Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ Salisbury, N.C., as many are well aware, is a city on the ropes after years of suffering through a deficit in direction and whose map was charted by special interest groups and supported by local media. Salisbury, N.C. is in an undeniable tailspin witnessed in its statistical smoke trail of soaring poverty (U.S. Census statistics say 28% of the folks dwelling here live below the poverty line), high per capita crime rate (FBI statistics), poor public school performance (Composite scores on N.C. READY Report), urban flight of middle and upper classes slowed only by a stagnant housing market, a breakdown of city services witnessed in its understaffed police and fire departments and unkempt city properties, and numerous abandoned buildings and vacancies. Salisbury’s key challenges and major indicators of poverty and urban death are many. The areas listed below offer key targets for transformation:
Salisbury, N.C.’s Challenges
• High Poverty. As poverty grows–the probability of cities dying rise. At the last census Salisbury showed 25% of its population dwelling in poverty. More recent reports place poverty at 28%. That’s over a quarter of Salisbury’s population. According to the Rowan-Salisbury schools around 68% of children are on school lunch programs. High poverty often goes hand-in-hand with growing crime, drug problems and stresses the local systems. Poverty and crime turns on the jets of urban flight.
• Public Safety. The FBI crime statistics demonstrate that Salisbury has many dangerous areas. Violent crime and property crime place Salisbury in the upper echelons of North Carolina’s crime challenged cities. People want to live in a safe place–they move away from dangerous cities. This is a major cause of urban flight. The police and fire departments are understaffed, leading to inadequate coverage.
• Poor School Performance. The recent state education READY report card composite scores shows Salisbury’s public schools are poor performers. This sparks families into moving out and turns away people looking to move here. Public schools are losing their better students when families move out of Salisbury or seek the safety of private schools and home schooling.
• Urban Flight. Salisbury’s demographics demonstrate that folks are moving away and young people are leaving because of lack of job possibilities. Non Latin whites are now a minority in Salisbury since the last census. Having poor performing school systems, having high crime rates, poverty, joblessness and a visible breakdown of city services all impact on urban flight. Urban flight can also be shown in year by year decline in school test scores. The tax base often shows a decline and foreclosures are prevalent.
• High Unemployment. Unemployment remains fairly high in Salisbury and many folks are forced to commute to Charlotte, Concord, Winston, and Greensboro for decent pay. People often relocate to where they are employed.
• Vacancies and Abandoned Buildings. A ride around Salisbury shows numerous for sale signs, vacancies, and abandoned buildings. Boarded up buildings attract the homeless and drug addicts. Derelict buildings make people move away.
• Area Foreclosures and Bankruptcies. Families and businesses are in trouble.
• Breakdown in City Services. As the city’s budget spiraled downward from the unsuccessful fiber optic network, many city employees found themselves out of work. Large gaps in the city’s police and fire departments occurred. Not only did it lead to a lack of safety and well-kept city properties, it also means folks are unemployed.
Organizations and Institutions Requiring Repurposing
• City of Salisbury Government. They need to be more forthcoming about what is going on inside of Salisbury. Will the next regime at the Salisbury Post be as supportive with puff pieces and covering over city gaffs and failed projects? Boone News Inc. is taking over in February and they will no doubt follow their formulae of streamlining and focusing on making a profit. Databases such as the U.S. Census, the FBI, and N.C. READY Report clearly highlight what is going on in Salisbury and its decline into poverty. There are many actions the city can take, despite a lack of money, to help lift the city up. These will discussed in later parts of “The Rowan Free Press Plan to Lift Salisbury, N.C. Out of Poverty”.
• Rowan-Salisbury School System. It appears they made an excellent choice in Dr. Lynn Moody as the school superintendent. However, the current school board is suing the county taxpayers during hard economic times. The county commissioners acted in good faith and provided a pathway to a new Central Office and major capital improvements without dropping a boulder on our Rowan County Taxpayers. The school system, working with many disadvantaged youngsters, will have to discover ways to raise their desire for achievement, overcome illiteracy, and make education more appealing. What have school systems elsewhere successfully done to move the ball up the field? Answers to behavioral challenges, drug abuse, and gangs in the Salisbury schools need to be found. It drives families away and in doing so lowers performance scores found on databases.
• The Local Media. Hopefully a new era will arrive at the Salisbury Post where they will step away from feverishly promoting Salisbury special interest groups and acting as the city government’s newsletter. In doing so they created a false portrait of city. Its expected that the Post’s new buyers Boone Newspapers Inc. will turn things around not only through streamlining their operation and making it more profitable, but through a new editorial direction. The Post alienated many in the county who tire of footing the bill for Salisbury’s questionable projects and special interests. Who can forget their hard sell 329 S. Main for a fantasy of economic development? Their attempts to smear our county commissioners. Their over-the-top puff pieces about floperoo Fibrant. The portrayal of their ghost town Main Street as vibrant. If any media ever backed a nag in a horse race, it happened on East Innes. It need not continue. The decade long Salisbury tumble should be smelling salts for any organization.
• Downtown Salisbury Inc. and the Shop Local Merchants. If ever a repurposing was required, its now. It’s time to invite small boutique chain retail onto Main Street. All those vacancies and a lack of buyer traffic to the niche and recycled shops should be feedback enough that the downtown merchant monopoly isn’t working. More attractions are required. Our restaurants are excellent like Go Burrito, Downtown Bangkok, Buck’s, Salty Caper, Cooper’s, and Cartucci’s–but more retail spark is needed.
There is a dire need for parking downtown. There is not enough for shopkeepers.
Moving the Farmer’s Market over to the police parking lot is a good way to put the Farmer’s Market out of sight–out of mind. The traffic calming ideas for East Innes rival putting a municipal fiber optic network into an overcrowded field of deep-pocketed incumbents.
Attacking big box chain retail is lost on the majority of Salisbury and county citizens who clearly enjoy lower than list prices and wide variety. They shop on the internet or motor down I-85 to Afton Ridge, Concord Mills, and Huntersville or travel over to Winston-Salem. Salisbury does not need to create major shopping leakage out of county
• The Historic Organizations. The “historic” codes, used as barriers to business growth in Salisbury, need to be rethought and toned down. Do we prefer so-called “historic character” over jobs and livability?
The Rowan Free Press Plan to Lift Salisbury, N.C. Out of Poverty Parts I and II:
