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Candidates propose different approaches to tourism, parking and downtown quality‑of‑life
Summary
At a Ward 1 forum, candidates debated how to manage tourism pressure on Salem’s downtown: one candidate proposed spreading visitors and increasing parking fees to fund services while the incumbent urged tighter vendor and tour‑guide rules and more resident protections.
Tourism, parking and downtown quality‑of‑life were recurring themes at the Ward 1 forum as candidates described the costs and benefits of visitor traffic for long‑term residents and small businesses.
Challenger Erin Turovski said the downtown core concentrates visitors and recommended encouraging tourists to spread across other commercial areas so economic gains reach more businesses. “Continuing to encourage tourists to visit other places … will not only help relieve people’s frustration … but also distribute the tourism revenue to many businesses in the city,” she said. Turovski recommended higher parking fees for visitors, discounts for residents or people with medical or employment needs, and using the app‑based parking system to administer resident discounts.
Incumbent Cindy Jerzyk said the city gets complaints about tour groups blocking sidewalks and said she has asked the License, Ordinance and Legal Affairs committee to review tour‑guide fees and group sizes. Jerzyk said the city’s Halloween revenue is modest compared with cleanup and overtime costs for public safety and sanitation — “Salem makes about $70,000 a year for Halloween,” she said — and she described trying to raise vendor fees within the licensing committee, an effort she said was voted down by colleagues.
On trash and parks, Jerzyk and Turovski both described neighborhood cleanups and the need for more animal‑proof cans, refillable water stations and enforcement of single‑use plastics bans. Turovski noted that overflowing bins and lack of refill stations encourage single‑use bottles and said neighborhood ownership and volunteer cleanups help but municipal pickup and receptacle capacity must match visitor volumes.
The candidates also discussed parking registration challenges for older residents and the city’s recent removal of minimum parking requirements for multifamily units (Jerzyk said she voted against that change and unsuccessfully proposed one parking space per unit). Both candidates said parking remains a major constituent concern and that the city needs state‑of‑the‑art communication with residents about resident passes and parking rules.
