At last nights County Council Meeting I was shocked to no end when I confronted the Council in Public Comments and asked, "Has the City of Salisbury paid the $1.00 and signed the contract to finally own 1/2 of the Government Office Building?" Their answer flat out blew me away. Ed Baker replied stating they were about two weeks away from the contract finally being signed. WOW!
If you'll recall, two or three years ago I confronted the Mayor on PAC 14 asking that very same question, had they ever signed the contract to purchase 1/2 of that building. The very next day John Pick raced over to the County Executive with a check for $1.00 but the Mayor never signed the agreement/contract.
While I was in shock last night with their answer, more questions and answers quickly came into play in my mind. Now why would the City all of a sudden, (out of nowhere) finally agree to purchase 1/2 of a building Gary Comegys stated years earlier wasn't worth it because the building was getting old. HELLO!
The reason the City of Salisbury is desperate to own 1/2 of the building is simple, EQUITY! If the City participates in ownership and the County owns the current Library, the County could ask the City to work a deal whereas they'd quickly be willing to DONATE the Library, (once a new one is built) to the City and a swap deal could be made to get the City of Salisbury government out of the current GOB and into their own facility.
The County desperately needs more space and quite frankly Folks, this is a no brainer. However, are you reading this anywhere else? Is anyone taking the time to read between the lines other than Salisbury News? NO!
Relocating the Library anywhere outside the Downtown area would be a disaster to the future of Downtown Salisbury. Palmer Gillis made an unbelievable speech last night, (I highly recommend you watch the rerun on PAC 14 because what he stated was absolutely on the mark). Even I wasn't aware that the Library Board only gave Mayor Ireton 24 hours to come up with a Downtown location or they would seek property in areas outside Downtown.
The scam that's being pulled by this Board is just unbelievable. They're trying to sell everyone on a new location that would cost $300.00 a square foot, yet if you do the math their proposal is actually more than $500.00 a square foot.
Do NOT be fooled like you were the last time with the new Fire Station 16 Folks. The Library deal is complete BS. Even John Cannon stated last night, Tom, do you actually believe the Citizens of Wicomico County would support a $30,000,000.00 project? Tom replied, I believe we can gain their support.
Well Folks, what do YOU think. Are you prepared to spend $30,000,000.00 on a new Library, about 1/4 of the County's overall debt? You know those pot holes all over the roads after this past winter the County cannot afford to properly repair, do you really want a new Library when the old one is perfectly fine. If you work for the County, do you really want to keep your jobs? Adding $30 million more debt into the County, well, your jobs will be cut first. Services within the County will drop dramatically, all because of wants, not needs.
Well, County and City Officials don't want you to understand the OVERALL picture here. The County wants the City out of the GOB. The ONLY way they're going to make that happen is if they build a new Library.
23 comments:
Think bigger. There is a criminal element to this story. This is about creating a $30 million project which transfers tax income into the hands of a few. Who are the few?
That is the question! The future site's current land owner, the contractor, etc.
Think about this. It is a deal being worked in the PNC building downtown at night. This is not being worked out in the light of day.
Add new county taxes to the exploding taxes that newly passed Obamacare requires NOW even though "services" don't start until 2014, the Value Added TAx that is certain to come, oil prices that are currently inching up every day (where is the media outrage on this one?) and our tax rate will be more than 50%. But the segment of the population that doesn't pay tax really don't give a rats butt do they.
Future of Downtown Salisbury? Downtown has been dead for years and won't be coming back anytime soon. It has nothing to do with the City or the County, it's due to the lack of investment by the owners. Only if it can transformed into housing and retail that is attractive to a younger crowd, will it ever see the light of day again.
In this time of fiscal calamity, why in the world would the citizens of wicomico county (be assured, that is who will foot the bill) pay $30million for a new library. What is so wrong with the current one? If people are uncomfortable with all the homeless spending there days there, wouldn't a security guard be a cheaper alternative? How has the leadership for this county become so completely broken? The answer is simple....VOTER APATHY. We don't give a damn any more as long as we have cable TV and an internet connection. We should all be ashamed.
this is a travesty.. and with it should be the removal of the mayor next election. If he spends 30 million that we don't have--it's like the guy said... it's criminal--plain and simple
I agree that this is a back room deal on both sides. Look at the downtown crowd - Palmer Gillis is trying to steer a bigger construction project to his company. Tom Becker lost the library design, but if it goes downtown we'll pay his company for the new design if it is the one with the stupid "skyway" to PRMC.
And one of those proposals sells the "sky rights" to Market Street's property? That's going to put MSI out of business with all of the construction and parking and access taken away. And i thought the property owner held those rights? I'm confused about that.
Is this Brad Gillis trying to get back at Rob Mulford for defeating that townhouse/surplus land scam going on a few years back?
Meanwhile, the library wants to "do it now" because there's 1% of the overall cost available in grant money? That's a lame excuse. It's like people who want to save money by spending it.
As much as all of this stinks, I've got to think that IF we did build a new library, I hope it goes out to Beaglin. It's a much nicer location (and safer, too). Plus the land is hundreds of thousands of dollars cheaper (did anybody pick up on that?).
And am I the only person around here who has recognized that there is a cottage industry in Salisbury devoted to funneling taxpayer money into private hands in the name of "revitalizing" downtown? Private money would do the job itself if it were possible and lucrative enough. The fact is downtown offers no value to anybody but homeless people and those not ashamed to take government money for themselves.
I hope that you'll take the opportunity to "follow the money" on these deals, Joe. You're probably the only person with a good soapbox and credibility with the "little guys" being used as pawns in this deal who can spill the beans. It will turn into the next Zoo!
NO NEW LIBRARY
i use the library. i find it extremely efficient for this city and county. spending a penny to build a new library is a total waste of money. there are to many more important things needed in the county than to replace the current like new library.
i do have a realative who works there. they have told me of all the unused space in the building now. which is not told to the public in order to convince them a new library is needed for lack of space. a lie.
plus there is no real problems with the current library that a couple hundred thousand dollars could easily clean up.
they don't want a new library. the one they work in is perfectly fine.
The only difference between this city & county and the Titanic----is the Titanic had a band.
We are freaking sinking people!
My god,RickPolitt and the city and county councils and mayorIreton--quit spending or even thinking of spending on the non essentials.
I like the miniature golf course on the roof!! Proceeds from that could pay for the library in a couple thousand years.
Joe, come on, the downtown proposals are not really that good - they would take away existing parking that is heavily used now. What good is it to build a library if there is no good parking? Whether you like the design or not, the parking would be way better at the Beaglin cite.
12:33 I think you miss the point. There is alot of stink being raised by locals BECAUSE they are not getting paid on this project. The library hired out of town firms to do the design. It's rumored that library initially wanted to buy land at the old mall from Natelson, until the Beaglin owner made a much lower offer. If there is a meeting at PNC, it is a bunch complaining that they were cut out of the deal.
Stop spending tax payer money !
The council sucks!Lets spend some money , it ain't mine . We need some more stuff to give away.
Joe Holloway was the only person who stood up for taxpayers last night, as he always does. Pollitt didn't even attend.
No New Library period plus the beaglin park location is a poor one like it is not accessable to people on foot like the downtown location. If you think about it not everyone in salisbury drives and you cant expect somebody from say camden ave or college area to walk out to beaglin park drive it is just stupid and on top of that there is no public transportation out in that area. and $30,000,000 is too much for any building but then again everything in salisbury is overvalued and out of reach for an average working working family like mine $1000 to $1200 a month to rent a average home is theft and that is mostly due to college rental people
New library at who's expense? The Pittsville and Center branches names have been bandied about in the newspaper that they may be closing. Let's save what we already have. KEEP PITTSVILLE BRANCH OPEN!
They just cant seem to stop pissin into the wind.
8:49 Can't expect peopple from Beaglin Park Drive to walk to downton either.
Let me get this straight......we need to hurry up and make a decision about spending 30,000,000 on a library that we do not need, in order to keep a grant for 350,000??? oh ya, that make sense. What is the future of Libraries anyway, with kindles, ipads, and other electronic book options, libraries are done for.
But,we don't get to vote on this.
I don't think they will be able to afford it, everyone is already talking about losing all of the branches, but still talking about a new library?
As a library user a new library in a rural area would certainly make it more appealing instead of the homeless daycare shelter we have now, but not at that pricetag, when we are hemorrhaging money on projects that should have been completed years ago, i.e. James M. Bennett, our streets are the worst i have ever seen them. Maybe they could fix that big manhole bump in front of your office Joe.
I am so tired of listening to talk about revitalizing Downtown, they have been trying to "revitalize" downtown my whole life and my parents lives. It's dead has been dead and will never be anything more than a place you HAVE to go to instead of being a place you WANT to go to.
Accept it, 50 years on now and downtown is still a bad place to go. A new library downtown will not fix downtown, but a new library out of town will allow people to use this free service who otherwise don't have the means for kindles or barnes & nobles, without the worry of the current urban problems. Unfortunately with all of the mistakes made by this council over the years, the citizens of Wicomico county will lose services instead of gaining more.
Also you can vote on this, next time anyone is up for election know who they are who pays for their campaigns and where they stand on issues that affect you. Then go enact change that fits you best, i still believe the voter is all powerful when it comes to how our money is spent. You just have to speak up.
A new library however nice is an irresponsible endeavor, during current times, get the people on the council out of office who got us in this mess in the first place, fix our budget, then start talking about adding new services and expanding.
Try as hard as you can to keep what we have, close the purse, vote in people who will do the job correctly. Its our money and we should always know how its being spent, go to meetings voice your concerns and learn all you can about the people making decisions in your name.
No!
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