Kenny Hardin, Salisbury City Council
♦ We had our follow up meeting last Friday afternoon to finalize capital improvement items in the budget.
In the initial meeting two weeks prior, I requested that a line item for $300,000 marked for West End entrance beautification be removed from the budget. I didn’t feel this was a good use of that large amount of money for flowers, trees, shrubbery, and aesthetics when crime and gun play is so prevalent there.
At this meeting, however, I asked that the money remain in the West End. I offered a proposal that the $300,000 be given to Parks & Rec or integrated into the current West End Transformation budget line item.
I recommended that we partner with Rowan Cabarrus Community College and offer free certification courses in brick masonry, welding, and carpentry to be taught at the Miller Rec Center. Once the attendees complete the free course and are certified, they can pay it back by working with the City using their new skills to rehab abandoned, boarded up, and dilapidated houses on the West End.
My position was the money remains in the community and is used over and over there by those benefitting from the courses. I saw this as having an impact on our youth, the police, jobs and improving the look of the community.
My colleagues on the Council agreed with the proposal and added some additional good points to ensure this will be a successful initiative.
