The Salem City Council closed its hearing on the Haunted Warren Museum on Thursday, March 26 by granting the Essex Street attraction hours of 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 6 a.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, on a 90-day trial from its certificate of occupancy, with a check-in on September 10. The owner had asked for 2 a.m. closings seven days a week. Ward 7 Councillor Andrew Varela’s amendment for midnight on weeknights and 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays failed 3 to 8, with Varela, Councillor-at-Large Kyle Davis and Ward 6 Councillor Katelyn Holappa in favor. Ward 2 Councillor Andrew Smith said the hours were “within what residents can stomach” and that if the neighborhood found no nuisance the council would at least talk about extending them, “not a promise, but a guarantee that we will at least talk about it.” The council revisited the hours on April 9 to conform them to the ordinance.
October parking
The council adopted the parking rates for the 2026 Haunted Happenings season, Saturdays and Sundays from October 1 to 31, with free parking for Salem residents who register on the Passport parking app:
- $7 an hour on Washington Street from Essex to Federal and on the metered part of Federal Street from St. Peter Street to North Street, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and in the Front Street, Klopp Alley and Washington Street lots.
- $5 an hour in 22 spaces beside the North Street bridge at 4 Franklin Street and 11 spaces at Green Trail by the Leslie’s Retreat dog park, noon to 6 p.m.
- $1 an hour on Canal Street and on the east side of Margin Street from Endicott Street to the police station driveway, noon to 6 p.m.
- $40 a day in the Crombie Street, Old Salem Jail, Salem Green and Church Street East and West lots.
- $20 for up to two hours and $50 beyond that in the Museum Place and South Harbor garages on October weekends, Indigenous Peoples Day and Halloween, with the higher rate starting at 3 p.m. when Halloween falls on a weekday.
Ward 5 Councillor Lydia King said residents need to know how to register for the free parking; Smith said the benefit is only as good as a working app. Ward 1 Councillor Erin Turowski said the Transportation Commission sets the rates. A rewrite of the October resident-only parking rules, which run from September 15 to November 1, received first passage and went to committee; parking rates and a meter zone for Congress Street went to committee and were denied on April 9.
Immigration ordinance final
Mayor Dominick Pangallo’s amendments to the ordinance on city services related to immigration status, which remove a police exemption and extend the ordinance’s protections to all people in Salem, received second and final passage.
Also at the meeting
- On Davis’s order, the Committee on Public Health, Safety and Environment will review the camping ordinance and get an update from the police department. That review took place in September.
- Davis’s living wage ordinance for city employees stayed in committee; Varela said department heads had attended and the mayor’s input was needed.
- A home rule petition from Kathleen Rocheville regarding a disability pension was denied on the committee’s recommendation after an executive session; Councillor-at-Large Conrad Prosniewski recused himself.
- $60,000 was appropriated for remediation at Mansell Field, and Davis’s resolution recognizing March as National Kidney Month passed 11 to 0.
- Katerina Thompson was appointed to the Food Policy Council and Lisa Lavoie confirmed to the Beautification Committee, both 11 to 0.
The minutes are here.
