, Trent Michaels, who is the principal of the development team, said the plan

is to demolish the bulk of the property and repurpose historic buildings,

until wine tasting rooms, food halls, and brew hubs. But they also are looking

at more than 370 multifamily homes, which is a big

deal because our population in Salem has been growing like crazy. There's

even this concept for a a stadium for a

soccer team. Really? And this was this

article came out was let's look at the date. April 21,

2023. So it's been you know what I mean? Like,

16 months that this census came out. But I just got an update

from Jordan True at last week that they're

finally ready to, like, start tearing things down.

Starting with the bridge, he said the next couple of weeks, we might be seeing

that bridge come down. But it's just kinda interesting. So I'll read the

the text that he said. Yeah. Yeah. He sent me, the buyer and the city

planners have come to an understanding of their land use application, which is now

deemed complete. This was by far the biggest hurdle to work through,

further complicated by the federal rates grant, which complicated the development timeline

for analysis and study of the French Corridor. Despite the

seller completing all these same studies proactively and on

their own dime, the federal requirements of the grant would have delayed the project for

years. Having worked through a solution with the city, it appears as though the biggest

challenge of acquiring land use approval is now complete.

And that this could just be such a cool space for Salem. Like, on the

river, Front Street could just turn into something just a lot

just great, you know, for our community. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, right now, it's kinda

just that weird back way that you get through from, like,

Salem into more of the Keiser area. And, like, yeah, it's really

just in industrial, which can be that can be a vibe. Right? Like, you have

places in Portland, like, pro district and stuff like that that very much has that

same industrial vibe, but there's still a lot going on over there. You might have

nice condos or interesting restaurants or, like you mentioned, like wine tasting

and stuff like that. It'd be really interesting to see what changes

on that side. You're right. Right now, it really is just

like a a street people use to get from Salem to Keiser and not have

to worry about traffic lights. Yep. Like, you kinda just cut through there to to

get to Keiser or to get to Salem if you're coming from Keiser.

And that leads to another kinda interesting conversation I

had recently. Like, how do you drive on Front Street?

Because you got the train tracks there. There isn't really, like, a clearly defined

which side of the road is which, like, where the right lane starts, where the

left lane starts. People kind of choose their own adventure when they're

driving down Front Street. Yep. And you could be behind, like, 3 different people, and

all of them are taking different paths sometimes. Like, really, your goal is just let

me avoid cars coming out of you while I'm driving. You're either, like,

splitting try to split the the actual tracks or you're, like,

crowding the sidewalk and, like, that is, like, the lane on that side, but really

you kinda have to be half on the tracks to feel like you're in any

kind of lane. And then, the best is when a train

starts actually using it. And, out of nowhere, like, that completely cuts

you off about halfway through. Yeah. Like, am I gonna die today on Front

Street? It's like it becomes a question quickly. Well, when I was,

like, 16, 17, there's, like, a couple there's plenty

of sec right? It's not like it's not a very smooth road. Right? Like, you

have like, there's sections where it's, like, kinda wavy, like, especially over

near the curb. Mhmm. There were times when I was younger where we would try

and hit one of those going pretty quick, and try and see

how much we could notice the sudden elevation on the road right near

you know, over the corner of a sidewalk or something. So, yeah, definitely

definitely wild driving over there. It would be fun to talk to Salem PD and

just be like, what are the actual rules of this road? How does how does

it go? How do we how are we supposed to navigate this complexity here? Should

I have, like, a poll or throw something in? Maybe a write in question on

your on your Instagram? And then, we can share how everyone else thinks you're

supposed to drive on there sometime. That's definitely gonna be a thing. That's definitely gonna

be a thing. In the comments, let us know. How do you drive on Front

Street? Yeah. Something else that just came up.

Oh, a story I had about Front Street is a

gnarly bike accident. Like, I was driving my bike from Kaiser to

downtown, and for I thought I took a a good enough angle to make it

across the, train tracks. But my front tire just got stuck

in the train track. I went flying over, ended up breaking my

elbow. It was not not the best experience. I definitely don't

recommend riding your bike on a front tree. Like, walk your bike over the train

tracks for sure. Even pedestrian activity over there is sketchy between trains

and cars not knowing where they're supposed to drive? Yeah. Pretty much. You have to

be in a car there. You're not gonna make it. And, speaking of things that

didn't make it, I'm just gonna just transition my way through this. But

the measure measure 110 Yeah, man. Didn't didn't

quite work out the way some had hoped to. I think this is definitely a

case of good intentions for sure, but just

didn't quite pan out the way people had hoped it would. This is an article

I'm looking at in the Salem reporter. The next chapter in Oregon's fight against

fentanyl starts next week. Starting Sunday 14th, counties

in Oregon will start deflecting programs that are intended to help people

enter recovery and avoid criminal charges in jail. The new timing of the program

coincides with the start of a new misdemeanor penalty for low level drug

possession. Both of the product of house bill 4,002, which states

lawmakers passed this year after fentanyl overdoses killed

about 1400 Oregonians in 2023. That is

just a staggering number, especially when you compare it to

2019 where it's 280. Like, that

increase is scary. It it really is terrifying. This

bill, though, recriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs while

prioritizing recovery instead of jail time. I mean,

that part that part totally makes sense to me. Right? I've had family members who

struggled with addiction, anything from alcohol to heroin. Right? When you see someone who

is addicted, obviously, they need to be in the head space where they wanna make

a change for themselves. Like, it's impossible to force it no matter how bad you

may want it. Yeah. But I guess depending on what it is and look

I what do I know? Right? I'm just a guy who's talking and whatever. But

to me it seems like prioritizing recovery makes the most sense

over jail time because how much are you helping them by throwing them in jail?

Right? What opportunity do they have for recovery in that state? I mean so on

that sense, it makes a lot of sense. I I agree. We definitely want to

provide people options to to recover. I think the challenge with the

original bill was there what the recovery programs weren't

established. So there was like this idea that people would go get

treatment and go to the program. But what happened was people would get a ticket

with a number to call, but there is nobody there to follow-up to verify that

people were actually calling this number for help. So it kinda was up to them

if they were gonna call or not and they didn't. And when I talk to

people who had family who struggled with addiction or who had struggled with addiction in

the past and had recovered, they all expressed a lot of frustration

around the fact that, like, there was just no accountability and people

were, you know, weren't really put in a place where they could get clear headed.

I definitely don't wouldn't say jail is the best option for that, but I

do think that it's better in some circumstances

than just nothing at all and people, you know, on the streets using

who are struggling with addiction. Because addiction is just like

a terrifying thing. Like, anybody that recovers from it, I think is just

is just an incredible story because of how challenging it is when you when you

are stuck in that place. I think there is a balance between, like,

accountability, support, and provide making sure people see that there is help. Like, you

can work your way out of this, but we do need people stepping in the

right directions. But then there's the other side of it that's like, who are we

to tell people how to live their lives? You know what I mean? Like Sure.

A 100%. Yeah. What I think I think one mistake that gets made

and I don't know, I'd quite frankly, I today, I don't even know how controversial

this statement actually is, but like lumping all substances in under

the exact same category and then treating them all the same is kinda challenging

because you have substances like psychedelics that

typically a completely different outcome than someone who's

regular regularly using Fentanyl or something like that, right? There's just there's just

different categories of drugs and extreme differences

in not just the effects or but like addiction levels

and like mortality rates and things like that. Right? And so

yeah. To like decriminalize everything, was that the right move? I don't know.

But then how do we differentiate? And then what does that entail legislatively? I have

no idea what that looks like. But I do think that is one of the

challenges. Right? Because you're you're putting a we talked about blanket statements with

people the other day. I mean, with substances that that that it's kind

of, similar in the sense that, like, if you just have a blanket statement for

all substances that are consciousness altering, you're doing it to surface,

I think, to the people and to how you're creating any sort of, like, legislation

or something like that. Because even just the treatments for

for various substances would be completely different. So, yeah, I think that's another

challenge too, is trying to love everything under one thing and have a one size

fits all, rule of any kind, I think is always gonna pose some sort of

a challenge. The other challenge that Salem is gonna have is

that it's the county's planning the new deflection

program, and Salem's in the middle of 2 counties. So we have

Marion and Polk. So we have potential that we'll have half of

our city with one plan, the other half with another plan.

And like the city kind of got in the middle of it. Right? If the

counties aren't aligned on what their vision is, which they probably won't be.

Right. So that just makes it even even more challenging. So if you're a

Salem PD and, like, you have one group that's being treated one way, another group

that's being treated a different way, just different expectations. Like, that's that gets

complicated and and challenging and exhausting. That's really messy, man. Yeah.

So we'll we'll see what happens with this piece of it. But it's something for

us to keep in mind is that is a reality of of our city, you

know, being being established in the middle of both Marion and Polk Polk County.

The city council meeting, Christopher Hoy announced

September 17th 2024 as national voter

registration day in Salem to honor civic unity and an

opportunity to set aside differences, enjoy the rights and opportunities we

all share as Americans and celebrate our democracy.

He presented the proclamation to Alice LaValletta,

saying that wrong, I apologize, and other representatives of the League of Women

Voters. I tried to find more information around

Salem declaring a national voter registration day. Yeah. I just don't

exactly know what that means. I couldn't find any other details,

but we we have it now. It's a thing. And I don't know if it's

just for city workers. Like, just city employees get the day off. I was trying

to find more details so maybe people know they can let us know. We can

we can follow-up on it. So It's essentially yeah. So it's it's time

it's the ability to set time aside to register to vote and do all of

that. So you're getting almost like a holiday. Right?

That's what it that's how it reads to me. But I didn't see more in

the post. I tried to find other articles, but we'll have to follow-up with more

details before September 17th. Because registering to vote, I

feel like, isn't the problem always. I think this is a great sentiment, and

I'm kind of just admitting I don't I don't know it all here, but just

kind of thinking through it. But it seemed like registering to vote isn't the issue.

And even in Oregon, you can mail in your vote. So I guess not like

the hassle a lot of other states go through where they have to, like, stay

in line for hours to vote, where it is pretty challenging sometimes to make that

happen. I think a lot of it goes back to your thesis with doing with,

creating what's happening in Salem at all. Right? An informed community is gonna be more

likely to vote. We've only done this podcast twice, and there's things that you brought

to me that I'm like, oh, I had no idea that that was even a

thing. Right? Yeah. And so if we're uninformed, it can be or even

if you're voting on something and you kinda get the bullet points, how informed are

you on the trickle down effect of that thing or that decision or what that

can change or alternative perspectives. Right? Like we talked last week and

we were talking about from the perspective of a business owner. Right? If you're not

a business owner, you may not think from that perspective. And then you have large

businesses and small businesses, and how does it impact them differently? Mhmm. Right? The more

information that we have, the more that we can make a more informed decision, the

the better our decision making gets. And so I do think that there's a lot

of that. Right? How informed are we? And then everything has nuances. So,

like, you know, are we getting our information from some super from a sound

bite? Are we getting any context here? How much research do we have time to

do on this topic? And with how many things there can be to vote on

and decisions to make, I think sometimes it can feel overwhelming. You don't

necessarily know what the right decision is. And then on top of that, some people

have the feeling of, like, is their vote actually making much of a difference?

So I think there's just so many things that go into it over just having

the time to register. I'm not saying like you said, I mean, the sentiment like,

I'm not denying the sentiment there and whatever else and however that plays out is

fine. But I do think that it's it's kind of a bigger bigger topic

than just having the time. No. For sure. That's a great point. And I think

as you're talking through it, I'm thinking through this. Like, it really is just great

marketing of, like, hey. There's this day set aside where we're gonna

just talk about the fact that you need to register to vote. Yeah. Because especially

in local elections, like, the turnout is so low. Like it

is extremely low. And some so we have, you know, 175,000

people that live in Salem approximately. There's I think it's 8

wards in Salem. And some wards have, like, a

1,000 people that show up to vote for, like, their city councilor.

Right? Like so, like, it really is a situation where your vote absolutely

matters. We'll have a better turnout this year because people are voting

for, you know, like, the presidential election and, like, the local elections

are kind of part of the same ballot. But when it's not a major national

election season, like, local turnout is pretty low. And that is definitely a

big focus for what's happening in Salem is, like, having an outlet

to remind people why it's important to show up to vote. I'll, of course, have

my own opinions on, like, how I'm gonna vote and, like, why

that is, but I really want the the newsletter itself and the social media

to be focused on just the facts. And here's what's at stake. Here's

what, like, people are saying on both sides. Make your own informed

decision, but make an informed decision, not one based off of, like,

scare campaigns on on Facebook or the art signs.

Yeah. No, man. A 100%. I mean, I think, I I

think one thing that's really lacking in information and

especially, like, when it comes to anything to do with the news is most of

it has a slant to some degree or another. Yeah. You know, like, we are

really missing some unbiased information, I think. And

so, yeah, I think not taking a position and not having a slant and doing

your best to present the facts or or even it could even be

subjective. Right? But being open to the fact that, like, hey, this is just conjecture.

Right? This This may not be the fact. This is conjecture. Even just being willing

to preface something or end it with that alone. I think that's huge, man.

Because, again, if you can provide information in any way you want and

put any sort of slant or spin on it that you want, and then that

can paint the picture in someone's mind of something that may or may not be

truly accurate, and then you're not really informing someone. Mhmm. You're just helping them

create a certain thought pattern or a certain way of perceiving something. Yeah. What

we really need is information, and that's really that's challenging to do

or challenging to get when everything does have some sort of a slant or a

bias to it. And I think also it gives a lot of information. Like,

sometimes there's so much context you need to even understand why this is

important. And I think that's one of I think the value I bring

is that I just I'm not that smart. So, like, I have to, like, go

through the steps, like, figure things out, and I can, like, let me share with

you how I got here because I didn't start here, you know, with with the

information and understanding why it's important. But also having people access to people

in my network that can help me just elaborate on, okay, why this is

this seems important, but I don't quite get it. Help me help me connect the

dots. And so having those conversations ahead of time has helped out a ton as

well. Well, dude, it's kinda like, okay, similar thing, but for me

with the business. So, I know I'm aware that I have

biases. Right? And I have different thought patterns and I have all these things. So

when I go to make a decision, especially if it's gonna impact a lot of

people in the company, I'm not just making that decision in a vacuum. I,

1, I wanna take it to a team of people and get their feedback, but

then I wanna specifically seek out people that see the business differently than I

do, have different experiences and things like that so that I can get people who

will push back on me. And I wanna make sure that I have people who

will challenge my ideas and thought patterns. That's with a business of, like, 50 employees.

Right? There's, like, 50 of us for these decisions to impact. But if you're talking

about something at a county, city, or state level, that's impacting so

many more people. Right? And just being informed and

having different ideas and being willing to listen to those alternative theories and ideas about

something and take it in just as information, not an us versus you or

anything like that. I think that's a crucial piece of the puzzle as well.

Absolutely, man. Episode 2. We're making it happen out here,

man. This is a lot of fun. And if you're tuning into the podcast, there's

people that you're wanting to hear or want us to bring on as guests, you'd

like to hear hear more from like, tell us. We wanna know we're gonna

start bringing guests on in the near future. So shoot me a DM, shoot Brandon

a DM on the Instagram channels because this we want this to be

a community resource. Like we really want this to be a location to have

informed conversations to make sure that people in Salem understand what's

happening with our elected officials, with our nonprofits, with our

local businesses, and just people that are out there working hard making things happen. Like,

we want this to be that sort of a tool. I'm loving this, man. I

mean, I've been just it's been 2 weeks. I'm I already feel you know, not

to be cheesy, but I feel more informed because I'm not typically paying attention to

stuff. You're finding these interesting things and sending them to me. I'm reading through them.

I'm gaining significantly more information just from doing this. Right? And we're pretty much

talking about everything that you bring to the table. So, you know, anyone who is

tuning into this, there's definitely some interesting stuff here. There's more going on than I

thought. I love it, man. I appreciate you, Brandon. See y'all soon.

Alright. Peace.