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Let My People Go: The Forcibly Annexed in Salisbury Want Out

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Steve Mensing, Editor

♦Now that the Rowan County Airport, former victim of a forcible annexation by the City of Salisbury, was recently set free, the remaining victims of the City of Salisbury’s forcible annexation program demand out of Salisbury’s bondage.  For weeks now they have forged powerful ranks to break out of Salisbury’s highly inequitable domination.  Many, according to local GIS systems, are not paying their property taxes because they either can’t afford it or resent their forced servitude.  At the moment several powerful options for escaping Salisbury are on the table.

1. Joining the ranks of other large city coalitions strongly desiring to show all 5 city councilmen the door, the forcibly annexed notice the seas are parting.  In removing all 5 city councilmen, the forcibly annexed know they stand a better chance with an all new city council voluntarily freeing them.

2. Hang in with their voting power to influence local legislators to set them free.  They will not support any legislators who side with the League of Municipalities and their self-absorbed desire not to “break up the cities”.  The forcibly annexed do not want to remain with Salisbury.  Most never felt any connection with Salisbury or wanted to be targeted for ”legal plunder”.

3. A third strategy, more recently discussed by many in the de-annexation movement, is to quit paying taxes, fees, and utility bills to the city of Salisbury.  A people’s strike against the bully of Rowan County.  A possible mammoth class action suit against Salisbury is being discussed in the light of the city’s lack of any equitable exchange.  Some promised city services never materialized.  The forcibly annexed also know can build power with other disenfranchised neighborhoods in the city and bring commerce to a halt in Downtown Salisbury.  The disenfranchised of Salisbury have the overwhelming numbers to take control of the city government and gain their just due.

Two months ago I spoke with some forcibly annexed folks living in the Westwood neighborhood off Harrison Road.  One neighbor stepped up.  He declined to provide his name for publication for fear of retribution from the city.  We’ll simply call him Westwood Neighbor in this interview.  His interview will provide a visual of what its like to dwell in a forcibly annexed neighborhood.

Steve Mensing: Westwood Neighbor, could you let our readers know what its like to live in a forcibly annexed neighborhood?  Many folks dwelling in the county and in Salisbury have little idea of the forcibly annexed exceptionally poor treatment at the hands of Salisbury.

Westwood Neighbor:  I and others living in the Westwood neighborhood off of Harrison Road are very unhappy with the city of Salisbury and the way they have done us.  I talked with neighbors in the area and they would like our neighborhood de-annexed so we will no longer have the financial burden of our property taxes being doubled.  Just look at the Rowan GIS website map of our neighborhood and check the box for property taxes.  You will see around 75% of the homeowners there are late or unable to pay their property taxes.  The lots lit in red speaks for themselves on this public records site. (Our GIS reading, done two months ago, verified what Westwood Neighbor described)

Steve Mensing: What is your situation with the city’s water and sewer?  With light poles and street repair?

Westwood Neighbor:  Salisbury extended water and sewer lines on my street Freedom Drive.  They put in two meters, two sewer manholes and one hydrant and it stops.  There are around 32 homes on my street having to pay the city to be here.  They don’t all have access to water and sewer hookups.  If their wells and their septic tanks go bad you are out of luck because you can’t drill inside city limits.  The water and sewer lines stop in front of my home.  The cost to have a contractor and the huge connection fee to be paid Salisbury is extremely expensive (About $5,000 plus).  This is quite a heavy weight to shoulder for anyone struggling to cover their daily living costs.  Just about all of us in our neighborhood.  Really the only thing Salisbury did was to put up light poles on a street where most of the homeowners had their own light poles installed by Duke Energy.  We got stuck with the extra utility costs.

Steve Mensing: The city of Salisbury basically duplicated already existing services in forcibly annexed neighborhoods.  Is that correct?

Westwood Neighbor:  Yes–the city patched a couple of pot holes.  We already had safe well water, septic tanks, garbage pick up–you name it.  Police, fire, and EMS before the city of Salisbury forced us in.  We got nothing and they took from us big.  Damn we as city residents get socked with a storm water fee of $4.25 cents a month as a so-called municipal service.  We’re paying a fee for rain water to be collected in storm water drains.  Big problem Steve our neighborhood has no storm water drains whatsoever nor do we have any places for any water to go.  Some neighbors own a few driveways with underground pipes installed before the city ever barged in and took us over against our will.  There’s concern around here about a yard on Freedom Drive with a lot of standing water.  The homeowner there called the city multiple times about the problem.  The city came out once and then scampered off.  Yet to fix the issue.  The water standing there is nearly 25 x  10 feet and about two feet deep.  Raises concern over the safety of small children.

Steve Mensing:  City of Salisbury fattened their coffers off you people and made no equitable exchange.  Basically robbed you with a fountain pen with the assistance of the League of Municipalities.  So much for the city of Salisbury’s so called progressive government.  When I came down here from Philadelphia back in 2008 I was shocked by what I saw.  This city government made a show of things, but underneath it all I saw no sign of justice, empathy, or just dealings with their neighbors.  The forcibly annexed and the minorities here got a raw deal.  Long time city workers are being mistreated with wrongful terminations.  People living outside the downtown and historic areas are left out of the pie.  So many are disenfranchised here.  That needs to be turned around.  The city of Salisbury is suffering a free fall if you examine the data bases and drive through the city’s various neighborhoods.

So what do you and your neighbors want to do about Salisbury plundering you with nothing in return?

Westwood Neighbor: I and everyone else around here wants our neighborhood back from the city.  Living under the burden of doubled taxes and getting nothing in return is hurting us.  We didn’t ask for the city to take us over.  We want no parts of Salisbury.  We don’t even go there.

Steve Mensing: I completely support neighborhood de-annexation.  Justice needs to be done.

Westwood Neighbor: Thanks Steve.  We’re all feeling hope since you showed up.  The county rightfully got their airport back so there’s light.

Steve Mensing:  One way or another we’ll get it done.

Here is a previous article of legal ways to break out of a city:


http://rowanfreepress.com/2013/02/27/breakout-the-growing-de-annexation-movement-in-salisbury-nc/ 

An interview with Larry Wright a leader in the successful fight to block forcible annexation.


http://rowanfreepress.com/2012/04/21/forced-annexation-an-interview-with-larry-wright/



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