Salem City News: Dirt Bikes on the Common, Bus Cameras and a Pride License

WITCH NOTES

Witch Notes is From Witch City's plain-English guide to what's happening at Salem City Hall. Same rule as last week: boards post an agenda before a meeting and the minutes weeks later. So for most items below we know what's on the table, not how it came out. I say which is which.

THE BIG ONE

Dirt bikes, e-bikes and mopeds on the Common go to the Council.

The City Council's Public Health, Safety and Environment committee, meeting with the full Council as a Committee of the Whole, will discuss motorcycles, dirt bikes, electric bicycles, electric motorcycles, ATVs and mopeds on city streets, sidewalks, Salem Common and other public property, "including related safety, enforcement, and ordinance considerations." The posting doesn't include a draft rule, so this is a discussion, not a vote. It's in person, and it airs on Salem Access Television.

Thu Nov 19 · 6 PM · City Council Chambers, 93 Washington St, 2nd floor

Cameras on school buses, and no smart glasses in class. Monday's School Committee agenda has a first reading of a policy banning smart glasses and other wearable recording devices, plus an update on cameras that catch drivers passing a stopped school bus. The committee's Oct 19 draft minutes, in the packet, say a late-2024 pilot in Salem recorded 3,371 suspected violations. Under state law, a police officer has to review each one before a civil fine goes out: $250 for a first offense, up to $2,000 for repeat ones. Members raised concerns about privacy, surveillance and police workload, and the district now wants a special meeting on it and a test of a crossing gate on one bus. The superintendent will also update the committee on school resource officers. Mon Nov 9, 7 PM, 29 Highland Ave, Room 227. School Committee agenda and packet

A vote against a charter school expansion. At the same meeting, the School Committee votes on a resolution opposing Pioneer Charter School of Science II's request to grow by 366 seats, to 1,224, and to add pre-kindergarten. The resolution says charter schools will cost Salem Public Schools more than $8.3 million this year after state reimbursement. The state education department, not the city, decides on the expansion. The resolution asks it to weigh the committee's position. School Committee agenda and packet

A Pride liquor license for 40,000 people on the Common. North Shore Pride has applied to the Licensing Board for a one-day liquor license on Salem Common for Saturday, June 26, 2027, 11 AM to 5 PM, for about 40,000 people. Also on the agenda: Maitland Farm Kitchen & Spirits, 84-86 Derby St, wants its seasonal all-alcohol license made year-round, and The Windward Inn, 19 Washington Square North, has applied for a lodging house license. Mon Nov 9, 6 PM, remote. Licensing Board agenda

The Margin Street shelter cleared design review. Last week's big one, 53 affordable homes and a 70-bed shelter on Margin and Endicott streets, got a 6-0 approval from the Design Review Board on Oct 28. Its members still want the corner building's trim and colors worked out with the Planning Board. The minutes say it was the project's last stop at that board, and the developers said they hoped for Planning Board approval within a week and would then wait on funding. The Planning Board took it up Thursday, along with the ferry terminal on Blaney Street and the Puleo's Dairy car wash. Those minutes aren't posted yet, so we don't know how any of the three went. The car wash's design review was continued on Oct 28. Design Review Board minutes

Halloween damage at the cemeteries. Tuesday's Cemetery Commission agenda has a post-Halloween security report covering damage and reported trespassing, plus trespassing at Broad Street Cemetery and a ribbon cutting for the restored chapel at Greenlawn Cemetery. Tue Nov 10, 6 PM, in person at the Levesque Community Life Center, 401 Bridge St. Cemetery Commission agenda

Salem's Housing Authority may run Newburyport's. The Salem Housing Authority board held a special meeting Thursday to vote on an emergency agreement to manage the Newburyport Housing Authority for three months, with up to two 45-day extensions. The agreement needs the state housing office's approval before it starts. The outcome isn't posted. Housing Authority agenda

Mon Nov 9, 6 PM, City Council Chambers. The Council meets as a Committee of the Whole to review its own rules and standing committees. Agenda

Mon Nov 9. School Committee at 7 and Licensing Board at 6, above.

Tue Nov 10, 6 PM, remote. Community Preservation Committee: a vote to release the draft FY27 Community Preservation Plan for public comment. Agenda

Tue Nov 10, 7 PM, City Hall Annex, 98 Washington St. Board of Health: an update on a draft bodywork regulation. Agenda

Wed Nov 11. Veterans Day. City Hall is closed.

Thu Nov 12, 6 PM, City Council Chambers. The Council's finance committee takes up the Salem Skipper rideshare and its contract with Via. Agenda The regular Council meeting is at 7, and its agenda isn't posted yet.

Wed Nov 18, 6 PM, remote. Historical Commission: requests to skip the demolition delay for buildings at 33 Walter St and 145 Boston St, and to take down more than half the front of a house on Manning Street. Agenda

Thu Nov 19, 6 PM, City Council Chambers. Motorized bikes on streets, sidewalks and the Common, above. The Planning Board also continued the Salem Inn's 16-room hotel plan for 11 Summer St to Nov 19.

Thu Dec 3, 6 PM, City Council Chambers. The proposed yearly fee on short-term rentals to fund homelessness prevention and shelter. Agenda

Every board's agendas and minutes are at salemma.gov/AgendaCenter.

If you show up, tell them you heard it from From Witch City.

THE DINNER CLUB

The next table is Tuesday, January 12.

Six people, one table, matched by a short quiz. You find out the restaurant that morning. Get on the list.