Wharf Project Makes Waves

As a $20 million project to expand the  got underway this week, many residents of the Derby Street neighborhood are lamenting the effects of the .

But in a city that makes its living from tourist dollars, finding ways to bring in more visitors is a big part of Salem's plans for economic prosperity. 

City officials and business leaders are hoping to lure as many as 250,000 additional people to Salem each year with additional ferry service from Boston and by attracting small cruise ships to dock here.

Those passengers are expected to spend $19.5 million annually in the City, with a total economic impact worth $39 million each year, according to an economic impact report compiled by a professor specializing in economic geography at .

The study also predicts initial revenue to the City of $278,550 annually, a figure that rises to $765,865 after 10 years.

"That was quite astonishing and impressive," Executive Director Rinus Oosthoek said of the impact study. 

Cruise ship passengers are a desirable demographic, he said.

"It's a fantastic crowd," Oosthoek said. "Those are the tourists that really help the local economy."

Bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors to Salem's waterfront is going to require a lot of infrastructure work, with the first phase of the project underway now.

City Councilor Robert McCarthy, whose Ward 1 includes Derby Street, said the first phase of the project involves laying utility lines before resurfacing of the pavement in the parking lot.

McCarthy said the Blaney Street lot has only been open for public parking for a few years since the City acquired the land from the power plant operator, Dominion. Before that, the lot was leased from the power plant and gated, he said.

As for complaints from residents about the parking, McCarthy said the will be lifted soon and people will be able to find more spaces on the street once the snow is gone.

"It's a very tight neighborhood," McCarthy said. "I'm telling people this is only temporary."

Sharon Smith, a Palfrey Court resident and a member of the Historic Derby Street Neighborhood Association, said she sympathizes with her neighbors' concerns about impacts from construction at the wharf, including construction work and heavy trucks driving on the street.

But, "for the pain we have to go through, in the long term it will definitely be worth it," Smith said.

Business owner Dave Eng, whose shop has been located on Derby Street for more than 30 years, said bringing in cruise ships sounds like a good thing.

"Salem has come up in recent years," Eng said. "It would be nice to get it like Rockport. We have the real fine restaurants."

Eng said he's far more concerned about the impact of a two-year project by National Grid to replace power transmission cables underneath Derby Street.

"Me, , the restaurants, we're all worried about it," Eng said. "Look what they did to ."