The Salem City Council is moving forward with a plan to ban sitting and lying on public sidewalks — with provisions. Councilor Cara Kaser made a motion to go ahead with the ban on Monday, Feb. 24, with a stipulation that it wouldn’t go into effect until an indoor or[Read More…]

Mayor Chuck Bennett responds to questions from the a crowd of neighbors at Pringle Community Hall. The city scrapped plans to turn the hall into an emergency homeless shelter last month. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter) Each day Mayor Chuck Bennett opens his electronic inbox to a half dozen emails from downtown[Read More…]

The Salem Public Library’s new location on Northeast Broadway St. was full two hours after it first opened on Tuesday, Feb. 18. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) After a brief hiatus, the Salem Public Library re-opened its doors at its temporary location on 1400 Broadway St. N.E. Tuesday. When the library opened[Read More…]

Salem wants to make it easier to build apartments and other multifamily homes. Changes aimed at accomplishing that were announced last year, and the Salem City Council is expected to vote on them later this month. “The main goal is to help Salem meet its housing needs broadly,” said City[Read More…]

Delivering the annual state of the city address on Wednesday, Mayor Chuck Bennett focused on one major issue facing Salem: homelessness. “Overriding every other issue was homelessness and its impact on our city,” Bennett said, citing a citywide survey last year that found homelessness was at the top of Salem[Read More…]

The Salem Public Library reopens at its Broadway location on Feb. 18. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) Correction: The meeting will be held at the library’s new location on 1400 Broadway St. N.E. A previous version misstated that. The Salem Public Library Advisory Board meets Wednesday, Feb. 12 to discuss public art[Read More…]

Salem city officials have been grappling with how to deal with the persistent, visible homeless problem downtown. They scrapped ideas to locate a shelter in a residential neighborhood, couldn’t find a suitable location for a temporary, low -barrier shelter and most recently flirted with the idea of partially repealing the[Read More…]

A homeless woman walks in front of a city of Salem public works vehicle during an eviction of a camp under the Marion Street Bridge in January. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter) Stuck with few immediate solutions to homelessness, Salem city councilors on Monday night will consider again repealing portions of the[Read More…]

City Manager Steve Powers responds to questions from the a crowd of neighbors in January at Pringle Community Hall. The city later scrubbed plans to turn the hall into an emergency homeless shelter through the end of March. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) The pressure to deal with downtown homeless camps in[Read More…]

Tents line the boulevard next to The ARCHES Project in November. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter) It’s been six weeks week since Salem banned camping on public property and Salem City Council is no closer to finding a dry place to sleep for the people who have taken up residence downtown. On[Read More…]