That’s what Rick Pollitt thinks, and of course Gary Mackes. In the Capital Budget proposed recently by Pollitt this statement appears:
“Wicomico Youth & Civic Center, Parking Acquisition and Development – Wicomico County is currently negotiating to purchase 5 acres of land from the old Salisbury Mall site for parking. This is not sufficient to provide the total parking necessary for the WY&CC to be a viable entertainment center. $900,000 is recommended in FY 2011 to be combined with County and Program Open Space money in the combined amount of $5.4M currently on hand to provide for the purchase of fifteen additional acres. It is recommended that the requested amount be approved in the Capital Improvement Plan even if it is not included in the ultimate bond issue to allow for flexibility in the process of acquiring additional land.”
Pollitt’s plan to pay $300,000 per acre for the first 5 acres has been approved by the County Council – 2 of the members, Joe Holloway and Stevie Prettyman, were opposed. The final vote won't occur until after a public hearing that will be held in a few weeks, but it’s a done deal barring a major shift -- 2 members must switch from for to against – are you listening Ms. Bartkovich and Mr. Cannon?
The capital budget does not indicate the proposed cost of the 15 additional acres. Assume that it is only $250,000 per acre, that’s $3,750,000, almost as much as the County needs for the routine road maintenance and improvement that Pollitt says can’t be funded in this year’s budget. If all 20 acres are purchased by the County, it could pay in excess of $5 Million for the land, despite Pollitt’s pleading that there is not enough money for essential public services.
In the County’s new capital budget, according to John Cannon: "We're cutting back everywhere we can." Baloney!
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
49 comments:
Let me also add the following.
What is NEVER mentioned is the storm water management necessary to this 5 acre parcel.
That's right, around 2 acred of the 5 acres will be part of the storm water management, so you're actually paying a whole lot more for this property than you realize.
pollitt needs to go! what a waste, never worked a real job in his life! fat and lazy but willing to spend other people's money! typical democrat!
Stop spending money you stupid fkn idiots.
Joe:
Unless Pollitt greatly reduces the County's purchases and expenses, he may need to raise taxes because of the reduced property tax assessments that have just gone out. Can you get information about the numbers?
Joe
This was brought foward at the council meeting in fact it was a big part of the arguement that Hollaway gave. It looks as if some of the council was railroaded,the bit about the 15 acres wasn't mentioned until after the 5 council members voted for the 5 acres
That is the STUPIDEST thing I have ever heard! The Civic Center doesn't do that level of business often enough to warrant any of this b.s.
Mackes will want a gold covered throne next.
Ricky, "Just Say No!"
Rick:
We already have a "viable entertainment center" -- it's called the Government Office Building and presented live on PAC 14. You are the leading actor.
The Council shouldn't even be considering this! $300,000 per an acre? Are you serious?! Would anybody with any common sense even consider paying $300,000 per an acre regardless of the location? You can find one acre lots in a lot of the higher end neighborhoods of Wicomico County WITH A HOUSE ON IT for less than $300,000! Its stupid that they are even entertaining Gary Mackes' ridiculous pet project! Mackes says that more parking could bring in more "big ticket" events-how about the Parks and Rec use $10,000 (proposed by the property owners) out of their own budget to lease the land and PROOVE that it will bring in the money he says it will! Mackes always wants to study this and study that...how about we actually do something SMART without having to consult a BS board or committee appointed by Mackes! If leasing the land and the additional parking doesn't bring in enough money, then we stop leasing it-it's that simple! Or how about this, what if you used the parking from the numerous County owned properties surrounding the Civic Center (ig: WiHi, County Stadium, or the old colt league field)? Not to mention that the Civic Center hasn't expanded in over 20 years, why is this all of the sudden a top priority? I know why, Mackes is a whiner and has no concept of the economy or budget issues. I've watched him whine for over 15 years now and everytime he gets what he wants it costs me more the next year to sign my kids up for their various County sports and activities!
I also find it funny that the 2 people that I always consider to have "average joe" common sense are the ones who voted against this ridiculous purchase; Holloway and Prettyman. Look at the others:
Bartkovich - Mother-in-law of Blair Rinnier (Rinnier Property Management)
Cannon - owner/operator of one of the bigger residential property management companies in Salisbury.
McCain - owner of WR McCain & Assoc property appraisal.
These three people are the ones that you would ASSUME would know a little bit about real estate, but apparently have no clue when it comes to property value v. cost!
Sample-Hughes and MacLeod are going to be our swing votes. We need to get them on the "common sense" side!
Council members, vote for this purchase and I can gaurantee that your political career in Wicomico County is over! Our budget is strapped, but apparently our council still doesn't know how to save money...QUIT SPENDING!!!
BTW, I thought that there was talk some time ago about building a new Civic Center. What ever happened to that? Wouldn't this just be a waste of money if they go ahead with a new Civic Center and new location??
I agree there are times that the existing parking in inadequate. Admitting this, I have no problem with them purchasing more area for parking. But let's not buy it without a recent appraisal and the complete knowledge and understanding of exactly what we are getting. I can guarantee you this one thing.... if the funds were the personal funds of the elected officials, they wouldn't purchase it without all of the above requests. They shouldn't do it with the taxpayers monies either. Do the job that you are elected to do!
They are out of touch with the reality of the average people in Wicomico county. Or they just dont care.
This is a disaster as it takes more property off the tax roles. The rest of the city taxpayers will have to subsidize that loss of revenue. How much more of this will there be - the Bricks, linens of the week, the parcel on the North Prong, the cranberry bog, how much more can we afford?
Does anyone know what happened at the same meeting where the $6 million dollar deficit was supposed to be discussed. Did they end up cutting anything or making decisions on how to fix this claptrap?
That new park on the westside was a joke too! However they spent the money. There is some underhand chit going on in the GOB.Where is that tif the city approved for them??
There is a simple solution to all this. Turn all county government over to Sheriff Lewis. He alone turned the sheriff department around to be a crime fighting unit and now he is leading the way to make sure all law enforcement in Wicomico county work together. The best vote I have ever made was to elect him Sheriff.
Pollitt and Mackes reminds me of Obama and Gietner. Anybody know if they are related? They all have the same theory. SPEND SPEND SPEND. If you look at big acts the Civic Center has never been able to handle them. Does that tell anybody about the leadership Mackes provides. He always blames it on something he desires that cost money instead of figuring out the real problem and provide a common sense solution thatproves profitable. Ithink he is envious of the Shorebirds management holding sold out events in a responsible way. A good example of the " GOOD OLE BOYS" at work. This is also "Taxation without representation".
You can post here all you want, what counts is showing up at the public hearing and telling the council members how you feel.
If you had watched pac 14 you would have seen that Holloway did talk about stormwater management.He grilled Mackes and the other guy hard and they would never admit that the plan was approved by the state.
Now is not the time to entertain notions of expanding ANYTHING at the taxpayers expense. Library, new park, extra parking for an underused facility. These are all projects for a better time. Use some common sense and put a halt to these things. If not, then the taxpayers should show their displeasure, first by flooding the decision-makers with emails and calls, and then by voting them out of their office next election.
Seriously. Let's get real. This isn't their money.
Hold on. How come we can spend all this on a parking lot but have to beg for money from the state to stop crime?? This is NOT the priority that citizens are worried about right now.
A review is in order. All of you guys are big talkers, but how many of you are going to show up at the meeting for public comment on this (at 1030 in the morning)and tell these council folk what you think. Remember, the democrats in the county government are all conspiring together to run the county out of money so they can get rid of the revenue cap. Part of this plan is purchasing the land across from the civic center. This does several things, one, it's drains some more money/water out of the county pool, two, it allows some kickbacks to be received by someone somewhere. I can't prove it but when something smells rotten it usually is. Three, for years a few at the county have complained that you can't sell beer at the civic center. This was one of the covenants when the previous owner of the property where the civics center is located willed it to the county. Now I can't prove it, but here's one theory, you buy the land for parking, then tear down the old civic center, use it for parking then build a new civic center on the old mall location. This has the potential to use the civics center as a revenue generator. One reason the civic center doesn't make a lot of money right now is because they can't sell beer. At least that's what some people say.
10:26 (and others):
We who can't attend their meetings can also reach out and touch the Council by e-mails addressed to:
gbartkovich@wicomicocounty.org; jtcannon@wicomicocounty.org; jholloway@wicomicocounty.org;
mac603@comcast.net;
wmccain@wicomicocounty.org; sprettyman@wicomicocounty.org; ssamplehughes@wicomicocounty.org
and Rick Pollitt, too:
rickpollitt@wicomicocounty.org
They are not going to listen to you or anybody else for that matter. They will do whatever they want to do and you cant stop them.
11:10 --
That's bunk about beer, bubba!
The Civic Center is a white elephant and always will be.
that's a shame. It sounds like they have a plan which is worth looking deeper into. After all, you gotta spend money to make money. I think the civic center could be a successful venue for large events like mainstream bands, real broadway style shows, etc, but everything has to be expanded. I think we could see a good ROI, but the prices we are seeing for the property are just unbelievable. My thought is...
don't stop this initiative, instead correct it.
Tear that dump energy wasting old useless building down. Sure was fun watching the first one go.
There is already plenty of parking space when you combine Wi Hi and the Civic Center. Why should we use even more land for parking? As a last resort, the County should look into adding a low level parking garage on the main Civic Center parking lot.
Let's use that land at the Mall site for more productive uses, like housing and retail; even more parking in that area will just make it a sore sight. This will actually generate income for the area, instead of holding cars for a relatively short amount of time.
1157 interesting idea, how much does a multi level parking garage cost?
1116
So are you saying that it would be cheaper to tear down the old civic center, then build a new one on the land that we just bought parking for?
I have an idea toolbag, go get some estimates on what it would cost to renovate your house versus building a new one across the street from you (don't forget to add in land costs of the land across the street owned by your rich neigbhor that doesn't really want to sell it)
If they have money to purchase property for a parking lot WHY have they cut the pay of some of the workers at the civic center?? Just dont make any sence.
Gail I thought when you bescame president of the council we coould depend on you to make good decisions...I guess I was wrong.
WTF? County employees have to take furlough days to assist in what? buying a freakin un-needed parking lot? aaaawww come on....
12:07 the last thing this town needs right now is a civic center. Nobody wants to come here.
I didn't say that was what I wanted...
I was just wondering if it was a plan
You know what this should say to every furloughed county employee. Rick Pollitt and Council say F**K YOU. They do not give a rats butt about the people of this county. It is all about money and internal corruption.
Mike lewis stay far and wide of these people you are the only safe politician in this county for now.
Steal it while you can your terms are almost up. I know of a group that has close to 50G just to make sure none of your sorry a**** get re-elected.
All of you are a disgrace. Did one of you look for Sarah Foxwell. NO if you did you better have pictures to prove it. You sat back and did nothing. Spineless, shallow, narcistic, arrogant pieces of dung. You said all you needed to say when you defied the will of the people. When you sat on your asses when one of our children was missing.
I have lost all hope and respect for any of you.
See you at the polls.
1202, it costs a lot more to build a garage than a surface lot--I'll admit that. $20K per spot, as opposed to $4K per spot.
But I hope you'll agree with me that surrounding the Civic Center with parking lots is not a good way to welcome out-of-towners. The Salisbury Mall property could be used in such a more productive way. There has to be a better solution than turning all of east Salisbury into pavement. Perhaps we could even consider making a deal with Twilley Center and running a shuttle out to their lot during large events.
i'm sure this was known before the old mall was torn down and "going to be developed". well it will be. piece by piece it will be bought by the city and county and developed. and the current owners knew they could make a fortune doing it.
Has anyone noticed how Rick Pollit and Gary Comegys resemble each other? Even thier Politics.
Mikes going to be a congressman one day.
I can't wait for election day.
The property is not on the tax rolls..it's in the TIF which was a joke from the start.
The funds to acquire are coming from State open space funds...not the county. It will be spent elsewhere in the state if not here.The delay in considering this matter can be layed only at the doorstep of the Exec and the Council..the appraisals are required by the state and were "current " when prepared....the notion that we can compare it to the hearne property is absurd...the hearne property is not adjacent to the civic center....real estate
values are based on LOCATION.
Any additional land to be acquired in the future would be for any future expansion and that concept has never been approved.The 5 acres being acquired is for needed parking that the civic center has been using for decades free of charge because the mall was defunct.Those day sare over.
To the guy who said the civic center does no business...you need to do some howe work..it infuses millions into the local economy.
The stormwater run off is a legitimate issue although it will not take up 2 acres as asserted here...the plans ,as submitted to the council, clearly showed 500 spaces. BUT...the TIF requires the developers to accomodate all stormwater and that should be made part of this deal.
When will they be discussing this? Let them know they need to have the meeting at the Civic Center because there are a lot people that will be showing up to voice their utmost disgust of this bullsh!t If they really want to do something, they should buy all of the acreage, put a new Civic Center there and make the old Civic Center overflow parking. DUH. They don't need to do this though until there is an economic turn. People are taking furlough days and they are worried about parking. Good God have mercy on us all!!
A parking deck,while a good idea, is far more expensive per space produced than the land cost and paving it again.This was considered by the citizens commission .
Joe: stormwater management is always a cost of acquistion and your 2 acre assetrion is bunk...when looking at parking yo have to look at the cost per space produced.
Go ahead and buy the Hearne land and let people walk to the civic center right?
There's THREE things I'd like to say here.
#1. Rick Pollitt assured me just after being elected, the County would NOT pony up a penny for that parking lot/5 acres of land. He stated he's consider something like a swap of land but NO MONEY would come out of the taxpayers pockets to purchase that land. If they do PAY for the land, I/We were lied to. I'd state that in a Court of Law.
#2, I also confronted the County Council with Rick Pollitt present and showed them how they could increase the current parking spaces by at least 30%. By simply changing the lane sizes you could easily gain 30%, very much like Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, you name it.
#3. I also encouraged charging a parking fee on SOLD OUT EVENTS. This would force many to car pool to events and salvage an additional 25% + in parking spaces.
Joe Holloway wrote each Council Member and asked if ANY of this had been researched and there has been NO REPLY.
239
Fine, if you say that the Civic Center is a cash cow, prove it, until then you are just blowing smoke and lining the mall owners pockets with extra money, the RIGHT way to do it is have the land re-appraised, maybe Bill McCain would do it for free?
If the Mall owners don't want to sell it, who cares? Wait them out. commercial real estate values are headed down, down, down!
In any deal the person who get's fleeced is the one who wants something more than the other.
Give me a break!! Never let McCain do an appraisal and especially this one.
If McCain thinks that land is worth 300,000 per acre he must think that abandoned condo on Fitzwater Street is worth mega-millions.
I can't even articulate how mad this whole thing makes me. I live in the county, and have been to the Civic Center maybe once every couple of years. WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO PAY MONEY I DON'T HAVE TO ADD PARKING TO A FACILITY I DON'T USE AND THAT DOESN'T GENERATE REVENUE TO OFFSET COUNTY EXPENSES???? Every time I hear about these council people spending big bucks right now, it infuriates me. Don't they know that times are tough? Don't they realize that there are county employees who've been furloughed because THEY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO PAY THEM???? I live just a half mile from the Sussex County line, and if my house was there I'd pay maybe $800 a year in property taxes. As it is now my tax bill is $2,600. THAT IS MORE THAN ENOUGH for what we get.
Don't spend any more of my money unless you've figured out a way to generate jobs, not just a few guys paving a parking lot, but REAL jobs to help our local economy.
Otherwise wait until better times.
after giving me furlough days and now tossing around work week hourly cuts and early retirement, how in the world can the council and pollitt even put this on the plate!hey ricky! i hear a trampled foot of the g.o.p. elephant preparing to smash your a$$! you need to bang the gavel! all spending stops now!
it will be used for the betterment of the Community - public use. They use it on property owners to take their homes and businesses for this reason. It is emminent domain. If the owners owe the County money for any reason or violated the contract agreement when they purchased this land, then the County has two reasons and should condemn the property and take it through emminent domain. The County would only have to pay the difference from what is owed and a true value assesment, the same criteria as used for home / business owners, by the State. They might get it for nothing while the owners debt to the County will be reduced. The County will have to take less of a loss because they might reach that type of agreement since the "GOOD OLE BOYS" are involved.
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