Hi Joe…
I’m an avid reader of the Salisbury blog, but completely techno challenged, which is why I’m emailing instead of posting on the blog. I live in the city on Middle Blvd, which happens to be a very lovely street. One of my neighbors next door lives in New Jersey, and maintains a beautiful home. These folks could rent this home if they wanted but don’t. I watch the house for them and they probably come down about ten times a year. They have a monthly landscaper and the home gets nothing but care and compliments.
Today I observed a city public works truck parked outside the home for about an hour or so, probably hiding from their supervisor. A little while later while getting ready for work, there was a knock at my door and it was Russell Taylor from the public works with a citation for a bit of mold on the side of the neighbors house. I asked him if he was kidding and he informed me if it was not taken care of the owners would be fined $100. I asked if he had noticed the disgusting college house behind us or the slum homes two blocks away. Seems they should do this on Friday mornings after all the beer parties and the puking on everyone’s lawns.
Anyway this just reinforces what we all think already. If you are hard working, tax paying individuals you get screwed. The next time I’m walking through the city park and see all these fat ass public works people leaning on their trucks doing what they usually do (NOTHING!) I’ll be calling it in every time. As soon as the market improves, you will see two very nice homes on Middle Blvd for sale. Thanks for allowing me to vent.
A soon to be ex-city resident…..
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
26 comments:
This is so typical of this City. They pick on the good people who care for their homes and totally ignore the crappy ones. There is a home that burned in 2005 across the street from the police station. It has sat undisturbed and unpenalized since that time. Its an eyesore to the neighborhood and this City.
You could go down the block on Delaware Ave or Smith St. and find many terrible homes. The City wont bother them. Why ? Because they are reantals. They would rather harass the private homeowner, because they have money and are responsible people. Slumlords of Salisbury get away with murder.
You wont find the Mayor going after Mr. Insley for one, because thats her buddy and a member of SAPOA. The City has lost its core of homeowners and will never get them back. We have become a Philthadelphia, D.C. or Camden N.J. Nobody cares or has pride in their homes or neighborhoods. What few that do are harassed like this reader and eventually move away. Your doing a great job Mayor. Your goal for next year should be 80 percent rentals.
I had a similar experience. The North side of my home developed a discoloration from mildew over the damp winter months. The City wrote a violation or work order to correct it immediately. I take care of my home and I'm proud of it. The neighborhood itself is less than perfect, but its home.
To the best of my knowledge the inspectors did not issue any work orders for other homes in my neighborhood. There are two college rentals with debris scattered about the lawn and tall grass. A two story home with a crumbling roof and bad paint within eyesight of my home. They are still in disrepair today. There was even a home that kept a tarp on the roof for nearly a year.
I am working on my last straw. If I can financially make the move I am moving. Fruitland, Delmar or Hebron looks pretty good to me. Salisbury is not what it once was and this Mayor and Council are at the root of the problems.
Move to Delmar, DE where the taxes are 80% less and you still live within 3 miles of Salisbury. Take advantage of everything Salisbury offers for FREE! Remember, I'm on 7.5 acres of land and a beautiful home and we pay $1,200.00 a year in taxes, THAT'S IT!
thank GOD that fruitland doesn't send out the MOLD PATROL.just drive down main street and see the green houses.if every fruitland house with mold were to fined $100.00 ,that would or could amount to around$350,000-400,000 in revenue!!!!!!!!!!!!Iwill $100 bucks to have my duaLtaxes lowered thats alot GREEN.SOUNDS LIKE SOMEBODY MAY BE SMKING SOME GREEN
The whole city is a dump. Move anywhere but here. They'll tax you to death and you wont get anything in return.
I went SU and graduated; me and two friends bought several houses and turned them into rentals. A big thank you goes out to the Democrats for allowing this to happen because without them we never would have approved for this many loans. Now we make an OK profit after taxes, repairs, and mortgage payments. The value of rent keeps going up in Salisbury thus earning us more money. With SU expanding, it’s a good business.
After about two years of living on the shore, two of us moved to the Baltimore area and still maintain ownership of the houses. None of the properties are listed as rental properties in Salisbury.
Why am I telling you this? Because Salisbury is the biggest joke of a town I have ever encountered. Your administration does nothing but fester to the good ole boys, and they continually let the town go into disrepair. A lot of the folks who have control of the town don’t even live in Salisbury; most live in Worchester County. The citizens will continue to get bulldozed as you always have.
Don't move out until after the election--vote for Jim Ireton!
The city is heartless when it comes to these inspections. I was fortunate enough to travel with a Salisbury couple to France for 19 days last year; the other couple was delayed in coming home for two weeks becuse the wife became quite ill and severely broke her leg. They finally arrived back home to find a citation for their grass being too tall. Huh, for some reason, the height of their grass back home wasn't the number one thing on their minds when dealing with illness and broken bones 3000 miles away, imagine that.
Along with the citation and fine, the couple was billed for two "inspections" of their grass on consecutive days, at $100 a pop! I'd LOVE a job where I can just drive by someone's home for $100! The city was willing, after heartfelt appeals from the husband and a friend, to drop the fine, but still insisted on being paid for the "inspection" fees. My husband stepped in to help and succeeded to get it all dropped, but from that point on, the city was on their case for every little thing they found and were not satisfied with. When the wife died last December, the husband was left penniless, and the city still carried on its harrasment of my friend. I can't help thinking that the city's harrassment contributed to the depression and lack of will to live that led to the husband's death in September.
Look, I don't care who you are, Jim Ireton is NOT going to be able to become Mayor and LOWER taxes!
For those of you who think he's the right hand man to Christ, you better get your heads on straight quick!
NO ONE wil be able to help this City enjoy anything less than it is right now. The City needs more Cops. The City is burried in mortgages and lease payments so deep, none of you truly realize just how bad it is.
It's going to be a blast for Barie Tilghman to walk away from her final days and laugh knowing she got what she wanted and the bills will be left for the next Idiot who's dumb enough to take the job.
No, I don't truly believe Jim is an Idiot but you'd have to be to take the job. I have always stated to others, the next Mayor will be ni different from when Mayor Marion Barry was booted out of Washington, D.C. after Bankrupting the City. I mean, realy, who wanted that job?
Delmar, DE. is sound financially. Hell, the State of Delaware is probably the most financialy sound State in the Country. John Robinson once said he's never move to a state where they still have dirt roads. That Idiot is so clueless, he hasn't been toomuch out of Salisbury then because the whole Eastern Shore of Maryland is loaded with dirt roads.
The cost of living in Salisbury is going to go UP, not down. I don't care who goes into Office, that's the way it's going to be.
Joe,
You may be right about taxes not necessarily going down if Ireton is the mayor, but I will promise you this: you will have a mayor with integrity! That can make a big difference. The original post here was complaining about the arbitrary enforcement of housing standars--that would stop under Jim Ireton. There's no mayor who can promise a return to wealth, given the current fiscal crisis, but I want someone I can trust to try to guide us through the tough times: can you trust Comegys? I do trust Jim not to be perfect, but to try hard to work for the citizens--ALL of the citizens-- of Salisbury. That's all we can ask.
It took Barrie Tilghman 10 years to destroy the city. Jim Ireton can not be expected to repair all the damages done in that time. What I do expect Jim Ireton to do is make every effort to begin righting the wrongs of Salisbury. It might take 25 years to straighten out the legacy of Barrie Parsons Tilghman but, it can be done. It MUST be done, for the sake of all of us that hold Salisbury dear to our hearts.
Jim Ireton has the energy and the desire to turn Salisbury around. Taxes are like death, a certainty. We shall overcome.
Jim Ireton as mayor and Mike Lewis as chief of a county wide police force and watch that team roll.
Russell Taylor? Is this the same Rusty Taylor that lives/lived on Pacific Avenue and sold that good reefer? If so, no wonder he's out writing citations he's so stoned he doesn't know where he is. I guess he sells/sold reefer to supplement his income. We all know how well paid the city employees are.
Salisbury is dead run while you can.
anonymous 10:09,
Who could argue that point! Jim is certainly the best Candidate so far to date. There may be others that come along and throw their hat into the race. However, I firmly agree with you, Ireton's heart is in the right place and will serve the Citizens far better than Comegys. That's a no brainer.
Don't move around a street named "College Ave" if you don't want to be around students and their behaviors. That should be kept in mind when buying a house.
This is written by Joe:
"I went SU and graduated; me and two friends bought several houses and turned them into rentals." No doubt. Joe you've been blogged!! Ha.
anonymous 2:46,
You just go on believing that. By the way, how does it feel to make so many comments and have them rejected? Spew your lies somewhere else. You know, a place where people actually go and visit. Oh, that's right, there's only a hand full of people that go to those Blogs, so you attempt to do it here. Have a great day!
2:46
I wrote 8:58 because I would like to see the town turn itself around so we can sell the houses at a profit. At this rate our only option is to keeping renting them out. I fear that property values will remain stagnent in Salisbury for the next 5 to 10 years.
I find it funny that you take your fustrations out on Public Works when in fact Public Works has nothing to do with it. Rusty works for NSCC which is a totally different branch of the City Government. Since Tommy Stevens is so open with the public,why not go bitch to him. He is after all in charge of that Department.
I will echo what the writer from Middle Blvd said. I live a few houses from this person, and she is correct about the house owned by the people from New Jersey. It is kept in mint condition. The landscaping, as the writer stated, is done professionally and regularly maintained. This writer and I live near a "college house" that is absolutely disgraceful. The police have been called there on numerous occasions because of the loud parties. A little bit of mold does not deserve a citation.
One of my biggest fears is that after this administration exits the new one will find that things are a lot worse than we already know. I feel fortunate that Jim is running, I think we all know there is no magic wand. We do have to start at the bottom of the heap left behind.
I doubt administration transision is going to be very helpful. At least Jim is positive, together we can get Salisbury under control and yes it's going to take a while. I'm not running anywhere until my home value goes up so I'll be here a while.
Campbell and Cohen suggested slight cuts in the Zoo budget to hire new police officers however they were deamonized and all the little preppy zoo peoples in their zoo shirts acted like they were all going to lose their jobs.
It's about sucking the cuts up scale back without laying off, work with less and make your budget work for you, that is what department heads are supposed to be paid to do. All departments ask for more hoping to settle on a good figure, ask for more, get what you want.
Still no timely audit after taxpayers paid tens of thousands of dollars for and expensive independent auditor to tell the council and taxpayers that a bigest problem in the finance department failures to disclose timely financial reports to make educated decsions.
This has gone on long enough, I guess the new software additions to the finance department will be the excuse used this year and take the fall for a sorry excuse for a department head. I understand her husband is SPD and her performance should in no way be used against his abilities to do his job.
I used to bowl with Rusty at the old Wicomico Duckpin Lanes, he used to read water meters. Yes now he is with NSCC he's been a good employee a long time, he was long overdue for a promotion.
He's lived like another kid from the neighborhood like many of us, he's not forgot where he came from. I bet he's worked more off the clock than any time he's wasted. I don't work for the city either, I just know Rusty. Matter of fact I hate this administration however there are many great employees we better hang onto, they know where the problem are.
Here's an idea: Take pride in yourself & your home (whether you rent or own) and powerwash that nasty green crap off your house! It not only portrays you as 'dirty,' but you're uglying up your neighborhood.
Please stay in Salisbury and help bring it back!
Vote Jim Ireton!
Keep Debbie Campbell!
Boot Shanie Shields!
It'll be a tough climb, but it can be done.
Heck, look at all the pandering and vote changing starting on the council, backing at least some of what Debbie and Terry Cohen have been fighting for. Those wieners KNOW they'd better support some things for the little people or they don't have a prayer!
Get out and work for good candidates. C'mon, Salisbury. And hey, Joe, maybe taxes won't go down here, but there ARE pluses to living here if you don't have to deal with negatives like the one in this post. You don't see it because you don't live here, but I do. I can't afford to move. Same with many of my friends.
So please don't give up on us and encourage everyone to leave us to live and die in this.
Thanks.
Rusty Taylor must have looked very hard for that mold in order to write a citation. I rode past the house in question and looked carefully for the mold; it must be minute because I failed to see it. As I wrote earlier (10:09) the house is immaculate, so where you get off, 10:20 p.m., advising the owner to take pride in himself and his home. It is one of the best-maintained home on the square block (of 20+ homes).
Good luck if you are trying to sell your home that is located in city limits. No one wants to buy a home with an additional price tag of the city taxes and water and sewer increases this pos mare has saddled us poor suckers with. I can't even unload my house for that very reason.
I feel trapped.
Post a Comment