Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ The Rowan Free Press supports Salisbury City Council candidates of any political stripe (Republican, Democrat, or Independent) who support transparent and effective government and are not tied to the visible “status quo” of old Salisbury real estate and banking families with a history of placing their self-interests, control needs, and greed above the interests of folks living in Salisbury and Rowan County.
The Salisbury City incumbents Alexander, Blackwell, and Miller along with former councilmen Lewis and Maddox are chained to the status quo.
The Rowan Free Press will support any candidate who supports transparent and effective government and who is not tied to the incumbent city council and their predecessors over the last decade who have transformed Salisbury into a bottom rung municipality and wallpapered over its extreme nosedive with publicity and spin.
Yes the Rowan Free Press supports Todd Paris, Kenny Hardin, and several other non-incumbent candidates for city council. I believe they are the very best choices to turn Salisbury around and reconnect city hall to its communities outside of “8 block”. Our candidates, if elected, will call on a complete independent forensic audit of City Hall’s departments and municipal utilities.
As for those who attempt to define me politically they need to do their homework. I am a centrist-consumer advocate who in more recent years has grown fiscally conservative and remained socially moderate. For years back in Philadelphia I was very active Democrat. After my first two years in Salisbury I switched to the Republican party.
The Rowan Free Press was the first news source in Salisbury and Rowan County to report on Salisbury’s extreme bottom rung status. We pointed out the obvious that outsiders can easily see when they visit real estate databases or the city itself. All of the basics, listed below, need to be corrected to stem the loss of working class people and the young to far better and safer opportunities.
Salisbury’s Statistical Facts:
http://rowanfreepress.com/salisbury-nc-statistics/
• Salisbury’s 25% poverty is an indisputable fact. With poverty often goes crime, underperforming schools, hard drug and alcohol abuse, little spendable income, and stressed community services.
• Salisbury sports bad FBI violent and property crime statistics. How about the cities 11 unsolved murders since 2010 (Chief Collins shamefully couldn’t name one of the black victims or the actual number because he’s moonlighting as security at the Rowan Housing Authority.) Would most people desire to live in a community lacking an adequately staffed and decently paid police force?
• The State Board of Education gave the public schools inside of Salisbury a heavy-handed thumbs down with letter report showing that not one school graded above a D or an F. Such ratings will drive families, who can afford it, to move out of Salisbury or send their children to private schools or homeschool. The letter grades did not reflect behavior problems, drug abuse, gang activity, and safety problems which are often the cause of responsible parents yanking their children from schools.
Just a few questions you may desire to ask yourself:
• If you live outside of “8 block” or the country club is your community receiving full city services? Adequate police patrol–trash pickup–pothole repair–city property properly maintained–sidewalks–playgrounds. Is your community being gentrified or experiencing planned shrinkage (Shutting off basic city services so people are forced out).
• Ask yourself if cronyism isn’t rampant in city hall and that friends get curb service? How many of you or your neighbors tasted a city hall vendetta? How about the Spite Hole? Or a median planted in front of your business because you didn’t play ball. Or favoritism shown in zoning?
• How about the cover up of the “mutual termination” of the former city manager? Why does the City of Salisbury government regularly fail to answer public information requests and stifle legally required transparency?
• Why did the incumbent city council cover up the extreme failure of Fibrant? They claimed Fibrant turned the corner when they knew Fibrant suffered a stupefying $12.6 million dollar deficit. City Council Candidate Todd Paris wrote yesterday in the RFP: “The audited 2014 budget (page 47 of 168) shows the “Broadband Services Fund’s” total net position as being negative 12.6 million. If you know budgets, you will no doubt note that “Total Net Position” is little more than a measure of value or worth. In other words, Fibrant is 12.6 million dollars south of “worthless.”
Who is really destroying Salisbury? And who is observing the facts and bringing them to light so people can begin repairs?
