Sam Post, Spoken Space Theater, Salisbury, N.C.
Dear Steve,
Thanks for the plug for our show, Laugh Tracks, at Spoken Space Theatre. FYI, it’s entirely inaccurate. The sketches we have planned are not the ones you list. I won’t be linking to it, but you know what you wrote (using the name Diane Goldstein).
(Sam you’re jumping to conclusions about who writes as Diane Goldstein. It was a “send up” of Laugh Tracks by someone who sometimes grazes Fire Jim Sides Facebook blog. Apparently Fire Jim Sides listed the Rowan Free Press and I as a participants in the upcoming Laugh Track show. I find both the Laugh Tracks videos I’ve seen and Todd Paris’s blog marginaly amusing, but completely off base.) Steve
While we do appreciate the publicity, I’m sorry to report that we won’t be reciprocating. We don’t have any bits scheduled about your blog.
We do plan to make fun of the county commissioners, Jim Sides in particular. However, this is not personal. I’ve known Mr. Sides most of my life. I like him and respect him and consider him to be a friend. I simply have different opinions about public policy and would like to see the county government shift its priorities.
(I see wisdom in many of the county commissioner’s initiatives and decisions. I’m personally glad they balked at 329 S. Main–it was a bad piece of turf and likely would’ve done nothing to move the Empire Hotel and done little to impact economic development in the city. Thought the airport de-annexation wise. The purchase of the West End Plaza a good long-term money saving move and won’t impact taxes except to lower them in future years.) Steve
Your blog gets personal. It seems to focus primarily on city vs. county politics, saying that the people in the county are good and the people in the city are bad.
(You’re misinterpreting the Rowan Free Press. In fact you sound concrete and distorting in your take. I’m not big on the city government, its management, or the approach of the Downtown Salisbury ONLY that traditionally ignores most of the rest of city in its decisions and the county as well. I don’t view the people in the city or the county in terms of good and bad. I don’t see signs of heavyweight city leadership which is one of the reasons why Salisbury is going down the tubes.) Steve
While politics is a part of the Laugh Tracks show, it’s only a part. It’s something we’re interested in, but we’re interested in a lot of other things that provide material for comedy also. Our primary focus is to create fun and laughter.
You and I have different points of view, and I consider you to be my friend.
(Thank you Sam–we have very different views) Steve
One thing I know about people. They don’t look the same, walk the same, talk the same — or think the same.
Here’s a bit about my view, and how it got shaped by my experiences. I grew up in Salisbury, taught school for 24 years (in the county), raised my children here, own a business here, pay taxes here, own property here. So I care deeply about this geographical area and its future.
(Sam I also care deeply about the area’s future–hence the Rowan Free Press. The county in recent years has not received a fair shake in the existing media here. I’ve done two interviews with the Salisbury Post and had words misattributed to me I never said and important points entirely left out. County commissioners have undergone the same stuff.) Steve
Your experiences are completely different, and you have a completely different point of view.
That said, I don’t see that it benefits anybody for the county government and city government to oppose each other. And I don’t understand why anybody would want to take sides. The city is part of the county, only divided by an artificial line on a map. People live, work, shop, eat, and die all over, without regard to the government entities presiding over that piece of street or sidewalk or structure. The political arguments are fun, but they are really a whole lot of hoopla about a division that doesn’t really exist. It’s all just a place where people live — a tiny speck on a map.
(Sam I see great benefits for the county government in opposing the city government. The city government of Salisbury possesses largely different values than the county government who is protective of the county taxpayers and reflects their desires expressed in the polling booths. While the city government desires to usurp the lead in county/city affairs–the county wants to go elsewhere. There’s nothing wrong with division. All over the United States municipalities and counties get involved in push-pulls over who leads. It doesn’t hurt business coming here–because it occurs all over the United States between prospering cities and prospering counties. For the moment the city is struggling with joblessness, poverty, crime, and education. No Sam there is a very real political divide here. The inner hub of the city claims to be “progressive”–the rest of the city and certainly the county is fairly conservative in political perspective. I fall somewhere in the middle–fiscally conservative–socially moderate. The division politically between downtown Salisbury and its interests are quite different than the outer city and the county. The election sweep of the school board and the new majority on the county commission reflects this political division.)
I know, firsthand, that you are a good person. And you’re a good writer.
(Well thank you Sam) Steve
Your website, however, leaves people with the distorted impression that Salisbury is a town full of crime, corruption, and decay. Websites are accessible. Potential residents, businesses, and industry may see your website. Parents with children, considering moving here, have probably seen your website. Much of the material is distorted, and it does a lot of harm to the people who live in this area.
(Sam there is no distortion in my writing about Salisbury. It does have very high crime as the FBI statistics show both in violent and property crime. If you listen to the police and fire scanners there is much activity day and night. And until recently, there’s been much glossing over of the gangs and their impact on the schools. I’ve talked with many police and folks in the Sheriff’s department. They told me much. Several law enforcement persons are among my closest friends. Most people I know pack and have concealed carry permits. I know for a fact there’s corruption here after speaking with many city employees and business owners. Many are fearful of speaking out publically because of vendettas or getting fired and blackballed. Most days my phone rings or I get emails from folks. Salisbury possesses many badlands and its poverty is somewhere in the vicinity of the 28% according to the census statistics. These are undeniable database facts. This is what outsiders look at–not the Rowan Free Press. When folks go hunting for new places to live they look at databases. FBI Crime stats. The State READY Report Card for education. Census Poverty Statistics. Employment statistics.) Steve
(The demographics over the last decade demonstrate a shift away from the middle, upper, and educated folks. Younger educated folks have moved away and the city schools have suffered from gradual urban flight and a decline in test scores and rise of behavioral problems) Many children reach high school with the inability to read or write especially in Salisbury’s schools. The schools have declined over the years ago according to longtime educators and statistics. If my daughter lived here I wouldn’t send her to the city’s public schools. Distortion in what I write–not happening. I spend time in careful research. Vacancies, decay, abandoned homes are present in Salisbury, even the Main Street area. And more evident on South Main. I’ve bothered to probe and do research and talk to quite a few folks. It does appear that some in the city are in denial or gloss over the changes that occurred in Salisbury over the past decade.) Steve
(As I said before no businesses or folks exploring coming to Salisbury spend much time reading online news websites–they look at databases and real estate sites like AreaVibes.com which show Salisbury as being the 233rd ranked city/town in North Carolina. Also people visit the city and they see more than the square–they see Long Street–the West End–Airport Rd. and the abundance of badlands here. Salisbury is downtrodden in most areas outside the historic district. Visitors have described Salisbury as dumpy and as a cultural wasteland. We’re forced to drive Charlotte and Winston for music, theater, and urban civilization. I’m glad I have very fast high-speed internet to catch up with friends here and around the globe. Save for my marital partner happening to live here, I wouldn’t choose to live here because it isn’t safe and doesn’t provide many of the things I enjoy. On the plus side I’ve developed many friends here and that’s a glue that holds me here.) Steve
I don’t know why you do this. I know you are not from here, originally, and that you may have been treated badly by people in Salisbury.
(I wasn’t treated badly by folks here, but my wife was shunned by her old friends when I took up the Rowan Free Press.) Steve
There is a certain amount of snobbery here, as there is in every other town. My mother used to tell me how hard it was when she moved here, as a teenager, in the 1930′s. Her parents were immigrants who spoke with a foreign accent. My wife experienced this. My father experienced this. As a minority, I’ve experienced this separateness.
(There is very detectable snobbery here in the historic district–never detected it directed toward me. They do talk about county people and the county commissioners. Snobbery always seemed neurotic to me and fueled by stereotypes and measuring people by what they do and have. Its a fact of life that many folks don’s accept differences. I consider myself fortunate to have many close friends from all walks of life) Steve
And I’ve participated in the hometown snobbery myself. It’s a “hey, I was born here” mentality. My family doesn’t go back generations, but it goes back further than people who moved here in recent years, like you. It’s like everybody picks on the new kid in class, and it goes on and on and on.
It’s silly.
So I want to be responsible for whatever I did to you that has you be this bitter. And I’d like to apologize. You live here, and you have the right to be welcomed as a part of the community without having to get attention by lashing out against it.
(Sam I am not bitter and no one is ever responsible for how I feel–I’m a pretty happy guy. When I’m writing I’m usually enjoying myself unless I get interrupted. By the way I write as Steve Mensing–the RFP moniker is usually a joint effort where I might contribute some. Someone might write part of an article and then one or two others add into our open source. I go over it and rewrite some of it which provides some of its flavor. Bitterness is neither a part of my perspective or something I experience. I am not a fan of the city of Salisbury government, the educational system up until Lynn Moody’s arrival, and many of Salisbury’s special interests leading the city to where it is today.) Steve
You’ve done a great job with your website. It gets a lot of traffic. I’ve read it with much interest myself. You’ve worked hard on it. Yet, it clings to a rigid, nasty, anti-city agenda. It’s an old, silly feud that started long before you and I made our lives here. You didn’t invent it. Why not give up embracing it and consider a more productive pursuit? Why not deal with the real city, rather than the evil one you’ve imagined? It’s just a place where people live, just like any other place. They build homes and buildings and streets. That’s it. And you live in it! Why not make your website something great that contributes to these people? You’re one of them. You could devote your considerable talents to that and be known for that!
Sam
(Sam, Salisbury at this point has nothing much left on its clock. City’s that have between 19% percent and 21% poverty are not long for this world before folks exit elsewhere. Salisbury is at 28%. Some folks who study demographics will tell you those kind of high poverty statistics are signs of the “River of No Return”. Salisbury already has difficulty attracting business here. I wouldn’t recommend Salisbury in its current condition. I suspect if the city continues in its present downward thrust, many of the people living here will be elsewhere in the next 3 to 5 years. There’s much to correct. I don’t see any sign of viable leadership here to get Salisbury going. The city is enthralled with build it and they will come projects and when they don’t work–they call them successes when an honest appraisal tells us otherwise. Folks here in the historic district have certain cognitive biases about the city fed by a closed information society and the lack of a protective all-seeing-eye. The wakeup over the next few years will be painful for many. I lived through a very similar circumstance in Germantown, a neighborhood in Philadelphia. Oddly it was called historic Germantown and deservedly so. Within a span from 1960 to 1969 its demographics slid from upper and middle class to poverty. Germantown was emptied by urban flight to the suburbs. Today it bares no resemblance to the neighborhood I grew up in. Salisbury has hit a dead-end. Sorry–there’s many cities that have gone down this road and never come back.) Steve
