Manny Martinez

Housing The fairest way of doing this would be to have one managed camping site per ward. Each site could accommodate 75-100 people. I know there are many who will not like this idea, and will certainly not want a managed camping site in their neighborhood. But guess what, there is already UNMANAGED camping happening in our neighborhoods, and it has been an absolute disaster. Allowing camping to occur only in managed camping sites will allow the city to keep this situation under control while developing new shelter space. Housing While all of this is happening, we will need a short-term, TEMPORARY solution to address the unmanaged camping that exists throughout our city. After many conversations with local leaders, it seems that the only realistic and rational solution would be the creation of multiple managed camping sites. Housing The creation of new shelter space and managed camping sites should be the top priority moving forward. And once these are in motion, we must ENFORCE OUR BAN ON PUBLIC CAMPING. If we are to make the necessary investments and shift our priorities appropriately to address the homelessness emergency, then there is no logical or moral reason to allow unmanaged public camping to continue. Taxes / Budget If the city were to allow a company like this to have 4 digital billboards on city property, there is the potential for upwards of a million dollars a year that would go into our general fund. The billboard company would pay for everything. The cost of materials, upkeep, etc. They just want to be able to use city property. A million dollars a year. That could fund the return of our bicycle police patrol downtown. Or perhaps that money could be used for a 4-6 person assertive outreach team whose sole task is connecting unsheltered people to resources. Taxes / Budget Either way, it's a relatively fast way to raise considerable cash. All the funds collected from these sales should be put towards the creation of new shelter space, and fund additional addiction/recovery services, housing services, and hire more law enforcement. Some of these properties could also potentially be repurposed into new shelters and/or managed camping sites, as well as safe parking and RV/trailer parks. Taxes / Budget As your next city councilor, I would propose that we look through the city’s real estate portfolio and find anything at all that we could put up for sale. Any buildings or land that we are not using, or have no immediate plans for, should be liquidated as quickly as possible. I call it the 2027 SALEM YARD SALE. This would not only give us an immediate boost to our general fund, but it has the potential to create new tax revenue if any of these properties are used to start new businesses. It’s possible that local Salemites could buy these properties, or perhaps this could attract talent from out of town. Criminal Justice / Public Safety For individuals who refuse to cooperate and refuse our help, we must be willing to utilize law enforcement to ban unmanaged public camping, or this emergency will never be solved.