#CanOpened 

5/28/2026 - Resolution Announcement

Can Openers,

We are excited to announce that the Cannery will be reopening this weekend (weather dependent, of course). After a week of principled confrontation and an outpouring of support beyond our imagination, we’re excited to share the sunsets with you all. As per our initial plan with the city, please remember that we are operating at limited capacity until the completion of our 4th restroom.

Thank you all. #CanOpened

5/24/2026 - Our Response to the Mayor’s Statement

Dominick,

Tim and I are reaching out to you for your help in a permanent resolution to enable the Cannery’s operations this season. We’ve provided a full timeline of events below for your review, but for brevity and out of respect for your time, a summary:

On May 11th, The Cannery went to renew our food permit for the 2026 season, at which point we were notified that the Cannery would not be able to operate under the restroom framework that was utilized last year. We acknowledge receipt of the letter addressing the concerns around state no compliance, and I do appreciate your writing of a letter to the state board.

Over the course of last week, we worked in good faith with the building department on a temporary solution, at great cost to the Cannery, engaging a plumbing engineer, and architect in converting the multi-use unisex and single-use ADA unisex bathrooms into a single use unisex bathroom (effectively by boarding up the two multi-use stalls) to operate in compliance with a limited capacity (20p) under 248 CMR 10.10(15)(c)(3). We operated this weekend in compliance with that (and all other) plumbing code, building code, and ordinance. 

This morning, I went to the building department to discuss the Cannery’s continued operations in parallel with the buildout of a fourth bathroom (accelerated in good faith with the city from our already submitted plans to address in April, which had the restroom being built out after the sprinkler system was installed) where I was notified that this was not renewable, and that the Cannery would not be able to operate further until the fourth bathroom was completed. As I think you know, this isn’t an issue with an insufficient number of fixtures.

In this conversation, Voula refused to provide where in 248 CMR 10.10(14) the Cannery’s bathrooms are out of compliance, candidly would not let me speak, and eventually clarified that this was her department’s interpretation of the state regulations. Upon further review, we confirmed that this is the core issue. 

This is a city choice of interpretation and, candidly, one that seemingly is not aware of the amendments to the Massachusetts Uniform State Plumbing Code, adopted December of 2023, which Voula did not seem to be aware of. 

The most significant change to the plumbing code is the new allowance for Multi-User / Gender Neutral Toilet Rooms. Each toilet is required to be separated by lockable partitions that extend from floor to ceiling to provide privacy. Existing multi-user restrooms are permitted to be converted to Multi-User / Gender Neutral Toilet Rooms without changing the partitions. 

The building department was unwilling to state where, in their interpretation, the current restrooms are out of compliance with the revised code. If the issue is public safety, that feels incredibly transphobic and out of line with the values we believe the city as a whole has put forth.

As it stands, the Building department is refusing to allow the health department to grant our annual health permit to enable Cannery operations due to the city’s interpretation of state regulations, potentially without awareness of not-that-recent changes to those regulations.

This decision has already caused business hardship for Tim and myself, with the time and capital spent last week, under duress, to find a reasonable compromise to getting the Cannery open, only to find out today that that compromise was gated only to one weekend.

To put some bombers behind the incurred hardship, the average weekly loss of revenue for every week that the Cannery is unable to operate is $10,650, and the lost wages to labor reliant on earnings opportunities is $2,625. 2 Bridge Street was also counting on that revenue to help fund development and buildout of the location, ironically including a fourth bathroom.

We respectfully request your attention to this matter in a timely fashion, as we have employees, musicians, partners, and an amazing Salem community reliant on us to resolve this issue. 

In best faith,

Nick Mathews and Tim Haugh

Cannery and Future 2 Bridge Vinyl Lounge

5/23/2026 - Official City Statement (hyperlink)

5/22/2026 - #OperationCanOpener Launch

5/18/2026 - Initial Letter to Mayor

Dominick,

Tim and I are reaching out to you for your help in a permanent resolution to enable the Cannery’s operations this season. We’ve provided a full timeline of events below for your review, but for brevity and out of respect for your time, a summary:

On May 11th, The Cannery went to renew our food permit for the 2026 season, at which point we were notified that the Cannery would not be able to operate under the restroom framework that was utilized last year. We acknowledge receipt of the letter addressing the concerns around state no compliance, and I do appreciate your writing of a letter to the state board. Over the course of last week, we worked in good faith with the building department on a temporary solution, at great cost to the Cannery, engaging a plumbing engineer, and architect in converting the multi-use unisex and single-use ADA unisex bathrooms into a single use unisex bathroom (effectively by boarding up the two multi-use stalls) to operate in compliance with a limited capacity (20p) under 248 CMR 10.10(15)(c)(3). We operated this weekend in compliance with that (and all other) plumbing code, building code, and ordinance. 

This morning, I went to the building department to discuss the Cannery’s continued operations in parallel with the buildout of a fourth bathroom (accelerated in good faith with the city from our already submitted plans to address in April, which had the restroom being built out after the sprinkler system was installed) where I was notified that this was not renewable, and that the Cannery would not be able to operate further until the fourth bathroom was completed. As I think you know, this isn’t an issue with an insufficient number of fixtures. 

In this conversation, Voula refused to provide where in 248 CMR 10.10(14) the Cannery’s bathrooms are out of compliance, candidly would not let me speak, and eventually clarified that this was her department’s interpretation of the state regulations. Upon further review, we confirmed that this is the core issue. 

This is a city choice of interpretation and, candidly, one that seemingly is not aware of the amendments to the Massachusetts Uniform State Plumbing Code, adopted December of 2023, which Voula did not seem to be aware of. 

The most significant change to the plumbing code is the new allowance for Multi-User / Gender Neutral Toilet Rooms. Each toilet is required to be separated by lockable partitions that extend from floor to ceiling to provide privacy. Existing multi-user restrooms are permitted to be converted to Multi-User / Gender Neutral Toilet Rooms without changing the partitions. 

The building department was unwilling to state where, in their interpretation, the current restrooms are out of compliance with the revised code. If the issue is public safety, that feels incredibly transphobic and out of line with the values we believe the city as a whole has put forth.

As it stands, the Building department is refusing to allow the health department to grant our annual health permit to enable Cannery operations due to the city’s interpretation of state regulations, potentially without awareness of not-that-recent changes to those regulations. This decision has already caused business hardship for Tim and myself, with the time and capital spent last week, under duress, to find a reasonable compromise to getting the Cannery open, only to find out today that that compromise was gated only to one weekend. To put some bombers behind the incurred hardship, the average weekly loss of revenue for every week that the Cannery is unable to operate is $10,650, and the lost wages to labor reliant on earnings opportunities is $2,625. 2 Bridge Street was also counting on that revenue to help fund development and buildout of the location, ironically including a fourth bathroom.

We respectfully request your attention to this matter in a timely fashion, as we have employees, musicians, partners, and an amazing Salem community reliant on us to resolve this issue. 

In best faith, Nick Mathews and Tim Haugh

Cannery and Future 2 Bridge Vinyl Lounge