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Friday, March 28, 2008

The Criteria To Become An "All American City"


You tell me, does Salisbury qualify?

CRITERIA
For a community to be named an All-America City, it must be able to demonstrate successful resolution of community issues through collaborative effort. Award winning criteria include the following: active citizen involvement, effective and efficient government performance, maximized local philanthropic and volunteer resources, a strong capacity for cooperation and consensus building, community vision and pride, inter-group relations, community information sharing, and intercommunity cooperation.

All-America City Award Criteria

Participation of the public, private and nonprofit sectors and key constituencies to the maximum extent possible; Recognition and involvement of diverse segments and perspectives (ethnic, racial, socio-economic, age, etc.) in community decision-making; Creative use and leveraging of community resources; Significant and specific community achievements; Projects that address the community’s most important needs;
Cooperation across jurisdictional boundaries; Clear demonstration of project results and impacts (dollars raised or lives impacted); Projects which have impacted the community significantly within the last three years, and have potential to continue improving the quality of life; and at least one project should document ways in which the lives of children and youth have been tangibly improved.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joe:

Please do a public service and post the name and address, including e--mail, of the person to contact at the All American City contest to tell them the truth about Salisbury. It would be counter productive if Barrie can somehow con them into choosing this City, because it would enable her to deceive others about her leadership. Maybe enough real information will make the All-American City judges tell Barrie to take a hike. I can't believe that any City funds would be spent on this contest, but this is Barrieland.

Anonymous said...

This is one of the best articles you have posted. It should be shared with everyone through the newspaper and other blog sites. Very comprehensive and serves as a guideline for all to reread periodically.

Anonymous said...

I only had to read to the word "community" to see that SBY does not qualify. There is no sense of community in this place. It's one faction against the other, with no cooperation...in fact, none of these people will even acknowledge the opinion or position of the other. You can't fix what you don't recognize as broken. How about "Least Functioning City"? We could at least qualify for that one.

Anonymous said...

NO-WAY!

Anonymous said...

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!! THEY DO HOWEVER QUALIFY FOR THE CITY OF THIEVES AWARD.

Anonymous said...

No way does Salisbury qualify. Should Barrie proceed with her efforts to push this charade, I and others will personally contact the organization (email address on the website) to say that the truth is Salisbury represents none of the qualifying criteria and its consideration would be a farce.

Citizens of Salisbury do not want to receive a sham award--we want any award to be earned and Barrie has not given us a City to be proud of.

Anonymous said...

"active citizen involvement, effective and efficient government performance"--ha! You gotta be kidding me!!

Barrie and Louise--don't even think about budgeting money for trying to pass Salisbury off as an All American City 'cause we citizens will make sure that the true situation in Salisbury is made known to the National Civic League.

Anonymous said...

First paragraph says it all, especially the first line. "Collaborative effort"? Heck, it's more like a "clobber effort" on the part of 3-2 plus the mayor and her cronies. You want to be sure Salisbury doesn't get considered? Send the All-American City Committee a tape of Monday night last's meeting!

Anonymous said...

The answer to your question is a great big NO!!

Anonymous said...

Somebody needs to send films of our City Council meetings to this organization. The citizens should also start a letter writing campaign and include copies of all the Freedom of Information Act forms we've had to fill out for even the most mundane information. This City is a sick joke!

Anonymous said...

While you are at it, Joe, please get the award contact information for the "100 Best Cities for Youth."

I have a child in school here, and my husband and I are thinking of taking her out and homeschooling, or moving altogether. Not only are the schools out of control, but I cannot take my daughter along any of the lovely places I once knew because the city has become to violent and dangerous.

My heart is breaking for what has happened to this town, especially in the last 10 years or so.

Anonymous said...

Joe, i have to agree with the watchdog. One of the best articles you've ever published. If the "mayor" (gee, i don't even like saying her name) is allowed to pull this one over, it puts a real feather in the hussy's cap. And it is really sickens me to think that could happen. especially seeing the way our city is being mis-lead. Leadership? the hussy doesn't know even how to spell it. SBY certainly doesn't get even remotely close.

Anonymous said...

Barrie and Louise--don't even think about budgeting money for trying to pass Salisbury off as an All American City 'cause we citizens will make sure that the true situation in Salisbury is made known to the National Civic League.

Well you had better starting making the National Civic League aware as well as the judges in this contest. Last Monday night they accepted a donation from someone to help fund the trip to Florida for a team of people to convince these people Salisbury is worthy of this award. John Pick named off those that would be making this journey, Lore Chambers is one of them.

Email away folks.

Anonymous said...

Just read more on the Awards website where it announced this year's winners: "These All-America cities symbolize the spirit of grassroots democracy and community problem solving," said Gloria Rubio-Cortés, president and CEO of the Denver-based nonprofit organization that awards communities for outstanding civic accomplishments".

The word 'Salisbury' and 'grassrootes democracy' cannot be used in the same sentence. Already Barrie is hell-bent on sending people from the City (including Lore' Chambers) to scope out this years awards event to see how Salisbury can get a leg-up on the competition next year. How much City money and staff time will be spent on getting the formal application ready--there is a heft fee for submitting the application I think?

Barrie is nuts!

Anonymous said...

Should I email them a pdf of the lovely letter I received from the weasel? Surely that will convince them of the sense of community and citizen involvement, here in Salisbury

Donna

Anonymous said...

Go here to see what true All American Cities are:
http://www.ncl.org/aac/

Salisbury isn't even in this league of accomplishments (no doubt Louise will say picking up trash on Church Street would qualify).

You can't convince others you have qualities you do not possess.

Anonymous said...

Denver (National Headquarters)
National Civic League
1640 Logan Street
Denver, CO 80203

303-571-4343 (phone)
303-571-4404 (fax)
ncl@ncl.org (email)


There's the info, email, call, fax away. The suggestion of sending a copy of Monday nights audio and/or video file isn't a bad idea at all. Anyone have it to send?

BossHogg said...

Joe:

Pocomoke has been touting it's

'All American City' status for years.

The main criteria for getting the designation is payment of the entry fees and submitting an essay.

This is 100% pure BS...

Anonymous said...

If you take away the city leaders, crack cocaine, heroine, booze, thefts, drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps, gangs, and all the little wanna-be thugs walking around; then maybe we’ll be in the running. Damn, you would think that a city with a general population of less than 50,000 could control the insurmountable crime that happens here, but when you look at Mayor Barrie and Chiefy Webster, it’s understandable why Salisbury has gone downhill so fast.

Anonymous said...

Hey, let's also send them info on Barrie's daughter beating up on a council person--"government working together" and "community problem solving" at its finest!!

And, of course, we can't forget to include the recall for Barrie, Louise, etc.
Maybe that's the "grassroots democracy" example we could give!!!

Anonymous said...

Can anyone else hear the roar coming from the GOB? Methinks the Mare is about to have a cow over all this community involvement putting a wrench into her plans. Continue on revolutionaries, undo her efforts before they take root. Send them everything you've got!

Anonymous said...

Donna please do send on your letter from the weasel to the selection committee. Best to stop this lie before it ever see's the light of the next day!

A. Goetz

Anonymous said...

Is this the same award/organization? If so, it sounds like Debbie Campbell and Terry Cohen, but not one damn thing like Barrie and our city government:

Are you working to advance citizen democracy
and good government in your community?

If so, the National Civic League can help. By informing, uniting and empowering citizens, we are making democratic institutions and systems more accountable, inclusive, and responsive to citizens in thousands of communities across the country.

Theodore Roosevelt, Louis Brandeis, Marshall Field, and other visionaries founded NCL in 1894 to promote municipal reform and community democracy. NCL is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to building community. We help business, government, community groups, and individuals work together to solve critical problems. We also serve as a resource for anyone interested in cutting-edge community building practices.

Anonymous said...

Art,

I sent the email this morning when I hunted up the contact info. I'm searching for the email Mike Dunn sent to my aunt. Want to let them know these bad behaviors have been on going.

I would love to see Salisbury win this award BUT if Salisbury is going to get an award it should deserve it. At this time Salisbury doesn't deserve anything other than the resignations of Barrie, Gary, Louise and Shanie.

Donna