Your Tuesday evening update on Salem news
Good evening, Salem.
Few topics have generated as much controversy in Salem of late as the shift to paid parking downtown. For some people, it’s a long overdue shift to something many other cities have done for years. For others, it’s one more expense they can’t afford or a reason to skip downtown all together.
Reporter Joe Siess set out to assess how the shift was going, looking at city data for the first month. One thing is clear: paid parking isn’t causing people to avoid downtown. Instead, it’s bringing in far more money for the city than budgeted, with $228,000 coming in the first month.
But some of the data we hoped to include isn’t in our report. That’s because efforts over weeks to pry loose contracts for the city’s parking system and other points, including parking ticket revenue, have been stymied. In some cases, we couldn’t get clear answers to straightforward questions about costs or contract terms. In others, city officials redacted portions of contracts.
Those efforts are included in our story below – and we’ll keep pushing. Subscribers like you make it possible for our journalists to pursue these sorts of details on behalf of the public. Thank you for being part of our team.
Here’s some of today’s news. Head to our website anytime for the latest Salem news.
www.salemreporter.com
The first month of downtown Salem’s new paid parking program brought in around double what city officials expected, and nearly as much as an annual parking tax on downtown businesses…
www.salemreporter.com
Several dozen people packed a Marion County hearing room Wednesday to protest the county’s lawsuit seeking a court ruling on whether it can share information about people on parole with…
www.salemreporter.com
Pentacle Theatre’s upcoming season will bring twists and turns, laughs and romance to the Salem stage, with a lineup that includes ”Catch Me if You Can,” “Rumors” and “Something Rotten!”
www.salemreporter.com
Mark Wardell, the leader of West Salem’s Community Emergency Response Team, walks step-by-step through his family guide for preparing for an emergency.
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