Steve Mensing, Editor
♦On Tuesday evening while the saga of the downtown Central Office ended strangely in Salisbury’s city council, the Movement for East Spencer Economic Justice was launched in East Spencer’s Borough Hall. I sat in the front row as Chuck Hughes, Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education, spoke from the podium facing Mayor Barbara Mallett and a semi-circle of East Spencer aldermen. Chuck, one of the sincerest individuals anyone will ever meet, was on a mission to keep the Central Office in East Spencer and help it rebuild a struggling community.
Only a few nights earlier Chuck and I were speaking on the phone when he told me about his vision of keeping the Central Office in East Spencer and building it on the clean acreage available on the Long Street property. It became his vision since hearing from a group of East Spencer folks with an intense interest in keeping the administrative office in their town. The idea possessed immediate and strong appeal. As we talked I felt the same spirit infusing Chuck. Here was a community that would be truly helped by keeping its Central Office. I told Chuck I’d write an article about a new Central Office for East Spencer and mentioned my desire to accompany him to the upcoming borough hall meeting. Now two were on a mission: The Movement for East Spencer Economic Justice.
On Tuesday night when Chuck finished speaking, Mayor Mallet looked in my direction and inquired: “Are you Mr. Mensing from the Rowan Free Press?” She and other aldermen held up Xeroxes of a recent RFP article.
“Yes,” I said.
“Could you speak with us?” she asked.
“Sure.” I headed to the podium. “This is a great idea. The moment I heard about the Central Office remaining in East Spencer I was converted. This is wonderful community. I was here months ago for a Town Hall and met you and Essie May Foxx.”
“Mr. Mensing I was inspired by what you wrote about East Spencer and the Langston Hughes Cultural Institute.”
“Every city and town is a clean canvas,” I said. “What gets painted on those canvases happens because a community comes together and gets behind it. That takes organizing, community spirit, and a powerful cause.”
I spoke about East Spencer’s wealth of potentialities, all the immense upside of building a new Central Office there. The taxpayer savings by building in East Spencer and renovating the historic building on that property. Much of what we said mirrored the article: “East Spencer: An Obvious Choice for the Rowan-Salisbury Schools Central Office”.
Since that evening everyone I’ve spoken to about the “Movement for East Spencer Economic Justice” has been drawn to this idea. We hope to create a huge coalition of people wanting the best for the school system and for a very worthy cause: the community of East Spencer and its people struggling to rebuild.
I want to thank Mayor Mallet and the aldermen of East Spencer for their very warm reception Tuesday evening. Chuck and I will return with a growing movement: The Movement for East Spencer Economic Justice.
East Spencer: An Obvious Choice for the Rowan-Salisbury Schools Central Office:
The East Spencer Resolution:
