Downtown streets were unusually empty as the pandemic took hold last year. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) Over $4 million is on its way to over 200 Marion County landlords and businesses to help cover rent that’s gone unpaid because of the pandemic. The grants are the first round of payments from[Read More…]
ECONOMY
Salem venues hopeful that new federal program will keep them afloat
The Elsinore Theatre, in downtown Salem on Monday, Nov. 23. Because of the pandemic, the theatre remains quiet. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Loretta Miles, the owner of Salem Cinema, had high hopes for a new program aimed at struggling venues like hers before it was even approved by Congress. The pandemic[Read More…]
Salem needs more housing. But the building industry has its own problems
Pat Laverty works on a home build on Vine Maple Street Southeast on Thursday, April 8, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) At a construction site in south Salem, the work gets more expensive by the day. As the buzz of electric saws rings in the background, Dan Dorn, the president of[Read More…]
With the Great Junk Hunt, things start to return to normal at the Oregon State Fairgrounds
A sign for The Great Junk Hunt at the Oregon State Fairgrounds on Thursday, April 8, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Since the pandemic began, the Oregon State Fairgrounds has been used as a temporary hospital, Covid testing site, temporary shelter for homeless people and wildfire evacuees, as well[Read More…]
COLUMN: Is a low wage a living wage in Marion County?
Downtown Salem’s usually busy streets were nearly empty during the lunch hour on March 17, 2020, the first day of a statewide restaurant closure (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Many burdens of the pandemic economy have fallen largely on the lowest-paid workers in the lowest-paying industries in the Salem area, Oregon and[Read More…]
Salem has large pockets of residents behind on utilities. New programs offer relief
Patience and social distancing are two requirements for cashing in bottles and cans at Salem’s BottleDrop centers. Customers cash in at the center on Northeast Commercial Street on Friday, May 1. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Central and northeast Salem has more residents struggling to pay their electricity bills than other areas[Read More…]
With low inventory and high demand, Salem’s housing market tightens
Gladys Blum, Blum Real Estate principal broker, puts a ‘sale pending’ banner on a real estate sign on Wednesday, March 24. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) With his wife and two kids cooped up during the pandemic, Derrick McIntosh’s two-bedroom south Salem apartment had become a “walkway” with almost no open space. [Read More…]
SALEM ECONOMIC INDEX: Problems in the housing and labor market, but good news elsewhere
Handyman Jason Beals runs new computer cable at Cheers, a sports bar at 3404 Commercial St. S.E. in Salem as the business prepares on Thursday, May 14, 2020, to meet new requirements for video poker operations. Salem-area restaurants and bars remain on hold for providing sit-down service for at least[Read More…]
Adapting to pandemic’s disruption, Q’s Corner Barbershop remains a community hub in Salem
Quandray Robertson, owner of Q’s Corner Barbershop, poses for a portrait in the attached boxing gym on Friday, March 12, 2020. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) A year ago, Quandray Robertson was left with a big empty space he didn’t know what to do with. Before the Covid pandemic rearranged daily life,[Read More…]
Salem Cinema reopens again. But other movie theaters remain dark
Salem Cinema will have reduced seating capacity going forward due to social distancing. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Loretta Miles looks back at the reopening of Salem Cinema last fall as a “dress rehearsal.” Miles, who has owned the arthouse theater since 1990, will open again to the public on Friday, March[Read More…]
