Neighborhood Improvement Advisory Council
City of Salem
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Meeting Minutes
Thursday, March 20, 2008
7:00 pm
Members In Attendance: Meg Twohey, Polly Wilbert, Patricia Zaido, Michael Coleman, Leslie Limon, Jim Moskovis, Mickey Northcutt, Stan Franzeen
Members Not In Attendance: Lucy Corchado (excused due to a conflict)
City Staff: Harry Rocheville, Jason Silva, Tom Watkins
Public: Bob McCarthy
Introduction
Each member of the Neighborhood Improvement Advisory Council (NIAC) introduced themselves and the neighborhood group they represent. Jason stated that there are two reasons why the Mayor had reinstated the NIAC. They are:
1. That the NIAC serve as a vehicle for quality of life issues, and
2. That the NIAC would improve upon and increase communication between neighborhood groups and City Officials.
Meg had stated that when NIAC was first created, department heads would attend their meetings to discuss and address neighborhood concerns and that the meetings were open to all people. Jason stated that this and future meetings will be publicly posted and that this group will be subject to the Open Meeting Law. Polly stated that she would like to “test drive” this group and invite department heads to meetings as problems arise.
Each member of the group briefly discussed their top neighborhood concerns:
Meg Twohey (Federal Street Neighborhood Assoc.)
1. Court House Project – traffic impacts, design and construction of the building
2. Zoning – restrictions and guidelines of the North River Canal Corridor
3. Crime – Flint Street and Boston Street
Michael Coleman (Salem Common Neighborhood Association)
1. Halloween impacts
2. Graffiti – i.e. recent Peabody Essex Museum incident
3. Traffic – speed and use of side streets as cut-thrus
Leslie Limon (Northfields)
1. Zoning – North River Canal Corridor, balancing development and blight
2. North Street Traffic – how the new traffic lights will correlate with new construction
3. Crime
Jim Moskovis (Gallows Hill/Ward 4 Neighborhood Group)
1. Enforcement issues within the Building and Licensing Departments
2. Building Code violations – illegal apartments and density issues
Mickey NorthCutt (Downtown Neighborhood Assoc.)
1. Cleanliness – Pedestrian Mall and Derby Street, graffiti
2. Redevelopment – Old Town Hall, Salem Marketplace
3. Impact of tourism during Halloween in the downtown and in and around the Common
Patricia Zaido (Chestnut Street Neighborhood Associates)
1. Traffic – Speeding on Chestnut Street….more children now living there
2. Hamilton Street- need of a “No Right Turn” sign
Polly Wilbert (South Salem Neighborhood Assoc.)
1. Traffic impacts from Salem State College, need of crossing guards
2. Proper disposal of analog television sets come February of 2009
3. Crime – theory that foreclosures are leading to arson
Stan Franzeen (Historic Derby Street Neighborhood Assoc.)
1. Community Preservation Act – would like to see it again on the November ballot
2. Power Plant
3. Szetela Lane Parcel
4. Intersection of Congress and Derby Streets
5. Traffic/speeding on Derby Street – people taking a left turn onto Derby leaving the parking lot of the House of Seven Gables (need better signage to address this)
Jason stated that the City has a new Traffic Detail Program which can work to address all neighborhood traffic issues. He also announced that the City has money that will be put towards the purchase of mobile and stationary digital radar signs to help with speeding problems.
Trash, Recycling & Beautification Issues
It was announced that Clean Sweeps will begin on March 31st of this year. A draft RFP for the City’s curbside trash collection is being worked on, which will include cardboard recycling. Offenders of the City’s curbside trash collection (those who put out more than is allotted per the contract) should be brought to the attention of the Board of Health. The City is currently looking into alternatives for longer, more effective crosswalks. That way, City crews do not have to worry about repainting them every year. The Town of Danvers has these crosswalks. Pat Zaido will also check to see what the City of Boston is doing. Mickey asked about improving recycling efforts throughout the downtown, including creating a recycling center for the downtown. Jason
stated that there is a new Recycling Committee and will bring this to their attention.
NIAC Membership
The group would like to send a letter to City Councillors who may know of other neighborhood groups who are not represented yet on the NIAC. The group needs to figure out how to formulate public participation and who will be official voting members.
Future Meetings
The group decided to hold all future meetings on the first Thursday of the month at 7 pm in the conference room of 120 Washington Street.
Meeting Minutes recorded by Tom Watkins
Meeting adjourned at 8:15 pm
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