Jeff Cohen for Salem Ward 5 Councillor

In 2021, I stressed that was not running to be important and my approach has and will continue to be to listen and learn and make decisions with the lens of equity and access.  Today, I’m announcing my campaign for re-election as Salem’s Ward 5 City Councillor.

My focus is on constituent services and it’s not enough to hear resident & business concerns and I hope all know they can reach out to me and I’ll do my best to resolve issues.  Am available to meet with residents and businesses most days/times where you are, where there’s a concern, by phone, text or email.  I view my job as a Councillor to serve all in the Ward.  I judge myself by my friends and have many in the Ward, but I hope to meet all the neighbors I’m not yet friends with. 

Salem is a great City and Ward 5 is diverse as any ward and that enriches us all and I don’t judge others by how long they’ve lived here or what their politics are.  However, we need to address the crises that we endure and will be exacerbated if we don’t act boldly, especially housing and climate.  

As a member of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board, I’ve teamed with others to develop a condo conversion regulation ordinance (waiting for our home rule petition to be approved by the Legislature), ready an inclusionary zoning ordinance and we’ve prioritized a rental registry as our rental stock is diminishing rapidly.  The working group I’m on has proposed a criteria process and application to spend the $1M allocated to us from ARPA funding.

Although we passed a green building ordinance for municipal properties, we need to update the codes for all other properties as ~50% of greenhouse gas emissions in Salem are from our built environment.  We’ll be considering a flood resiliency ordinance that will help with adaptation combined with the enhanced wetlands ordinance passed in 2022.  The home rule petition I submitted to Council that would enable us to be considered in the 10 community pilot program that allows communities to write ordinances preventing future fossil fuel installations is also waiting for Legislative approval.  There is a bill before the Legislature to allow larger communities and Environmental Justice ones, such as Salem, to proceed and I’ll be working with others to craft an ordinance appropriate for Salem.  We are already experiencing the effects of the changing climate and vulnerable, so important we do all we can locally.  I’ve also been working with Councillor Varela on projects such as Styrofoam and composting and we’re trying to change the paradigm that exists today;  currently we pay to remove trash and we need to have a sustainable model where we can reduce costs and even generate revenue – all the while making Salem greener.

I’ve been working with Councillor McClain on a wage theft ordinance and we’ve already met with many in advance of submitting to Council soon.  Wage theft has been a problem forever, but has been more prevalent during the last few years and those victimized are typically invisible and very vulnerable.  The ordinance will make sure that any company that wants tax benefit or to do business with the City has not violated state laws and will provide anonymous reporting so that City staff can escalate violations to the AG’s office.  Contractors and companies that play by the rules are also being adversely affected by wage theft and this will level the playing field.

It's about listening and learning from all residents, hard work & teamwork and standing up for those that need it most and making sure we’re not just neighbors, but friends. As Robert Kennedy said, “Some men see things as they are and ask why…I dream of things that never were and ask why not.”

 

As in 2021, my campaign will be a grassroots one and welcome all to participate. Thank you for

considering supporting my reelection campaign for Salem Ward 5 Councillor.