Annette Hall, Formerly of Salisbury, N.C.
♦ Despite the desire of the powers that be in Salisbury, NC, to deny this, the City is in dire financial condition due mainly to the grandiose plan that was concocted by the city council and their city manager back in 2008–2009. That grandiose plan? Fibrant, a municipal broadband network (TV, internet, phone) that was forced on the taxpayers without their input. The idea was that if Salisbury had such a system, high-tech companies would flock in. Well, they built it and they did not come. The City has been raiding the water and sewer funds to try to cover the big Fibrant deficit that just won’t go away. They lied at first about doing that until Rowan Free Press covered the issue.
Salisbury is a small city with a high unemployment rate and serious crime problems. Real estate values are in the toilet. We were lucky last year to have sold our house for what we still owed on the mortgage. City leadership is incompetent. Salisbury’s Police Department is considered one of, if not THE, worst police departments in North Carolina. We heard that from cops we know in various North Carolina jurisdictions. We’ve witnessed it ourselves. The good cops in Salisbury flee to other police departments. The turnover rate is very high and it’s not just the low salary; it’s the whole working environment.
Rowan Free Press has covered these issues for years and is deeply hated by the powers that be in Salisbury. Why? Because the truth hurts. Its editors and writers are vilified for exposing to the public all these problems. The latest accusation these people make is that RFP is “fake” news. Sorry, it’s all too real.
I met a lot of great people in Salisbury after my husband and I moved there in 2007, but we’re glad we no longer live there. It’s too bad the City leadership and other powers that be are moving the City toward North Carolina style LGC bankruptcy by their foolish, and self-serving policies and decisions. A huge shake-up is the only way anything will change. Just like with alcoholism and drug addiction, hitting bottom and admitting you have a problem is the first step toward recovery. I wish Salisbury the best. Its unwitting citizens deserve better.
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RFP Staff
♦ Updated: Man Stabbed Multiple Times Tuesday Night Between the Tinseltown Theaters and Dollar Tree in Salisbury, N.C.:
