Seven Valuable Hours With The Greater Salisbury Committee

Last week the Greater Salisbury Committee brought together some of the greatest minds, business people and influential citizens on the Eastern Shore. I was one of the 150 or so people initially honored to be invited.

What started out as a very interesting meeting, quickly became one of those, just what am I doing here meetings. Allow me to explain.

When I was invited, I thought the meeting would be based around what we could do as a whole, offering wisdom in answering many of the challenging subjects that face us. I personally felt that IF the question came up about what the Eastern Shore represents to all of us, Poultry and Agriculture would be the key topic at hand.

What I didn't see there was Farmers, (agriculture or poultry). There's been so much talk recently about Farm Land and the County's interest in improving the value of property INSIDE the Metro Core. If the County is successful in making farm land more difficult to develop, properties inside the Metro Core will skyrocket because MOST people do not want 2 acres or more of land to take care of, let alone be taxed on.

Let me get back to the point. As you can see from the images above, this was yet another one of those "Break Out" meetings. There was a remote control at every seat in which they'd ask the questions you see above, everyone would vote and then they'd show a chart of what the majority thought on each topic after a 20 minute discussion.

To me, the meeting was carefully based around what THEY wanted to hear. Look at the questions. Where does it say, considering the Eastern Shore's biggest Industry is Poultry and Agriculture, what can we do to enhance and preserve our biggest industries?

Instead, they want to talk about math and science because Wallops Island is now sending rockets into outer space and we need more scientists. The first thing that came out of my mouth during that position of questioning was, who didn't want to be an astronaut when they were a kid. How many could fit into a capsule. The odds of someone actually making it to the Moon was probably 50,000,000 to 1.

This is the Eastern Shore Folks. I believe many of us came here for a simpler life. We came here to get away from the Bowie, Frederick, Rockville, Baltimore areas because the taxes were crazy, especially in our retirement years. Some came here because they saw the low cost of housing and residential taxes. Mind you, some came here to take advantage of developable land and even rental housing opportunities, such as Salisbury.

So why is the Greater Salisbury Committee interested in polling a hundred plus people with specific questions provided above. Because the County is losing revenue. The only way to quickly increase that revenue is to make others believe we're actually behind. It's to make us believe we should be better than what we are. I came here because I enjoy the simpler part of life at this stage in my life. I too have made real estate investments and have done extremely well at it. However, I'm not interested in developing many of the parcels I own. I'm more interested in preserving the land that I own and I have made those investments for those exact reasons.

We have raised children here and they have relocated out of this area to make something of themselves. We weren't kidding ourselves into thinking the Eastern Shore would one day become the next Rockville of Maryland. While we want great things to happen for our children, I'd personally prefer they go to where Industry is and perhaps one day return to take over what we have left behind when they retire.

I for one support agriculture and poultry. Will they be here in the next year, absolutely. Will they be here in 5 to 10 years. Well, I doubt that very seriously. The USDA Regulations are driving the poultry industry further down south, yet the bigger marketplace is north of us. It has always been a "convenient" place to raise chickens, (for example) but there's no question bigger government will in fact drive Jim Perdue and others out of here.

Many years ago there was around 15 big poultry companies. There are only 5 left today. In 5 to 10 years you will without a doubt see less and less chicken farmers because of government regulations. Now let's look at the reality of this happening. IF they go away, (as predicted) what will be left? Manufacturing has almost disappeared. Retail is dwindling away. The biggest industries, (even by the Greater Salisbury Committee's stats) will dry up, poultry and agriculture will be driven away, what's left here on the Eastern Shore to support turning farms into Industrial Parks, Malls and Residential Housing? Rocket Scientists???

Again, you can only go 30 miles east of Salisbury and the Unites States ends at the Ocean. At least in Bowie there's BWI Airport, convenient to take you anywhere you need to be. There's a north, south, east and west. Industry is striving and people know what to expect when they get on Rt. 50 into Washington, or the Beltway around it. Are you getting my drift?

If YOU want to become the next Bowie, Rockville, Baltimore or Washington, MOVE THERE! Stop pulling together people into the Break Out Sessions and using these stats to make people believe we deserve better. Look around right now and see what's right in front of your eyes!

Salisbury is the 10th Most Dangerous City in America! The biggest WWTP on the Eastern Shore that just cost taxpayers $82,000,000.00 is failing! The local Zoo is falling apart at the seems and costs the local taxpayers more than $3,000,000.00 a year and they refuse to charge a dime at the door. What positive impact financially has come out of Sassafras Meadows or Westwood Industrial Park? How's that $14,000,000.00 TIF working for you? I could go on and on but I'm confident you're starting to see the light.

While certain committee's can certainly be a good thing, what's the good in creating false stats in the hopes of creating something that can never be. Like I said, we're not Bowie, Rockville and so on. Preserve what we have NOW. Support our way of life as we believed it would be when we moved here. Do we have less Rocket Scientists, YES!

However, do you know what comes with better education, better roads and beltway's, more shopping, BIGGER TAXES! MORE CRIME! MORE PEOPLE!

If you want that kind of lifestyle, go back to where you came from. I personally do not believe our children are not getting a good education. I do believe in Year Round School. The Teachers may not but I most certainly do.

One of the final group of speakers and topics was crime. Mark Thompson and Sheriff Mike Lewis delivered very powerful speeches. Unfortunately Chief Webster wasn't present but CLEARLY what we have right now, we cannot control. Look at what's happened in the City of Salisbury. Crime is through the roof, yet we cannot find the money to increase the amount of Police Officers on the streets. The State is giving Wicomico County less and less money to survive on, yet these groups want to see us grow in all the ways Bowie & Rockville are growing.

Look, to me it's quite simple. Accept what we have here. Get more involved in government. We have thousands upon thousands of citizens that want to blame Teachers for a poor education, yet we pack 30 or 40 kids into a classroom while developers continue to build developments without new schools and teachers. Schools are becoming the new war zones, yet many parents aren't spending the quality time they must provide to raise our children with much due respect.

Participate in PTA. Bombard the BOE Meetings every month and rather than waiting until it come out here or in the Daily Times, know what direction they're heading in. Go to City & County Council Meetings and participate before it's too late.

If YOU believe the Greater Salisbury Committee is headed in the right direction, good for you. However, when the North Prong gets redeveloped and your taxes go through the roof because of poor planning, don't come back here complaining. It all sounds and looks good on paper but do tell me what businesses are going to fill those new waterfront buildings. You only have to look across the Draw Bridge to see very few condos being sold and projects on hold because nothing is moving. HELLO!

When the farm land continues to disappear because of new Malls, McMansions, Industrial Parks and so forth, again, don't come here and complain. For some there's great money in such future developments. However, just remember that there's not enough schools to house our children. Crime is already out of control and rising. I want a better life for our Grandson. I believe America is well on its way to failing in these areas, Malls, Manufacturing and so forth. The Eastern Shore will never become the next Rockville or Bowie, face it.

If you want to look at something positive for the Eastern Shore, look into entertainment like Disney or a Major Theme Park. A big Water Park that will pull from the Ocean City area. Piggyback on what we already know is a draw to our unique area. IF we see things like that coming our way, then you might see some eventual growth in Distributors and so forth.

Our growth needs to be much smarter than it is right now. Like I said earlier, poultry may disappear simply because of government regulations and restrictions. However, while tens of thousands of jobs disappear over the next 10 years, building more houses, industrial parks and so forth will not be self supportive, especially while this group already admitted last Friday that retail and manufacturing are dwindling.

I'm sorry for the long Post. There's so much more I want to add but hopefully everyone can start discussing what I have provided, good or bad. I firmly believe while their intentions are good, I truly feel they are headed in the wrong direction. I also feel the stats that they have created are false and I hope every one will see down the road why I feel that way. Perhaps someone can change my mind. Perhaps many saw this meeting through different eyes and ears. I walked away thinking I had much better things to do with those 7 hours, with all due respect.

It was stated that there has been more growth already on the Eastern Shore in the past 30 years than there has been in the past 300 years.