Friday, April 26, 2013
The Salem City Council has asked the city's Committee on Public Health, Safety and Environment to review the health risks associated with the use of gas-powered leaf blowers.
The debate over whether there are any real health-risks associated with the use of gas-powered leaf blowers has sparked debates in several North Shore communities. A proposed seasonal blower ban was narrowly defeated at Town Meeting in Marblehead last year. Now it appears as though the hot-button issue will once again be up for debate in the city of Salem. At their meeting at City Hall Thursday night, Salem city councillors approved a request from Ward 2 councilor Michael Sosnowski to have the Committee on Public Health, Safety and Environment review the health risks associated with leaf blowers. "We want to see examples from surrounding communities to see what they've done to try to address this issue and see what we can do," Sosnowski …
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Friday, April 12, 2013
The Salem City Council is still hammering out the details of a proposed mandatory recycling ordinance aimed at saving the city money.
More than a few Salem city councilors opted to use air quotes when referring to a proposed Mandatory Recycling Ordinance at City Hall Thursday night. Ward 1 Councilor Robert McCarthy said he hates the name and prefers to refer to the ordinance as "Recycling 102". "This is just second-level recycling education," McCarthy said, adding that concerned city residents need to understand that the priority of the ordinance is to encourage the public to recycle more - not to punish people or leave trash on the curb. After all, the ordinance has already been amended so that residents who don't put out a recycling bin will still have their trash picked up - and it would take seven consecutive weeks of not recycling before the first fine would be …
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Salem City Hall
93 Washington St, Salem, MA
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Friday, January 25, 2013
Salem's Health Agent discussed the city's pesky rat problem at Thursday night's City Council meeting.
City Council President Jerry Ryan may have said it best Thursday night when he joked that right now in Salem, "there are rats all over the place." And according to the city's Health Agent, Larry Ramdin, a larger rat population is a problem facing cities and towns across the Northeast - thanks in part to last year's unusually warm winter. Ramdin was on hand for the council's meeting at City Hall Thursday night to explain a recent request for a $1,500 boost in the Board of Health's rodent control budget. "There has been a significant increase in the rodent population throughout the Northeast and my research tells me as far west as Chicago," Ramdin said. In addition to baiting local storm drains, Ramdin said health department employees have …
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Salem City Hall
93 Washington St, Salem, MA
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Tuesday, January 8, 2013
After last week's debacle, will you be tuning in to tonight's Salem City Council meeting?
Sometime around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, when Salem city councilors were casting their 250th tie vote, the SATV feed covering the City Council meeting mercifully came to an end. The council will meet again tonight to revisit the topic of replacing Joan Lovely and though there's some speculation the decision will be made in short order - we're still telling our reporter Stewart Lytle to bring a snack and something to read. So, before the gavel sounds at 6 p.m., we want to know - will you be tuning in for tonight's meeting? Are you planning on attending? Did the outcome of last week's meeting make it more or less likely that you'll watch the second go-round? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Salem City Hall
93 Washington St, Salem, MA
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Monday, January 7, 2013
Salem City Council will gather tonight at City Hall to elect a council president.
When members of Salem City Council convene tonight at City Hall, it will be the first time the group has met since Thursday night, when councilors failed to select a replacement for Joan Lovely despite voting 300 times over a span of seven hours. With that kind of performance to follow, there's no telling how long tonight's meeting will last, considering councilors will be charged with electing a council president and several committee chairmen. Regardless of tonight's outcome, council members are scheduled to meet again Tuesday night to continue the debate over who will replace Lovely - Steven Pinto, Lucy Corchado or one of four other candidates. So, we have to ask - what do you expect from tonight's meeting? Will you be attending? Do you…
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Salem City Hall
93 Washington St, Salem, MA
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Practicality prevailed when Joe Ingemi and S. Steve Salvo vied for the corner office.
The early 1970's were a critical time in the history of modern Salem. Sam Zoll and Dick Guy faced off in the 1969 mayoral election. They were looking to succeed Francis X. Collins who had occupied the corner office at City Hall for twenty years. It was a true north Salem versus south Salem contest. When the smoke cleared Zoll stood as the winner. Zoll completed a two year term and stood for re-election in 1972 where he defeated a marginal candidate by the name of Morin. My memory of Morin presents a bear of a man with a bushy beard who would paddle from the beach at Derby's Wharf to Marblehead on a large truck tire inner tube. His bicycle would rest on his lap as he paddled. Once he hit Marblehead he would tie the inner tube to his bike …
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Salem City Hall
93 Washington St, Salem, MA
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Friday, January 4, 2013
Did the group's inability to replace Joan Lovely at a marathon City Council meeting Thursday night reflect poorly on the council?
If you were one of the Salem residents that tuned in to the SATV-feed of Thursday night's City Council meeting, you may have thought it was stuck on a continual loop. It wasn't. The 10-member council met until 2:30 a.m. and voted 300 times trying to appoint a successor to now state Sen. Joan Lovely, who until recently was president of the council. She resigned to move to the Senate, leaving a fractured council seemingly incapable of choosing her replacement. The council was deadlocked, five to five, between two candidates Steven Pinto and Lucy Corchado throughout the night. At 2:30 a.m., they voted seven to three to recess until Tuesday at 7 p.m. to try again to select the 11th member of the council. So, we have to ask: did city Salem …
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Salem City Hall
93 Washington St, Salem, MA
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Sunday, December 9, 2012
Salem City Council members revisited the laws governing the construction of large, dense projects.
The City Council voted Thursday to create a special subcommittee next year to consider how to rewrite the laws governing the construction of large, dense projects like the controversial Salem Oil & Grease and Salem Suede residential construction. Several councilors, who described themselves as "agitated" over the approval of these dense projects, took turns criticizing the interpretation that the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals have given to new rules governing the makeup of Planned Urban Districts. "We are not trying to intimidate the Planning Board. We want to tell them they are misinterpreting the law," said Ward 2 Councilor Michael Sosnowski. "I would just like to have seen them (Planning Board) say no to one project," …
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Salem City Hall
93 Washington St, Salem, MA
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Councilors officially said goodbye to longtime Salem City Councilor Joan Lovely Thursday night.
Council President Joan Lovely officially submitted her resignation from Salem City Council, where she has served for 15 years. She will be inaugurated in January as the new state Senator for the district. The council will hold a special meeting on Jan. 3 to consider candidates for the one year remaining on her term. Any Salem resident who wants to be considered for the appointment must submit a letter of interest to the City Clerk by Dec. 20. The councilors, many calling Lovely their mentor, took turns praising her personally and professionally. "You are an incredible leader," said Ward 2 Councilor Michael Sosnowski. "We did not always agree, but you were always a lovely person." Ward 6 Councilor Paul Prevey called Lovely not only a "…
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Salem City Hall
93 Washington St, Salem, MA
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Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Ward 4 City Councilor Jerry Ryan is hoping meals tax will help avoid imposing more taxes on local homeowners.
The Community Preservation Act was approved citywide earlier this month by about 1,500 votes. But in Ward 4, voters rejected it by about 400. So it should come as no surprise that Ward 4 City Councilor Jerry Ryan proposed that the city use the meals tax to pay the roughly $30 per household that the recently-approved tax would impose. Mayor Kimberly Driscoll has already said she plans to supplement the CPA tax revenues with meals tax revenues to ensure that Salem gets the maximum match from the CPA funds. At Thursday's City Council meeting, Ryan suggested that the city cover the entire 3 percent from the meals tax to avoid imposing more taxes on local homeowners. The issue was referred to a committee of the whole. What do you think of using…
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Salem City Hall
93 Washington St, Salem, MA
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adrienne
7:56 am on Saturday, April 27, 2013
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