Steve Mensing, Editor, & The Movement for East Spencer Economic Justice
♦With 329 S. Main clearly off the table as a possible location for the Rowan-Salisbury Schools Central Office, unless Daddy Warbucks suddenly lurches out of the woodwork to gift the Taj to the school system, any real discussion of 329 S. Main is over. Let’s quickly review the whys:
• The location was extremely unpopular with county taxpayers and even many in Salisbury. Folks are simply tired of Salisbury’s special interests attempting to vampire off the County taxpayers to line the pockets of a few.
• The county commissioners are unwilling to waste millions on an over-priced Taj Mahal, on soggy infill with groundwater contamination. How many times do the county commissioners have to say no to a potentially sick building meant to save the decaying Empire Hotel and Downtown Salisbury Inc.
• The city withdrew its badly drawn up LGC application which most realize had zero chance of succeeding. There was simply no way city hall could put forward a school administration building as a “commercial building” with the lack of a “no further action letter” from NC DENR. Now people openly wonder if the LGC application was orchestrated as just another attempt by city hall to run the blame game on the county commissioners so the city could position Gene Miller and Richard Miller for a run at the county commission.
• 329 S. Main turned out to be rotted meat. When the excavators cleared all those fuel tanks and highly contaminated soil out, they ran into groundwater contamination and the fact that the water table was only 12 feet to 19 feet from the surface. The lack of water table depth meant two major construction problems: The backfill will be very soggy due to the water streaming through it and petroleum plumes will be close to the surface. Since the groundwater contamination has yet to be remediated, any occupants in nearby buildings will need to be protected from dangerous ”vapor intrusion”. Who would want to incur the expense of constructing a 3 story building on such unstable backfill? Or face the added expense of construction to block vapor intrusion?
Now enter the current home of the Rowan Salisbury School Systems administrative building in East Spencer and the spacious 3 to 4 acre lot beside this historic building. According to Chuck Hughes, a Board of Education member and promoted by the Movement for East Spencer Economic Justice (MESEJ), East Spencer is the obvious choice for the Rowan-Salisbury Schools Central Office. Why?
• It has 3 to 4 acres of clean land well-suited for constructing the new Central Office with plenty of room for parking. The county owns this property. And building here would be a heck of a lot cheaper than Salisbury.
The property behind the current RSSS Long Street Administrative Office Building:
• It has the historic Long Street Administration Building already on the property which can still be utilized for other purposes. A STEM building?
• Chuck Hughes previously mentioned: “If the Central Office Building was considered to be critical to the prosperity of downtown Salisbury, economic Justice would dictate the same consideration be given to East Spencer. Certainly the Central Office would contribute as much, if not more, to East Spencer’s economic development as it would to downtown Salisbury. Besides, many in East Spencer have strong ties to the Long Street building and its history.”
• Salisbury may make fallacious claims about East Spencer’s lack of safety, but statistics tell us this is untrue. East Spencer is far safer than Salisbury according to FBI per capita crime stats and is mirrored in this City Data statistical comparison:
Comparisons of violent crime rates for Salisbury and East Spencer for 2009, the last year recorded in the City Data for both municipalities. You may be surprised to read it, but here is the comparison between the two:
2009 Rapes: E.SP.= 0, Salisbury = 386.1 per 100,000
2009 Murders: E.Sp.= 0, Salisbury = 17.2 per 100,000
2009 Robberies: E.Sp.= 278.6, Salisbury = 386.1
2009 Assaults: E.Sp.= 222.8, Salisbury = 475.7 per 100,000
2009 Burglaries: E.Sp.= 835.7, Salisbury = 1434.1 per 100,000
2009 Thefts: E.Sp.= 1169.9, Salisbury = 4940.0 per 100,000
2009 overall crime: E.Sp. 275.4, Salisbury = 578.7
Very clearly East Spencer is far safer than Salisbury with its high violent and property crime rates. Salisbury appears as a major per capita violent and property crime giant in North Carolina in the most recent FBI data bases. Salisbury is well known for its gang activity which permeates its schools and neighborhoods. No doubt about it East Spencer has far safer neighborhoods and strong community involvement with such leaders like Mayor Barbara Mallet and Essie Mae Foxx.
• The RFP fully supports Movement for East Spencer Economic Justice. We say plant the new Central Office here and revitalize the old one. Why should Salisbury rip away East Spencer’s only plum? Hasn’t the thug of Rowan County helped itself enough through forcible annexation? Through lording its water power over the county’s municipalities? A new Central Office could spark economic growth in East Spencer. Why not an East Spencer Renaissance like folks have in Harlem, a jewel in New York’s crown? How about a Cotton Club East? A Langston Hughes Cultural Institute? Fine dining at the Ethiopian Palace? An East Spencer Museum of Black Culture & History? A Livingstone College satellite campus. The mind boggles at the endless possibilities. Make East Spencer the place to be. As Salisbury dies from its own greedy hand, lift up East Spencer. Make it a beacon to the entire state.
A previous article on economic justice for East Spencer by Chuck Hughes:
