North Prong - Exhibit A Short Term Revitalization

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Today let's look at the short term plan for revitalization of the North Prong under Mahan Rykiel Associates, Inc.

Last night John Pick said he parented Resolution 1710. Louise Smith stressed repeatedly this was a resolution to ONLY acknowledge receipt of the plan. LIAR! Paul Wilber said this was a mild resolution. LIAR! Paul Wilber also told Jack Lenox and Gary Comegys when Perdue and the Farmers are gone, its done. Time to slither back under your rock Paul.
S.J. Disharoon asked the question that most thinking people asked of themselves. Why do they need a resolution if it is ONLY to acknowledge receipt of a plan? I'll tell you why they wanted a resolution and it will explain why Lore Chambers stormed out of the council chambers with her panties in a twist, why Gary Comegys (who wants to be R NECKS MARE) voted with an emphatic NO when the question was called. These people are so damned arrogant they have Resolution 1710 listed on the website as if it had been accepted by the council. It's been up there for days before the council even met.

Exhibit A shows the plans for a boat ramp. Isn't that lovely? Gary Comegys cries every time that bridge goes up on Rt 50 as it is, he might commit suicide if it had to open for every small boat launched on the North Prong. You can't get a Boston Whaler under the Rt 50 bridge without opening it so why would you put a Public boat ramp there? You would be hard pressed to get a person in a kayak at low tide under the bridge. Another thing those idiots might want to consider doing before they go launching pleasure craft in the North Prong is getting that outfit up in Jersey that bought the barges from Dolbey down here to retrieve the two barges they got sunk out there in the river. Notice Perdue is taken completely off the map? It's tagged as a waterfront promenade. I'm sure that will cover the taxes lost by this business being gone. NOT!

There is a chart in this plan called the North Prong Strategic Revitalization Plan - Implementation Matrix. Typical of all charts it has colorful columns with listed Strategies, Immediate, Short Term, Mid Term, Long term, Goals & Visions. Listed in the column titled IMMEDIATE it says, ENFORCE design guidelines. Had this resolution passed by the normal 3-2 vote of council today they would be ENFORCING these guidelines. Those people sitting up there in the GOB, being paid $80,000 and more annually are nothing less than common liars and thieves. They, through Louise Smith tried very hard to make everyone believe this resolution was nothing more than an acknowledgement of receipt of a plan. Reality is this was planned to be put into action as soon as they got that 3-2 vote. Lore and the rest of the thugs in the GOB had every intention of ENFORCING these guidelines ASAP. I'm thankful this is an election year, otherwise Shanie would have never gone along with Campbell and Cohen and Louise won't be left out of the majority vote, no matter what they vote on.

Granted that area needs to be cleaned up but that is up to the property owners to tend to their properties not the city or WET or Greater Salisbury or Urban Salisbury or anyone else. If you want it cleaned up send Tom Stevenson over there or Bill Holland, let him earn his keep for a change. Tell these people they need to slap some paint on their buildings or plant a bush but don't tell them they will be part of a mix use area when that is not the truth by any stretch of the imagination. How can they say existing businesses are part of the plan when the plan states to the contrary, in black and white. The points of the Revitalization Process are as follows, in their exact order:

1. There should be no use of Eminent Domain in the revitalization of the North Prong.
2. Existing businesses should not be pushed out.
3. Revitalization should be incremental-maintain existing businesses that wish to remain as some properties are redeveloped.
4. Provide community with information on planning that has been done to date.
5. Redevelopment needs to be incremental (most common viewpoint)
6. Redevelopment should encompass the whole North Prong and marketed as "one package" (this is a conflict with more common sentiment that redevelopment should be incremental)
7. Focus needs to be on making downtown work, first
8. Focus should be in stabilizing housing in existing neighborhoods before building new residential (not a common theme)
9. Success hinges on ability to find alternate location for Perdue (unless area is to remain light industrial)

These planners are just like Barrie, the council majority and her overpaid flunkies, they talk out of both sides of their mouth. First they don't want to push businesses out then in the end they want to find Perdue a new location. Well, what the hell is that if it isn't pushing a business out?
Now we know the plan of Lore, Barrie and the rest of the crooks in this town, they plan on pushing out the ONLY large employer and taxpayer remaining in the city? Should Jim Perdue fall for this malarkey and pull up stakes who will replace the tax dollars he will be taking with him? Who will be replacing the water and sewer funds that he won't be paying any longer? Most importantly WHO will employ all of the people currently employed by the Perdue Corporation? Have the slumlords thought about WHO will rent their substandard housing when Perdue pulls out? When jobs go, people go and crime rises. Comegys, Shields and Smith don't want to give funding to SPD to curtail the crime we have in the city now, who do they think will be called to serve and protect their riverfront fiasco?

I haven't gotten past page 14 of this waste of $70,000 taxpayer dollars and it's raising my blood pressure. I can only imagine how the business owners on Mill St and Lake Street must feel. Due to the length of this plan it is going to take quite a few posts to get all of the info out there to anyone interested. Believe me, I've only just begun with this issue.