Salem City Council confirmed four new board members and approved more than eleven thousand dollars in prior-year invoices, all by 10-0-1 votes, while authorizing a five-year contract with Via Transportation for the Salem Skipper on-demand transit service.
Salem City Council hears police report on camping ordinance implementation. Captain John Burke of the Police Department presented enforcement data from the camping ordinance, adopted in June 2024: the Community Impact Unit had advised people to vacate encampments 92 times, made only three arrests
Salem City Council refers living wage ordinance back with discharge recommendation. The Committee on Ordinances, Licenses and Legal Affairs, co-posted with the Committee of the Whole, voted 3 to 1 on September 16 to refer Councillor Kyle Alexander Davis's proposed ordinance back to the full council
Salem City Council voted 8-2 to change the city seal, responding to complaints about its 187-year-old imagery. Council President Alice Rose Merkl supported the Seal Task Force recommendation to remove the Spice Islands trader figure, which the Asian American and Pacific Islander community said
Salem City Council votes to advance data center ban and parking-minimum repeal for two-family homes. At a joint Planning Board hearing on September 9, the Council voted 10-0 to refer both Ordinance #385, prohibiting all data centers citywide, and Ordinance #387, eliminating parking minimums for
Salem City Council Committee approves zoning amendment allowing small rooftop wind systems. Ward 5 Councillor Lydia C. King led the proposal through the Committee on Ordinances, Licenses and Legal Affairs, with Committee Chair Andrew W. Varela appointing King to the committee specifically for this
Salem committee backs emergency fire lanes for Willows neighborhood. The City Council Committee on Ordinances, Licenses and Legal Affairs voted 3-0 to recommend an ordinance creating fire lanes on Beach and Sutton Avenues, establishing a backup emergency route to the Willows after a prior flooding
Salem City Council defers home occupation zoning ordinance for substantial revision. The Committee on Ordinances, Licenses and Legal Affairs voted 4-0 to keep the draft in committee after determining current Salem rules are highly restrictive and do not allow residents to commercially create
Council committee advances year-round gas leaf blower ban to 2030. The City Council Committee on Public Health, Safety and Environment voted 3-2 to recommend the prohibition, citing environmental and public health concerns from carbon emissions and noise. The committee consolidated originally
Salem advances city seal replacement after task force study. The City Council Committee of the Whole voted 7-2 to accept the City Seal Task Force's recommendation to replace the existing seal, with Councillors Kyle Alexander Davis, Erin Turowski, Lydia C. King, Andrew Smith, Andrew W. Varela,
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