Category City News
City adds grant money to help downtown Salem businesses with security
A security camera outside Salem Center mall in downtown. The camera was paid for with a grant from the city. (Jake Thomas/Salem Reporter) The city of Salem’s Urban Renewal Agency has added more money to a grant program that helps businesses pay for security upgrades…
Documents shed new light on crash that left three farmworkers dead and triggered a federal investigation
The stop in Salem was only to be brief for the 16 seasonal workers. They had worked all day loading Christmas trees into delivery trucks at a Corvallis farm and now, at week’s end, they were on their way to homes they shared in Woodburn…
Parks board to weigh in on park usage as permitting resumes in a few weeks
People enjoy the nice weather while keeping their distance in Riverfront Park on Thursday, April 9. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) The Salem City Council wants the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board to provide policy recommendations on parks usage and permitting following a controversial right-wing event…
PHOTOS: Geren Island ozone treatment upgrades
John Kennedy, consultant project manager, explains the process of combining aquifer water with surface water at the Geren Island water treatment facility on Monday, May 10, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Salem is constructing $46 million in upgrades at the Geren Island water treatment facility to…
To increase diversity in the city’s workforce, Salem will create new position, committee
The city of Salem wants its workforce to look more like the city’s population. Salem is taking a two-pronged approach to accomplishing this task. Internally, a staff committee is looking at diversity, equity and inclusion in its hiring and contracting practices. Last week, the Salem…
Throughout the pandemic, the Latino Business Alliance in Salem kept its focus on connections
A pre-pandemic Café Y Pan Dulce, a monthly networking event hosted by the Latino Business Alliance that will resume in May 2021. (Courtesy/Latino Business Alliance) Jose Gonzalez recalled how during the Great Recession of 2008 he and a handful of other business people in Salem’s…
COLUMN: Do official numbers really reflect the Salem area’s economic recovery?
A graph showing employment changes in the Salem area through the last two recessions. (Source: Oregon Employment Department) The most recent Salem area employment report from the Oregon Employment Department provides a snapshot of a full year of the area’s pandemic economy, from March 2020…
Budget committee recommends body-worn cameras for Salem police
A Salem police car. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) The Salem Police Department is one step closer to having body-worn cameras for its officers. On Wednesday night, the Salem Budget Committee unanimously voted to include a body-worn and dash camera program in the city budget with the…
Salem Budget Committee recommends funding for mobile unit to respond to crisis calls
Brenton Gicker, left, prepares to pull CAHOOTS van toward a 911 call at Eugene Public Library. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter) The Salem Budget Committee Wednesday evening unanimously voted to set aside $135,000 for a mobile response unit that would send a crisis worker and EMT to…