Thursday, June 14, 2007
The remarks will go into the city’s comprehensive plan.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM — Is Salem City Hall a bit foreboding?
That’s one of the first impressions about the city in a mostly positive review of Salem.
Members of the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce heard impressions Wednesday from a delegation from Norwalk, a similarly sized community in Huron County in north central Ohio.
Dale Sheppard, Norwalk’s safety service director, said he walked into city hall and found it “a dark and scary place.”
The good news is that Sheppard found a city worker who provided all sorts of information that he wanted.
But he also had a point: The main entrance to city hall is dark. The main offices are on the second floor and the door to the mayor’s office was closed. Sheppard said team members couldn’t find the elevator, which is at the rear of city hall.
Sheppard said of city hall, “It was not welcoming to any citizen or any of us. It didn’t seem like there was an open door policy. There was no central reception area.”
Good and bad
The Norwalk team visited in April 2006. Team members found much they liked: the variety of shops, the Salem Branch of the Butler Institute of American Art, the revitalized downtown and the sense of vitality.
Melissa James of the Norwalk Chamber of Commerce said she liked the way tractor-trailers are kept moving through the city on State Street, the major east-west road. But some of the sidewalks that have red bricks, some engraved with names, are dirty.
The team found only one welcome sign on a road leading into the city. There were also no signs directing people to parking lots.
The team also pointed out that there’s no sign in Salem pointing to the Salem Campus of Kent State University, south of the city.
Zoning issues
Jim Weidenheft of the Huron County Development Council pointed out zoning enforcement issues, including an old house that has been partially restored and is partly crumbling. The house is across the street from city hall. A building — across another street from city hall — has bare wood frames on an outside wall.
Daniel T. Moore of Salem said the comments will go into the city’s planning process. The chamber expects to complete its comprehensive plan this fall. The plan could help guide the city for 50 years.
“There are things we forget about,” Moore said. “We forget our own assets.”
A team from Salem will evaluate Norwalk later this year.
wilkinson@vindy.com