Here is my take-away notes from the Mayoral Forum last night.
I was greeted on my way in by Ireton's gang asking me to sign up on the mailing list and receive a free t-shirt. I let them know I was already on the mailing list. One gentleman went right over and got me a T-shirt and another gentleman handed me Jim's brochure AND a handout titled "Do you know about Tenant Rights?". The man looked me right in the eye and said that these were MY RIGHTS as a tenant. Great job Jim Ireton!
The event opened with an introduction by an SU student and then the candidates took the stage, Comegys first and Jim following. Jim shook the hand of the student as he walked by and then Comegys turned around and walked a few steps back to the podium to shake the student's hand also. I thought that this was HILARIOUS and a perfect way of foreshadowing the rest of the evening.
On to the Questions. KEEP IN MIND that these are not quotes but my paraphrasing of what they said. In parentheses are my additional thoughts or commentary.
Q. How do you plan to reach out to SU students?
Comegys: SU is an asset to the community and the community should be warm and welcoming.
Ireton: There are shortcomings between the relationship of the University and the community. We need to find ways for graduating students to stay in Salisbury. (He mentioned the Student Safety Committee and Tenant Rights). The city can do better.
Q. What are your feelings about the idea of having a SU student representative
on the city council?
Ireton: I am not quite sure how I feel about this. There are many ways that students can be involved in city politics. (but it seemed like he was mostly against this and that students should be on city councils when and where they settle down and buy a home.) (I respect and understand this answer. However I am a student, permanent resident, AND a homeowner...)
Comegys: I agree with Mr. Ireton and I'm not sure how I feel about doing this. I am an open door for communication. I am good at listening to your ideas. (because he has none of his own.)
Q. What are your plans for the jurisdiction of police: University, City, County,
& State?
Comegys: Crime cannot be solved this way. I want to reduce crime. Everyone needs to be aware of their surroundings, walk together, lock their doors and cars, and look out for each other. (because he's not planning on fixing the crime problems.)
Ireton: I plan to engage the Judiciary system and work with them so they are not throwing out cases because of jurisdiction. When you or I call 9-1-1, we don't care who shows up. We don't care if it's a city policeman or a county sheriff. Just get someone there. The line of city limits is all over and it's a problem to try to figure out who's jurisdiction it is.
Q. How do you plan to create new jobs in Salisbury?
Ireton: I want to draw businesses to the city that will keep business students
here. I want to get the students active in the community.
Comegys: There needs to be improvement in the job category. With the way Obama is leading the country there should be new energy opportunities.
Q. How do you plan on dealing with the issue of Rentals when the students want more and the community members want less?
Comegys: Housing has always been an issue for the University. There are many opportunities for students and city citizens to be neighbors. (How does this
answer the question? Really...?)
Ireton: This question may be flawed because it's not necessarily true that students want more rentals and city citizens want less. There are a finite
number of houses and there are different estimates on the percentage of which are rental units (I believe he mentioned a possible stat of 55% and another possible stat of 70% rental houses.) (Then he sort-of went slightly off topic to mention part of his platform to help students:) You need to keep in mind that your landlord is the ONLY person who can raise your rent. It's not my job to get involved with your relationship with you and your landlord, but it is my job to protect you. (then he made heated remarks basically saying that landlords don't have any repercussions for not taking care of the rental houses and that they are raising rent and it's not the city's fault and that someone is smiling all the way to the bank and "its not you [student] and it's not me [himself, as mayor]." The main point he was making was that students are getting ripped off by their landlords.)
Q. Students are worried about crime and want to know what you plan to do for crime prevention.
Ireton: I worry about the University. I want to open up substations where SU students can work to answer the phones while the police are out in the field on
bicycles. (It is to my understanding that the substation would be open for anyone to work including university students, retirees, and other city citizens) The job of the mayor is to keep you save. We need to be pro-active and not reactive. (He also mentioned the crime rates for the city and how badly it is out of control - Jim is a man with a plan)
Comegys: Substations are an archaic idea. Police cars are rolling substations with all sorts of computers and technology. ($$$) We need to protect not only residential areas, but industrial and commercial as well. It takes everyone to solve crime and we need to take a regional approach. (so what's the plan? buy more police cars fully outfitted with the work$ and charge the taxpayers?)
Q. There is currently no objective criteria for the noise ordinance. Do you think jail time is a fair consequence for a noise violation?
Comegys: The penalties in place are consistent with MD law. We don't have the tools available or haven't invested in them (decibel meters) to put an objective
criteria on the ordinance. There are many sources of noise such as trash pickup at 4 am and construction vehicles. It probably needs to be worked on and must be
consistent with the law.
Ireton: (Ok, so this question really seemed to pluck a nerve with Jim and he got pretty emotional and kept interrupting himself. I am not 100% sure the point that he was trying to make. He started by saying that there are speed limits and maximum BAC levels that are objective criteria...and then he kind of broke off. My impression of what he was saying was that he is for the noise ordinance and that people who are getting 2 and 3 violations really need to be quiet.)(my 2 cents: I think that there NEEDS to be an objective requirement (it can be a strict one, but it should be measurable) and I am okay with maximum db level
and harsh punishments for 2nd, 3rd, 4th...etc offenses. I am not a "big party" person. I like small parties. I hate being stereotyped as a loud, drunk, partying college student. Students need to be responsible when they party and punished when they break the law over and over again.)
Q. What will you do to improve Recycling?
Ireton: I am vice chair of the Recycling Committee. When asking why multi-family dwellings (i.e. apartment complexes) are not recycling, the answer was 'because they don't have to.'
Comegys: Apartment complexes have the choice whether or not to use the city's trash/recycling pickup or that of another business (i.e. BFI or Waste
Management). A policy can be implemented but we need to find an efficient and cost effective way of improving recycling or it's just for looks and not really impacting the environment in a helpful way.
Q. How do you plan to clean up the Wicomico River?
Comegys: "When the Waste Water Treatment Plant gets running..." As the news
indicates we are having issues. When it works....blah blah blah. We need to look at storm water drainage. We have an aged infrastructure and it is not just as easy as putting filters on the pipes. This is an expensive proposition. Until there is a sufficient revenue source, we can't afford to fix the river. (CHA CHING. I just heard city taxes go up...)
Ireton: I want to make the Wicomico River swimable and fishable in 10 years. Testing indicates we have elevated levels of nitrogen and phosphorus and an excess number of algae blooms. We need to conduct indigenous species studies. I
will map out all of the outfall pipes into the river and trace them back to their sources and filter them also. I want to start up environmental studies on the river for class credit and MSA approved for younger students. All students, k-12 and college can be part of this. We can ALL be part of this. You can read more about the Wicomico River Project on my website. (I think this was the best answer of the whole night and it really shows that Jim Ireton has a PLAN for this city.)
Q. What do you feel are SU student's responsibilities for the greater Salisbury?
Ireton: The requirements for acceptance in to Salisbury University are high. I don't think that I could have gotten in with these requirements. You guys are smarter than me and with that increased intellectuality comes more responsibilities. I want to challenge students to think critically. Think critically about this campaign and how the city should grow and move forward.
Comegys: SU students are bright. I think students need to be good citizens and be involved with the community. If you want to be embraced by the community you need to embrace the community as well. You're already doing a lot with Relay for Live and the upcoming Big Event. We can all be better neighbors. The bottom line it you should enjoy your experience as a student and contribute to the economy. (I read between the lines here. "enjoy your experience here" translates to:
"have more parties" and "contribute to the economy" translates to: "and we will bust you and you will pay tons of fines to contribute to our economy".)
Then there were closing remarks beginning with Jim Ireton where he stressed again how much the landlords are ripping the students off. I don't remember what Comegys said after that....
After the candidates, the SU Democrat club went up on stage to meet Mr. Ireton and get their photo taken with him. After a few shots, Mr. Comegys joined in for the next shot. Then I talked to the SU Dem club for a few minutes and they said that they think Mr. Ireton is the right man for the job, but he came off as slightly abrasive and defensive. One of them had been fooled by Mr. Comegys and his lies and was quick to say that Gary Comegys was manipulating his entire speech to appeal to the students and that the reason that Jim was seemingly defensive was because he was being brutally HONEST and that he really had emotions and opinions about the questions being asked. Comegys just wants the city to tell him what to do and had no new and creative ideas to bring to the table. I noticed then that Gary had seemingly left and Jim Ireton was still being asked questions and shaking hands.
Rebecca Bullard
11 comments:
Rebecca should interview Campbell & Polk and share their positions on this issues with the campus community.
Bye, Bye Bubba (and Barrie)!
PS -- It's a very good report by Ms. Bullard.
Nice job, Rebecca! I hope SU students get that Jim really does support the studentds (after all, he is the only cadidate that graduated from SU). Truth be told, he was a bit touchy that night, but it was due to the non-stop dirty politics that is going on behind the scenes. It is difficult to sit next to a guy who is totally blowing smoke up the students butts and not say anything negative, but Jim has decided to take the high road throughout his campaign. So I will go ahead and tell you why it was particularly annoying to hear Gary Comegys discuss the noise ordinance the way he did. Gary Comegys specifially pushed through the vote on the ordinance during a time when SU was not in session, and he bragged about it! So he passes an ordinance clearly targeted at students, makes sure students won't be there to get a chance to express their views, and then laughs about what he did! But then he gets in front of students and is their buddy. Please. I hope you all see through this guy--he used you last time to get elected (remember the b.s that if Tim Spies gets elected your rent is gong up? Ummm . . does that meake sense?) and is trying to do it again.
Thank you Rebecca, it is refreshing to hear directly from a student on their take of our candidates. Thank you for taking the time to write this.
That picture cracks me up!!!!! Gary looks like he is either A: trying REALLY hard to remember what Ireton is saying so he can make the same round-about comment or B: "How the h3ll does he answer these questions so well off the top of his head?" Funny :) Great reporting!!!!!
How many of the (students) will actually call Salisbury home when they are done their studies? The fact that this group of people have the amount of control they do in electing Salisburys Mayor, to me is ridiculous. Call me crazy if you want but most of these students have no long term vested interest in the city of Salisbury. I would like to know what percentage of registered city voters are in fact students at the university. How much influence do they actually have and how much do they actually use it come election day?
The reality of the situation with students graduating then moving on is directly proportional to the number of decent jobs available. Tilghman has done precious little to bring anything more than more starvation-level jobs here, and those at the expense of the taxpayers in the form of tax breaks for the employers. It's a sinking ship, and she and Comegys (and cronies) have drilled many of the holes.
SU's banners read:
LIVE - LEARN - LEAD
The sad reality of it is:
LIVE - LEARN - LEAVE
That can only change with a worthwhile trip to the voting booth. Salisbury can be a very nice place to live and work, but it won't happen with a continuation the policies of Mayor Tilghman's regime, as "led" by Gary Comegys.
Great report, Ms. Bullard. You trample the Daily Times in reporting.
I hope that this will appear in the Flier
Thanks everyone for your compliments. I am not even a journalism major or english major! I'm actually an art student.
My reply to you Doug W. is that the students really don't have a say in the Mayoral election. The posters for the evening basically were for students to come out and listen to their views and communicate since whoever is voted in will affect us (even many of us can't vote.) The fact of the matter is that the city line runs RIGHT through campus leaving out ALL of the dorm buildings. In addition to this, there is NO information easily available to students about how to register to vote in Salisbury and/or whether or not they are allowed. If they live here long enough, if they are in or out of the city, why they can't vote when the STUDENTS ARE PAYING CITY TAXES through their landlords, etc. True probably only a few students stay here after graduation, but also MANY students are locals anyway. Like me. I graduated from Wicomico High School and Wi Middle before that and North Salisbury School before that. The reason I can vote is because I moved out of my dad's house by the mall (out of city limits) and bought a house that is in the city.
And I will vote.
And most students won't.
P.S. local voter registration was closed for a bit and opened up for last minute registration for ONLY 2 DAYS and it was during SU SPRING BREAK. Coincedence? hmm...
The students really don't have as much of a say as you think we do. I am one of the lucky few.
Rebecca, the "say" students have cost a great candidate the last election. His name was Tim Spies. He was smeared by the landlords to the students. "Enough" students turned out to vote and helped screw themselves and this city for another four miserable years.
You need to get the word out and the students out to vote for Ireton and Campbell (and Polk), or you students will continue to get used as pawns by the vermin that make money off you. (Well, not you. You own your house.)
Just cutting through the crap and being honest.
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