Salem Main Street Association

There's some great news in the May issue of the Salem Cherry Pits free newsletter (previously known as Downtown Cherry Pits; see here and here for past issues). There's an effort underway to form a real downtown association. Currently several groups claim to represent downtown, notably the Salem Main Street Association.  But as I've written about several times, that association -- referred to in Salem Cherry Pits as the Salem Lame Street Association  -- in no way represents downtown businesses and property owners. See: Salem Main Street Association is a failureHere's some problems with the Salem Main Street Association The…

It's been almost exactly a year since the Salem Main Street Association kicked-off with high expectations, albeit with some valid worries, as I wrote about in "New Salem Main Street Association debuts with questions and concerns." These related to (1) secrecy, (2) use of Parking Budget funds, (3) managing of funds related to downtown Salem, and (4) current board members/leadership. About six months later, with essentially zero Main Street Association accomplishments to their credit, I discussed the City Council giving the group a $32,000 grant in "Here's why Salem needs a genuine downtown association." In that post I noted: Some…

In April 2017 I wrote a blog post called "New Salem Main Street Association debuts with questions and concerns." Nine months later, those questions and concerns remain.  First, it's peculiar that this group remains so secretive, since the kickoff event had some lofty goals: (1) Advocates for downtown Salem businesses, property owners and residents(2) Implements marketing and promotion of downtown Salem (3) Manages funds related to the economic vitality of downtown Salem Yet the Salem Main Street Association still doesn't have a web site, aside from the one above. The small print says, "We're under construction. Please check back for an…