Newsletter Update - Early June & PRIDE
- Katelyn Holappa
- Jun 2
- 7 min read
Updated: Jun 3
Hi folks,
Welcome back to another iteration of the North Salem / Ward 6 Newsletter!
This week is a Council off-week (though there is plenty of Committee activity, fret not!) but it is also the start of Pride Month, and, if we're lucky, continually warm weather through the rest of the Summer season!
Happy Pride! Katelyn
Table of Contents
Council Subcommittee Updates
The council maintains five standing subcommittees on which different Councillors serve, in addition to a Committee of the Whole, which meet as needed to discuss business outside of the regular bi-weekly Council meetings.
I serve on OLLA, PHS&E, and C&ED, as well as the Committee of the Whole with all other Councillors. As a member of those committees I have "voting power" and count towards the quorum. More information about subcommittee assignments can be found here, on the city's website.
Administration and Finance (A&F):
Upcoming Meeting: Tuesday, June 2nd at 6:00 pm
Topic: Budget items & Capital Improvement Plans for Sustainability & Resiliency and Planning
Upcoming Meeting: Wednesday, June 3rd at 6:00 pm
Topic: Budget items & Capital Improvement Plans for Public Services
Upcoming Meeting: Monday, June 8th at 6:00 pm
Topic: Budget items & Capital Improvement Plans for the Council on Aging and Recreation & Community Services
Upcoming Meeting: Tuesday, June 9th at 6:00 pm
Topic: Budget items & Capital Improvement Plans for Finance (Collector, Assessor, Purchasing, Treasurer, Finance)
Upcoming Meeting: Wednesday, June 10th at 6:00 pm
Topic: Budget items for Salem Public Schools, Capital Improvement Plans, and various appropriations
Government Services:
Topic: Reviewing and discuss the updated language in the Home Rule Petition for Ranked
Choice Voting.
Ordinances, Licenses and Legal Affairs (OLLA):
Topic: Discussing Ordinance for Water Rates, Ordinance for Sewer Rates, Ordinance
for Trash Fees and any other Ordinance changes. This is in conjunction with other FY 27 Budget items.
Potential Changes in the Neighborhood
Recent & Upcoming DPS Activity in North Salem:
Storm cleanup, city-wide & at Greenlawn Cemetery
Several streets with known (based on SeeClickFix), large potholes will be addressed in the coming weeks. At time of writing, I have verified that these have not yet been addressed & I will continue to work with our Department of Public Services to make sure that this work is scheduled & completed.
Felt St.
Dearborn St.
Manning St.
Tremont St.
Flint St.
Oakland St.
Don't see your adopted pothole on this list? Let me know, and please send me the SeeClickFix ticket too (bonus points if there are multiple tickets!)
Have You Had Brown Water Lately?
Seasonal hydrant flushing in North Salem should now be complete, but DPS is moving on to flushing in Salem Neck & Bridge St Neck. Along with hydrant replacement work on Commercial St, please continue to expect lapses in water quality over the coming week.
I know folks are frustrated with reoccurring issues over the last few weeks and there are 2 things I hope you (yes, you!) take away from this:
This is not directly caused by additional housing developments; that is misinformation, and in fact, new housing can actually help improve water quality.
We have excess capacity at every step of the process from the treatment facilities on Wenham Lake operated by the Salem and Beverly Water Supply Board, to the main lines coming into the city, to the lines running into your neighborhood. They are, however, old.
The true connection to housing development is this: When large, new housing is built in Salem, the developers are very often the ones footing the bill to upgrade the aging infrastructure in the surrounding area. This is doubly true around the North River (and the entire Coastal Resiliency Overlay District, or C-ROD) where developers are also on the hook for adding storm water retention infrastructure to help address flooding. You don't have to look far to see the evidence of this, and for me, its literally right outside my window on Grove Street. While I certainly have opinions on the aesthetics (and expansion of car & parking infrastructure) of much of the new housing going up in around Salem, you can see the evidence of the infrastructure improvements on the roads... because they rarely ever put the road back in quite the way they found it! (If you think you notice potholes in a car, let me tell you, you REALLY notice them on a bike!!)
There are absolutely issues and legitimate concerns about our water infrastructure. Like many things in Salem, its old, and in a perfect world our predecessors should have, frankly, charged higher taxes to take better care of it. We can't change the past, but we can effect the future. There will be a public event on June 15th at the Community Life Center where folks are welcome to come and learn about our water infrastructure and ask questions from local officials & experts. There is a flyer in the section below with details. Please extend a thank you to Councillors Flynn (W4) and King (W5) for their work to coordinate this event!
New Striping for Intersection at Tremont St & School St coming Soon™:
I have been informed by the Transportation Director that the pilot for a new striping plan at the intersection of Tremont Street and School Street is in the final planning stages and an implementation date will be announced soon.
A version of the plan can be seen below, but please understand that there may be some changes during the final planning. For example, I've requested that pedestrian crossing safety be more closely looked at for folks looking to cross School Street towards the Market. It is important to me that pedestrians be protected with a physical barrier, as no curb changes will be performed at this phase of the project, and people looking to cross at this area will be standing in the middle of an intersection with just tape & flex posts.
For a review of the saga on this project so far, please feel welcome to click here. As for what's next after this goes live, frankly, I'm not sure right now. This has been a long time coming, but its important for me to try to balance the efficiency & effectiveness - that is to say, I don't want to delay this first step by demanding the answers to too many questions. Questions like, "How long will it stay like this?", "What does success look like and how will we quantify that?", "What comes after this?". To be clear there may be great answers to these that I just haven't heard yet. P{lease feel welcome to send me any that come to mind for you! I will stay on top of this project & provide updates as they are available.
A Beautiful, New Mural in a Place that Shouldn't Exist Anymore:
Over the next coming weeks, international artist Helen 'Hells' Gibson will be painting a large-scale mural on the retaining wall of the North Street onramp, going along Bride Street and the MBTA property. This mural is part of a larger project, "Flowers in 50 States" that Hells has recently started that will create a mural in each of our nation’s 50 states representing that state's flower. More information on the project can be found here.
There are no planned closures to impact pedestrian, vehicle, or other travel modes in the area.
I'm grateful to the artist, the Mayor, and the Public Art Commission for approving this beautiful piece, and I'm looking forward to this artwork adding a bit more humanity, and color to our Ward's biggest eyesore.
That overpass, frankly, sucks. I'll have to do an entire post about it sometime soon, as this is supposed to be a note about the mural... but I can't help myself, especially given the ongoing MassDOT maintenance work & abutting project pipeline. The TL;DR is this: That overpass never should have been built in the 50s and we certainly shouldn't be investing in it now as it is beyond its useful life. We're being told we need is this specific overpass, and that we must live with the horrible traffic that it is responsible for from North St all the way down to Riley Plaza. This is a once-in-a-generation chance to make our downtown safer, more walk-able, quieter, and yeah, affordable.
MassDOT is spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to hold this thing together when we're also struggling to afford busses and trains and bike infrastructure and the Skipper program... but there's always enough money to rebuild a bridge for a state highway or add more lanes, even if the community doesn't want it. If we want to make a meaningful impact to reduce greenhouse gases, if we want to actually be able to build affordable housing, if we really care about equity and helping working class families... then our government needs to spend more on non-car transit. The good news is that we (society) have the money, we're just spending it in really inefficient ways.
What better place to invest in alternate transit than the busiest MBTA Commuter Rail station outside of Boston (that's right, more than Providence, RI!) in a city with >3 million annual visitors, in the densest region in the state outside Greater Boston, and no immediate highway connection? That last point I'm eternally grateful for by the way. Anyway, we could have a regional transit hub, a central point for commuters, visitors, and people just looking to get groceries or see their doctor. The South Salem MBTA Station project is cool, and it will definitely help some people, some of the time, but it really doesn't do much good when you aren't commuting to work, which is like, 80% of the trips people take.
I think that maybe went beyond a TL;DR... well, thanks coming to my Ted Talk! I always get so excited about this topic so feel welcome to chat with me about it any time.
Upcoming Events & Activities
Volunteer at Mack Park Farm:
Stay tuned for a dedicated Newsletter edition on Mack Park Farm, but in the meantime consider signing up for one of several volunteer options this week by clicking here.
Pride Events In/Around Salem:
There are literally too many for me to include all of, here. Social media is your friend with these, as it often is with event sharing. I'll likely share a few specific ones on Instagram as they get closer. Special shout out to our local drag performers, the Home Town Queeros! Please consider supporting them, especially during Pride Month!!
Flyers for Upcoming Events:
See below, including the flyer for my standing office hours at Konna every Tuesday morning! Please feel welcome to stop by and say hello, share issues or concerns, and support a local North Salem business and gathering place.
