The city is very good at creating regulations on so many things (snow removal, resident parking, littering, putting up stop signs, leashing dogs in parks). That's great.

But when it comes time to enforce these things, they fall short so many times. It's almost like they don't want to upset the violators. I've had 3 non-resident cars (and a commercial vehicle) parked on my street for years now...never a ticket.

Edit: ....I should have added, poor enforcement on most things except God forbid your trash bin lid is open! Now THAT will get you a violation sticker!!

Thank you for your feedback about snow removal. The City's Inspectional Services does their best to inspect sidewalks heavily utilized by pedestrians after major snow storms, however due to the limited number of personnel available to conduct inspections, the City often relies on the public to report specific locations where there are problems. Inspectors are then able to follow up and, if a violation is found, issue a citation to the property owner. The City's standard snow emergency notification typically includes a reminder to property owners about the need and requirement to clear snow from their adjacent sidewalks after the storm.

Thank you. Do I understand correctly that the proper procedure is to use SeeClickFix.com to report uncleared sidewalks? It seemed that this method did not always work in prior cases.

Mayor's Office,

If this were a small problem I would be fine with reporting on a case by case basis. However, this is an extremely widespread issue. Maybe the Mayor should try to walk the streets in downtown Salem. I never see her in public. She does represent the people of the city, correct? If you simply walk the red line you would find more than enough violations to cover the cost of having a office working overtime to issue citations to violators. You just need to make pedestrian safety a priority. I the city started ticketing offenders this problem would go away. Could you please state publicly- on this website- the total number of violations issued during the last two storms for failure to clear a public sidewalk?

Hi Peter, yes, you can report it via SeeClickFix or more directly by calling the Inspectional Services Department at (978) 745-9595 ext. 5641. Reported locations are inspected and, where a violation is found, a ticket is issued.

Why does this keep getting closed? This is completely absurd. If the City would prefer I can address this issue in a more public forum that it intended to deter tourism to the City of Salem. ADDRESS THIS PROBLEM OR I WILL MAKE IT A PROBLEM FOR YOU!!!!!

This service request was closed because the initial feedback was received and a response to the questions about notification of the requirement for snow removal was provided.

Game on!

I do not have the time to walk around the downtown area to report all violators. I thought that's what we paid you for. Would you like me to start reporting cars that are parked at expired meters too? The vastness of this problem shows the City doesn't care. You have a lot of people who also asked for this problem to be addressed. We want to know what you are doing about it. Post it publicly- on this site. Your answer should not just be for residents to call for each violation. This is FAR too big of a problem.