Residents

The City of Salem will be a place where residents feel safe, welcome, and
involved with their local community. A place where the support of local
business is strong and encourages even more diverse offerings to develop.
And a place where people of all ages enjoy the varied recreation activities
and continue to call the City home through all stages of life.

The City of Salem strives through its programs and laws:

1.  To improve the physical environment of the community as a setting for human
      activities; to make it more functional, beautiful, decent, healthful, interesting
      and efficient.
2.  To promote the public interest (the interest of the community at large) rather
      than the interests of individuals or special interest groups within the community.
3.   To facilitate the democratic determination and implementation of community
       policies on physical development.
4.   To effect political and technical coordination in community development;
       to be effective, coordination must occur across governmental jurisdictions
       (county, school, township, etc.).
5.   To inject long-range considerations into the determination of short-range actions.
6.   To bring professional and technical knowledge to bear on the making of
       political decisions concerning the physical development of the community.