Jonathon Morris, U.S. Army Ranger, Ret. and Rowan Rescue Rancher
♦ I was so glad to see the State Senate completely reject Governor McCrory and Susan Kluttz and their crony pals in Salisbury.
Thank you Senator Andrew Brock for your final “coup de grace” Senate Bill 472 to send the Historic Preservation Tax Credits packing. Does anyone really believe hard scrabble Salisbury is going to raise their already sky-high property taxes to pay for incentives so their “historic preservationists” and itinerant carpenters can line their pockets? Come to think of it, Salisbury City Council might just raise property taxes to help their pals. I wouldn’t put anything past city council.
Now that the Historic Preservation Tax Credits are laying face down in the water, maybe someone in Rowan’s local delegation can step forward and sponsor a new bill to rescue “Historic Salisbury” from its South Main Bad Lands, its army of decrepit and obsolete buildings especially the Empire Hotel. Somebody needs to propose the “Historic Demolition Tax Credits” to pay for bulldozers and wrecking balls to blast through Salisbury’s timed-out South Main bad lands and Downtown’s jumble of “historic” ruins.
Y’all the State Senate said no way with those tax credits–that party is over. Time to move on. Demolishing large portions of Main Street are a public need. That’s a lot cheaper than trying to renovate. It’s easier to sell grassy lots than derelict buildings about to fall. Potential buyers can better use their imaginations to fill in an empty space than if one of those eyesores blocks the view.
I’d love to be manning one of those mammoth killdozers that can do up a block or two of Downtown Salisbury in no time flat. I can picture jockeying a giant bulldozer going from 0 to 60 through the front door of the Empire and blasting though the rear wall a moment or two later. Then swinging the dozer around and finishing off what’s left, shoving giant piles of debris onto South Main to cheering throngs.
Carl Ford you need to make a name for yourself. How about it? You can’t give all the glory to Andrew Brock. “Historic Demolition Tax Credits”! This would be the first step in reviving Salisbury from being just another dangerous drug-infested tank town that time forgot. This would be a big win for the county seat. “Historic Demolition Tax Credits”. Carl you’d be an overnight superstar in the legislature. The Governor would cower before you. Carl, this is destiny calling!
