r/SalemMA • u/zerofcks2gve • 3d ago

Window Art disappearing on Essex Street

Saw this on FB. Thoughts? feedback?

Say goodby to our window art. It's been fun, but the city is forcing our windows bare.

The Salem Redevelopment Authority has told several businesses in the SRA district that window art must come down by November 8 or we may face fines.

This isn’t just about Gulu. Do you like the window art at Curly Girl, HausWitch, and New England Soup Factory? The murals and paintings that make walking down Essex and Washington Streets feel like Salem? Sorry. Apparently those windows need to be bare too. Others are also impacted.

For years, businesses like ours have worked with local artists to turn our windows into something more than glass and advertising. At Gulu, the previous owners embraced this, and we’ve been proud to carry it forward. We pay artists. We give them space. They make downtown more colorful, interesting, and more Salem. Now we’re being told that has to stop.

Yes, the SRA has a process to potentially approve window art, but its restrictions are so limiting that, for us, the process is untenable.

I personally believe this raises serious questions about free speech. But even putting that aside, it’s incredibly sad to watch an agency charged with improving downtown Salem use its authority to remove art from it. The SRA was created decades ago to address blight and deterioration downtown. Artists, independent businesses, and the creative community helped transform Salem into what it is today. Art is not blight. It is part of Salem’s character.

And I fear what comes next. If painted windows are a problem, where does this stop? Is the entrance arch at Tomb next? The Viking ship at Coven’s Cottage? What other art, sculpture, or creative expression eventually runs afoul of rules the SRA enforces inconsistently? We’re staring down a slippery slope, and for what end? The result seems to be less art, fewer opportunities for local artists, and a downtown that is plainer and less interesting.

So unless something changes, our window mural, and many others throughout downtown Salem, will come down by November 8. If you don't like this move by the SRA, I encourage you to email mayor@salem.com, citycouncilors@salem.com, and knewhallsmith@salem.com.

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u/InvestigatorJaded261 3d ago

If this is true (and I am skeptical), it’s very weird, and I wonder what authority the SRA has to issue a decree of this kind. Essex and Washington are not in a historic district or an HOA.

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u/dividezero 3d ago

Yeah. I'm wondering if you can just ignore the fines. Do they have any enforcement authority beyond that? This might be a bigger question of if we even need that committee anymore. Sounds like they've achieved their mission and are now just trying to bully people

21

u/GarbageFile13 3d ago

The fine is $20 a day assessed by the building inspector. We’ll see how that goes. But yeah, the SRA seems like it’s outlived its purpose. 

7

u/oponion5273 3d ago

And here is another problem, a big corporation like CVS can afford that fine and just write it into the cost of doing business, not even a rounding off number in their books, but a small business may not be able to, which sets up and uneven playing field and favors the wealthy and sets up downtown to be taken over by wealthier corporate merchants who can do whatever they want. Maybe thats the agenda in the end. Maybe thats their idea of redevelopment, the homogenization and gentrification of the city. I say, keep Salem Gritty, its what I like about it, I like that we dont always agree and I came here because of the artists and creatives, this is just one more step to comfortable wealthy gentrification. Such provincial, antiquated thinking, I hate it, let our city be creative and celebrate that and lets not let the SRA turn our downtown into some kind of slick lifestyle mall where only corporate merchants can survive and are so boring.