This was going to be the road to greatness, mapped by expert planners from all over the US; now almost 30 years later it’s worth a look-see now that Urban Salisbury has put forth yet another plan.
Here are some of the R/UDAT details – note the recommendation on page 26: "A site for the Wicomico County detention facility is suggested immediately next to the courthouse, on the north side of the building, located away from the street."
That didn’t happen but only because of a citizens’ lawsuit – and the County wound up paying a huge sum ($1 Million) in wasted architects fees and other costs before it decided to put the facility north of town. Lesson 1: planning by "experts" can be harmful to the public purse if blindly accepted as the gospel by the local officials.
Let's hope history does not repeat itself -- again (remember the more recent study that recommended opening the downtown plaza to traffic?).
9 comments:
Whatever happened to the architect named VanFossen who was big in this stuff at that time?
I recall that the lawsuit that stopped them from putting the new jail downtown was by Bill Duvall, a local attorney who later became a blog pioneer.
And, here we go again -- build it & they will come. NOT.
1:27 -
Mr. Van Fossen decided that Salisbury would never change but always would remain "as is" and left about 10-12 years ago as I recall. I believe that he went to Memphis.
And so it will remain as is if everybody craps down the neck of people like Van Fossen, who had good ideas, based on ideas successfully done in other places.
Along comes Urban Salisbury, with not "experts from all around the US," but local talent that researched what's successful in other places.
And you people are crapping down their necks! You complain about lack of public input, but now complain that they are getting public input.
See a pattern? I didn't move as far away as Van Fossen, but the same type of mentality sent me packing too.
anonymous 3:18, WHAT IDEAS?
They have some colored drawings, no ideas.
Joe, I've read the other posts now. How many businesses have you built in a downtown? How many downtowns have you restored?
You just want an argument. You just don't want someone else's work to get credit or move forward without your valuable insights.
If your idea that you could bring investors to those buildings and get all those businesses set up and prospering without a nickel going into the infrastructure down there...
Then why haven't you made it happen already? It would have been to your economic advantage instead of writing a free blog.
I'm not an anti-Albero. You are a good "idea" guy. But now that somebody is ready to do the grunt work, all you do is put them down.
6:59-
It takes much more than grunt work and tons of taxpayer finding. The latest plan is "same old, same old."
The R/UDAT episode shows the folly of just doing what some "expert" says you should do. And look at how that recommendation to have a street on the plaza has ruined it.
8:22, it's not about what the experts tell you. It's about following through on any plan. Just doing one step of anything doesn't help.
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