Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ The “Building Successful Communities” event owes its existence in large degree to the Rowan Free Press which sounded the alarm about “Salisbury’s disturbing demographic”. The Rowan Free Press broke the story about Wall Street 24/7′s report on Salisbury’s being the 5th ranked city in the USA with “soaring poverty”. Its best to keep the reality of Salisbury’s stature as a dying city out in the open where it belongs. This is the only way it will be corrected. The Rowan Free Press was the first to report the Rowan-Salisbury’s schools, inside Salisbury’s boundaries, sub par performances on state Ready Report’s composite scores. To businesses and families considering pitching a tent here such a report would stop them cold. Further the RFP posted the FBI’s crime statistics for Salisbury which was an eye-opener for some. Many long timers here were aware of Salisbury’s very high violent and property crime going on here.
A Salisbury statistical refresher:
http://rowanfreepress.com/salisbury-nc-statistics/
Programs like “Building Successful Communities” and their large group dynamic “visioning” process has all the staying power of a short-lived endorphin rush and a quickly forgotten new years eve resolution. Such traveling seminars go from city to city, dispensing the latest platitudes in sustainable growth. Buy the books and the CD. “Maybe we’ll make Ed’s list of cites?”
Salisbury is the perfect fit for large group dynamic seminars. They ought to put signs up at Salisbury’s city limits: “Any and all Music Men wanted…desperately.”
Nothing quite like listening to someone pushing agenda 21, thread trails, open-spaces with little traffic, sustainable cities, and “positive thinking”.
McMahon said: “Cooperation is pretty darn important.” Unless that cooperation is promoting the county taxpayers to carry Downtown Salisbury ONLY for a few more years.
200 marks were gathered at separate tables around the F&M Trolley barn. The disciples of magical downtown investment would come up with lists of community assets, ideas to start working on, and stuff the community should stop doing. All the Downtown Salisbury ONLY crowd were here: Chamber of Commerce, EDC, Downtown Salisbury Inc., Convention and Visitors Bureau, and LandTrust. They drank in all the McMahon glib sustainable FutureSpeak. “We can go from good to being great. In five years this will be a very different place.”
“It sounded like McMahon was prepped by Downtown Salisbury ONLY on all their regular talking points. “We need to work together. We have to stop fighting. We need to start talking. We need work together to make the whole better than its parts. We must embrace the future–We must build in the downtown first…”Yes” is the most important word. (No would be a much better choice)
Good examples of Downtown Salisbury ONLY over the past decade: forcibly annex large portions of the county and provide no equitable exchange to the annexed. Bully them with your water. Siphon money from their SKU funds to keep Fibrant afloat. Make them pay for 329 South Main so the Main Street attractor fields can be turned on and the Empire can be resurrected.
For its own self-protection the county taxpayers need to keep Downtown Salisbury ONLY’s candidates off the county commission and the school board.
For people who need a refresher course in what vibrant cities are actually like I suggest a drive to Mooresville or Cary–their lack of vacancies and badlands quickly remind Salisbury unfortunates that cities with real aliveness exist. Its good to get out and get around and not get too used to the odor of a cat litter box.
Here’s the event survey:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2E5Ew6OLdElSnpNT3ZLSnlsWnM/edit
My list of the 10 most important assets for attracting new jobs to Rowan County:
I-85–Railroads–Plenty of High-Speed Internet–Water–Affordable Housing–a wealth of TV channels–farming–plenty of places to walk
Rowan Public Library–Near Raleigh, Charlotte, Winston.
10 deficits:
Lacks enough people with the “right stuff”–poor public education system–high crime–lack of attractions–28% poverty–summer air pollution.
Youth drain–wealth has melted away–minimal local shopping–few jobs.
