The Chicken Vote--We Lose (for now)--And Janet Taylor's Rumored Deals

Salem's City Council did exactly the wrong thing by voting against chickens in Salem. The winning arguments seemed to be about noise, cleanliness and fights between neighbors, but I have had the feeling through this struggle that the real issues are about redefining Salem as a certain kind of urban center and drawing a class line between people who need to save money for food and those that don't (yet) need to do so.

The vote might have been easier to take if Salem were not being remade before our eyes. Most downtown construction seems to be for a non-existant or barely-existant upwardly-mobile sector with money or credit handy. Meanwhile, parts of West Salem and areas in the northeast and east of Lancaster look increasingly crowded and poor. South Salem east of Commercial presses increasingly into rural land and fills it with manufactured home parks, cheaply built housing and unused retail and office space. All of this happens while jobs disappear and as Salem has plenty of already-existing empty homes and business space. Development here has smoke, mirrors and decks of precariously stacked cards built into its planning.

The development of the Riverfront Park and the placement of the crosswalk where it is on State Street has helped the downtown area. It gives people an incentive to walk and enjoy our surroundings and provides an opportunity for small and people-friendly businesses to survive. This area and the area around the Salem Cinema are two bright spots in downtown Salem.

Rumor has it that Janet Taylor is working to move the State Street crosswalk down to the Commercial Street corner in order to benefit her real estate and business holdings wrapped up in what will replace the old mill. The story is that federal law allows only so many such crosswalks in a given area and that Taylor wants easy access to the new site. If this is true--and it may or may not be--Taylor's influence is suspect and her commercial interests are at great odds with the park and with already existing businesses which benefit the community. Also, moving the crosswalk will put pressure on the bar, liquor store and auto detailing shop on the block north of Commercial to close.

The no-chickens vote fits into a broader vision for Salem which makes less room for people and human interaction and more room for commercial interests and particular forms of development for quick profit.