The Marion Street Bridge pictured last summer. (Salem Reporter files) Salem city councilors have a massive to do list for 2019. They are set to talk about it at a work session Wednesday. Budgetary shortfalls, traffic problems, homelessness and environmental impacts will headline the work session, slated for 6 p.m.[Read More…]
Troy Brynelson - Salem Reporter
Salem gathering data for snapshot into future growth
The lobby of Salem City Hall. (Salem Reporter files) As Salem plans for the future, staff are undertaking a data project to be a sort of statistical crystal ball. The city’s Community Development Department on Wednesday released a list of 20 facets of life in Salem it will measure and[Read More…]
AGENDA: Skirmish over solar array to return to Marion County
Courthouse Square, where the Marion County Board of Commissioners offices are located and where meetings are held. (Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter) The Marion County Commission has a small handful of topics to consider at its meeting Wednesday. • Commissioners will consider two items from its Health and Human Services[Read More…]
Marion Square Park homeless camp evicted, organizations offer aid
The ARCHES Project case worker Ken Houghton, left, and Bob Francis, a volunteer, walk to the homeless camp shortly before 7 a.m. Tuesday. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter) Josh Lair arrived to a homeless camp near Marion Square Park an hour and a half before sunrise and two hours before police and[Read More…]
City, police, service providers prepare for homeless eviction Tuesday
A bike secured at a barrier along the Marion Square Park homeless encampment on Friday. The city of Salem is will clear the camp Tuesday morning. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter) Workers from Northwest Human Services will be among the first to arrive at a homeless camp under the Marion Street Bridge[Read More…]
Salem to talk committees, aid for vulnerable populations and a 111-unit apartment complex
Salem City Hall (Salem Reporter files) Salem City Council’s first meeting of 2019 will include two agenda items that will address the city’s role in helping vulnerable populations in the region and an information report on a 111-unit apartment complex proposed in the South Gateway Neighborhood. The mayor will also[Read More…]
Disgraced former city manager tapped to help lead Marion County Public Works
Courthouse Square, where the Marion County Board of Commissioners offices are located, pictured in December. (Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter) A former government executive whose dishonesty over an affair with an employee cost him his job running the city of Newberg has been tapped to help lead Marion County’s troubled[Read More…]
Salem library to pause review another month following lengthy public hearing
A person examines a book at Salem Public Library. (Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter) Debate that was sometimes contentious and sometimes poetic lead to the shelving for at least a month of a rigorous review of library books. The Salem Public Library Advisory Board unanimously agreed Wednesday night to keep[Read More…]
Fates of downtown trees to be decided by Salem parks board after outcry
A tag reading “Please Don’t” hangs from a tree that Salem marked for removal in December. Salem Public Works Director Peter Fernandez said an advisory board will decide in February what to do with the trees. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter) Trees in downtown Salem that residents fought to keep from being[Read More…]
Marion County to consider funding homeless liaison another year, accept FEMA grant
(Salem Reporter archive) Here is what the Marion County Commission will discuss on Wednesday. • First on the docket for the the commission is whether to send $45,000 to the Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments for another year. The money helps pay for a program coordinator position for the Mid-Willamette Valley[Read More…]