These photos were taken around mid afternoon this past Saturday, December 20. It is obvious that the claims made by Barrie Tilghman and Bubba Comegys about how they have saved the downtown are pure BS. We shouldn't forget the rest of Main Street starting with Wayne Gilchrest's Office available very soon. There's another shop closing at the end of the Plaza at the end of this month and then there's Feldman's, who has been closed for almost a month now. The photos above are just an example of the numerous buildings and space available. Who's kidding who? Pictures don't lie Barrie = Bubba.
My husband and I used to live on the plaza in downtown Salisbury. We were there more than two years. When we moved in, we liked the idea that we could walk to most of the services we needed and be part of a neighborhood. We have also both been in the area for many yeas, and had seen multiple attempts to get the plaza back off the ground. We wanted to be part of a resurgence in the area.
ReplyDeleteWhen we moved in, we tried to support the local businesses, but as they closed one after another, living in the area became difficult – Fireballs Deli closed, the smaller deli began holding erratic hours, City Bistro seemed to be closed more often, and after awhile, there was little that we could do without getting in the car (which we had to pay additional to park in the municipal lot.) The little arts organizations that had sprung up couldn’t hang on. Even the gorgeous, then newly renovated building that cuts through to the parking lot has sat almost empty for years.
We watched the other families living in the neighborhood move out, and increasingly, the plaza residents became groups of college students who made such a mess of the plaza that the trash cans were at one pint removed and it was hard to get kids to sleep on the weekends with the boisterous drunks making so much noise outside. The building we lived in became overrun with students who were loud, set more than one accidental fire, and trashed the common areas. It was even hard to get UPS and FedEx deliveries because they said it was a commercial area with no parking and forced us to pick up residential delivery items ourselves at their warehouses (and the one for FedEx was in Seaford, DE.) Increasingly, we watched drug deals happening outside our windows, and felt more and more unsafe at night, with no increased patrols that we could see.
We eventually gave up and bought a place on the outskirts of town. We knew if Feldman’s went, it would be the complete end of downtown. It is so sad to see the plaza deteriorate, but the only thing that will ever turn it around will be serious investments of time, money and interest from locals, and in my opinion, it’s just not going to happen. They should zone the whole place commercial, slash the rents, make the parking free, and hope they can turn it in to a row of doctor’s offices or small businesses.
I had thought very seriously at one time to move my business to the plaza. However, between the homeless people hanging around there and the awful parking situation, I decided not to move there. I am very thankful for that decision as now it looks like a deserted area. Yes, your right, The MARE keeps bragging all that she did to better the city! Let me count the ways!
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ReplyDeleteI only get one "way" - thing - which Barrie Tilghman has done to or for Salisbury as the mayor: run the City into the ground to benefit the FOBs such as developers and slumlords. If Bubba Comegys is "R Necks Mare" it will be more of the same.
If any of you have been to destinations such as 6th Street in Austin, Texas (or even just downtown Annapolis) you would know just what a travesty this downtown negligence is. You are not going to revive this area until you get back vendors such as coffeehouses, pubs, and restaurants and such who will support people with disposable income (are there any of these left now?) after the sun sets, and on weekends. And maybe purchase a bloody dumpster, or seven, with lids so the over-flowing garbage doesn't make the plaza look like Somalia. But I guess 12 long years isn't enough for the "powers that be" to develop that kind of insight/foresight.
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