Jonathan Morris, U.S. Army Ranger Ret. & Farmer
♦Lately Salisbury is taking a good ole butt-whuppin’ when it comes to getting over on their red neck neighbors in the county and the good folks living in Salisbury’s donut, the minority neighborhoods, the city workers, and forcibly annexed tax slaves. Folks the dice has rolled all the other way. Salisbury’s nasty lil’ gang of hysteric preservationists, the downtowners, the dying propaganda rag that rides with the baby-faced Fuhrer and the payola boys, the country klub, and the bric-a-brac & junktique monopoly strangling the city’s retail and economic growth–your days in the catbird seat are tossed down the basement steps of the Empire Hotel. Get in line and take a number and step to the rear. Party’s over.
The County is taking its rightful place on the throne. Let Salisbury strangle itself on its own terms because buddy that’s what anyone can clearly see. Salisbury is getting beat time and time again by its own bs and lack of numbers. The County Commissioners and the RFP have kicked the door down on you and exposed your crooked little game. You tried to run Gene Miller to promote your downtown special interests in the county commissioner race and you got your head handed to you. You attempted to foist your ridiculously over-priced downtown Central Office on the county dime so you could score some cashola for a chosen few and feather your Master Plan to nowhere. Not happening. Jim Sides and his posse stopped that cold. No leaching off the county for another “build it and they will come”. Oh my Salisbury got its leaching ways crushed in state legislature the other day on the County Airport De-Annexation. You got a high-priced lobbyist and you still got stomped. The Democrats up in Raleigh didn’t even go for your charade of a case. They laughed at the two-part litmus test and the special criteria. The word’s out on the city of Salisbury and their baby faced Fuhrer. They ain’t to be trusted.
Salisbury you can try running Richard Miller for County Commissioner, but that run will get poleaxed quick. A lot of boots on the ground are poised in the county and inside Salisbury donut and hoods. He’s linked forever with Salisbury’s special interests, the pimping of the Taj on South Main, and worst of all Rowan-Salisbury Schools 113th place out of 115 state school systems. I won’t even mention Rowan-Salisbury Schools horrible performance on the NC ABC Report Card and its downward spiraling SAT scores or the behavior problems, gangs, the dire need for building repair and renovation for our school houses or all that taxpayer money wasted on IPADs sitting in their unopened boxes in a school system warehouse. Got to catch my wind here.
Salisbury, your current city council has lost a lot of favor in Salisbury. People are alarmed about Fibrant’s debacle. They know what’s coming after baby face’s magic budget. The city will laying in its fancy hammock, dreaming up new taxes, fees, and utility hikes. The city workers jobs will take it on the chin more and more.
Anyone running against the status quo city council will have easy pickings with the 5 buffoons taking up space on their city council seats with the baby-face Fuhrer yapping nonsense in the background and blowing the fuses on lie detector tests. He’s produced enough issues in his two year stint to sink city council in November. His baggage don’t only stink–it freaking glows in the dark.
The issues are huge for city council–any one of them would drag them straight to the bottom in November. Take a gander:
The city’s very visible financial crisis due to the Fibrant’s debacle and their inability to solve it. Not paying back the debt and interest on the reserve funds.
City council’s antagonistic attitude toward the county commissioners and always trying to make them look like the bad guys. That isn’t lost on the county or the majority living in the donut or the minority neighborhoods or amongst the ripped off forcibly annexed.
Salisbury’s extremely high violent crime rate.
Corruption in a number of city departments. Lot of former city employees are talking and what they are saying isn’t going unheard.
Ultra poor economic development stymied by city’s codes, regulations, downtown NIMBYs, and habitual construction overruns.
Leaching off county taxpayers to try and build over-priced buildings and pad the City’s Master Plan.
Bad treatment of minorities by Salisbury Police. City done lost some big time settlements already.
City minority neighborhoods given lip service by city government.
Plundering forcibly annexed neighborhoods and no equitable exchange.
Excessive positive smoke screening and cover ups by Salisbury city government.
Mushrooming growth of city gang and drug problems.
Police and fire departments dangerously understaffed.
Wrongful terminations and bad treatment of city employees.
Supporting Salisbury Post with excessive advertising and public notices payouts. A little of that “one hand washes the other” magic.
City’s glut of toxic waste areas and superfund sites.
You can’t hide Waldo when he’s taking up the whole picture.
