Salem shoppers rise early to get the best deals

Salem Editor — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:42:00 GMT

Getting up well before the break of dawn to stand in line outside of a Kohl’s store is more about a family tradition than bargain deals or great savings for Ann Hill and her two daughters.

Resting outside of a clothing store at the Mall at Rockingham Park as her daughters continued to peruse the Black Friday sales just after 8 a.m on Nov. 28, Hill said she had not only been up and ready to shop at 3 a.m. but had waited in line for more than an hour at the register at Kohl’s, though buying items was not her main goal.

“It’s a tradition with my daughters,” she said. “I’m not a big shopper. It’s more an annual tradition with the kids and the sales.”

Michael Silva had already done the majority of his holiday shopping before Black Friday, but braved the long lines and thick crowds out of a marital obligation.

“Anything for the wife,” he said, waiting outside an Aeropostale clothing store with a full bag of purchases.

Searching for holiday gifts for his two children, ages 15 and 10, Antonio Cruz said the good deals and big sales had lured him out to the mall during the early morning hours.

“I’m going to spend more money today. I’m trying to help the economy,” he said, laughing. “This is the busiest I’ve ever seen it. I don’t know who is pulling whose leg on the economy.”

Lines began forming outside of major retailers like J.C. Penney and Sears around 3 a.m., according to Emily Hoang, director of mall marketing, and foot traffic had been high since the doors opened at 5 a.m. The mall’s Disney Store started doing business just as the day officially began, opening when the clock struck midnight with a line of shoppers ready and waiting.

“Our foot traffic has been pretty strong and steady,” Hoang said. “We gave out gift bags to the first customers and we ran out of goody bags in about 10 minutes.”

Paul and Tracy Jacques, out shopping for their children, said that between this year and last year, it seemed less people were out taking advantage of the Black Friday sales.

“We found a parking spot with no trouble,” Tracy said. “That tells you something.” The economic forecast had “absolutely” been on the Jacques’ mind before taking part in the Black Friday sales, but Paul said he and his wife had budgeted before doing holiday shopping even during better years.

“We’re on a budget every year, even when the economy is good,” he said. “You can’t overspend.”

For Hill, the mall did not seem as crowded as it had in past years during the annual traditional shopping trip with her daughters and said the economic downturn had played into her spending decisions as well.

“I won’t buy it unless it’s a really good sale,” she said.

Salem says charter doesn’t provide for Budget Committee

Salem Editor — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:58:00 GMT

BY JIM DEVINE

A look at the town’s charter by the new town manager has revealed the Municipal Budget Committee has no standing in the town’s government operations.

According to an interpretation of state laws, Salem Town Manager Jonathan Sistare said the town’s chosen charter was never approved at the state level to work with a budget committee.

“I came across the statute that is basically outdated,” said Sistare, an attorney who was hired as town manager last fall.

Sistare said Selectman Michael Lyons had asked about amending the town’s bond approval threshold from two-thirds to three-fifths after the town’s second police station proposal failed in four years.

Upon his research, Sistare found that state laws did not prescribe a Budget Committee for the current charter Salem uses, and four out of five attorneys the town consulted agreed, according to Selectman Chairman Elizabeth Roth.

Roth, also an attorney, said either the town has to change its charter or legislators have to change the state law to allow the committee to function as it has in annual budget approvals.

“No court is going to crawl into the skin of legislators and interpret this law for us,” she said.

The legislative oversight, according to Sistare and Roth, could cause problems for any Budget Committee that operates under a town charter without the typical Town Meeting and representative forms of government.

Since 1996, Salem has operated under an amended SB2 charter that calls for two deliberative sessions in addition to ballot voting in determining the budget each year.

Budget Committee member Stephen Campbell said the committee’s authority should be assumed to include Salem’s charter and that voters who ratified it in 1996 were told the change wouldn’t affect the nine-person committee’s power.

“If the town manager is right, that means that vote should be called in question and bring back the previous charter,” Campbell said.

The suggestion that the Budget Committee has no power, Campbell said, was a reaction among selectmen recouping from the failure of a $7 million bond for a new police station last month.

“It just sounds like sour grapes to make it easier in the future,” Campbell said. “The two-thirds majority is a problem, the Budget Committee is a problem, now letting people vote and decide is a problem.”

Sistare said the revelation isn’t going to be used to shut the committee out but instead show a need for a charter reform committee to consider changes.

“The way we’re looking at it, there is a problem with the law,” Sistare said.”What we need to do to fix it is work cooperatively rather than working adversely in the town.”

Salem Observer : salemm

Salem shoppers rise early to get the best deals

Salem says charter doesn’t provide for Budget Committee