City names footbridge after Sen. Peter Courtney

Salem residents and visitors will walk, run or bike across the Peter Courtney Minto Island Bridge when its completed in 2016, thanks to a unanimous vote by the city council Monday night.

"The criteria, for me, in naming this bridge is who's been a hero from the beginning," Councilor Dan Clem, Ward 8, said. "Sen. (Peter) Courtney, D-Salem, was there at the beginning. He's been there all along, and he's here at the end."

Courtney served on the council in 1975 when the first plans were drawn for the 304-foot-long footbridge that will span the Willamette Slough to connect Riverfront Park with Minto-Brown Island Park.

At the time, Riverfront Park didn't exist. The land served predominately industrial uses and both the bridge and the park were part of a plan to develop Salem's waterfront.

The plan was hashed out somewhat spontaneously during late night brainstorming sessions inside council chambers, and the councilors, Courtney included, often wondered whether it would become a reality.

"I was the young guy on the council," Courtney said. "I was surrounded by such great staff, great city managers, great thinkers ... The sadness for me is I wish so many of them could be here tonight. They would sit there with smiles on their faces."

The single-span, steel and concrete bridge will stitch together 1,000 acres of parks and more than 20 miles of off-street trails.

A very Oregon thing to do, Courtney said.

For Salem resident Kim Snider, his decision to support naming the bridge after the Senate President had less to with Courtney's work to build the bridge and more to do with his tenure in the state legislature.

Snider teaches photography at Hillcrest Youth Correctional Facility. Courtney has not only spoken with his students but he also hung some of their photographs outside his Capitol office.

"This interest by the Senate President changed lives," Snider said. "I will never forget him for instilling pride and self-respect in a number of young men and women."

Salem resident and local radio personality Barry-Lee Coyne was one of two people who voiced concerns about naming the bridge after Courtney.

"I like Peter personally, so it's not targeted at him," Coyne said.

He was troubled by the message the council would be sending by naming a public facility after an incumbent office holder.

The Peter Courtney Minto Island Bridge is set to begin construction in summer 2015 with a goal of being completed in 2016. Courtney hopes to have an answer to how he feels about having a bridge named after him by then.

"I don't really know what to feel (right now)," Courtney said. "I'm surprised. I'm really humbled by it."