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Scout wants Eagle project to sport name of famed Salem artist

SALEM — A Salem Boy Scout’s request to rename South Alley in downtown Salem to Burchfield Trace will be the subject of a Streets, Alleys and Sidewalks Committee meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers at city hall.

Councilman Sal Salvino, who chairs the committee, announced the meeting after explaining the request from Salem High School senior Gray Buta to his fellow council members.

Buta’s working on his Eagle Scout project to clean up and beautify South Alley, which runs east to west between State Street and Pershing Street from South Lincoln Avenue to Broadway. His plan includes using friends and fellow scouts to pick up trash, pull weeds, remove graffiti and hang on the back of several buildings along the alley printed murals of artwork by Salem’s own Charles Burchfield, the internationally-known watercolorist who grew up here on Fourth Street.

Along with the labor-intensive project was the request — to honor Burchfield by renaming the alley in his honor, calling it Burchfield Trace where traces of the late artist’s work will be visible to all.

Mayor John Berlin received an email from Buta on Sunday regarding the proposed renaming of the alley, then Berlin forwarded the email to Salvino so a meeting could be scheduled to discuss the proposal for the name change.

“I feel this will not only help beautify our wonderful downtown but also to bring more attention to our own international artist, Charles Burchfield himself,” Buta said in the email.

According to the email, there will be 10 4-foot by 6-foot murals of Burchfield’s work similar to the Burchfield wall placed along the sidewalk between State Street Tattoo and the former Butler museum on East State Street, just east of Broadway. The murals will be printed on a more durable outdoor-rated material at a cost of $550 per mural.

Buta presented his project to the Salem Historical Society, the Burchfield Homestead Society and Salem Preservation and requested donations from them and from several companies and private individuals who pledged support. Once the project is completed, Salem Preservation will take ownership of the murals and maintain them in the future.

As part of the project, Buta said in the email that he also asked building owners who own buildings where the artwork will be hung to paint their buildings. He noted that the owners of the Timberlanes Complex have agreed to do some painting.

“You are to be commended for taking on the beautification project of South Alley. Your efforts to make Salem a nicer place to live will not be forgotten,” Berlin told Buta in an email.

During the council meeting Tuesday night, Jennifer Brown of Salem Beautification, which is part of the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, spoke on behalf of fellow committee member Karen Carter and something beautiful which happened over the weekend. The two of them were cleaning and weeding and doing some work downtown on Saturday night when Carter’s leaf blower disappeared. They filed a police report and thought maybe somebody picked it up to safeguard it. The next day she received a call that someone had indeed picked it up because they didn’t want anything to happen to it and turned it in at the police station.

But what Brown said was the really cool part of the story was what happened when people heard about Carter’s leaf blower — she got offers from Geoff and Kim Goll and from Baird’s Landscaping to replace her leaf blower, the same leaf blower that she uses to keep the downtown looking sharp. Carter wanted to offer her thanks to the Golls, Baird’s and all the citizens of Salem who showed support for her for being “so amazing.” Brown said that’s why they do what they do, why they clean and plant and water and work on the downtown.

“Salem has got such a wonderful heart,” she said.

Brown also offered thanks to Wayne Herron, who once again offered to provide cornstalks from his field for Salem Beautification to decorate the downtown in preparation for fall and for Quaker Fest set for Oct. 13.

City Law Director Brooke Zellers said thank you to Brown and for Carter and the beautification crew for their work to make the town look better.

“It doesn’t go unnoticed,” he said.

Salvino recognized another group trying to beautify the downtown, asking citizens to lend support any way they can to Joe Kozar and his committee for their work on refurbishing the snowflake decorations. A fundraiser is planned from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Oct. 10 at Bob Evans. Bob Evans will donate 15 percent of a diner’s check to the project when the fundraiser flyer is presented at checkout.

In other business, council held second reading on three ordinances relating to making residences on the upper floors of commercial buildings a permitted use, with amendments expected at the next meeting for the third reading. Council also approved a resolution designating financial institutions that can be used to deposit funds for the city of Salem, including Edward Jones for certificates of deposit or CDs.

Council approved vacating an unnamed alley running north to south in between parking lots owned by the Salem Elks on East State Street.

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