Anti-Crime Safe-Streets Legislation Public Dialogue Tto Air On PAC14 Friday And Saturday

A taping of the packed-house public input meeting on anti-crime legislation, hosted by Council Members Debbie Campbell and Terry Cohen this past Wednesday, is scheduled to run on cable channel PAC14 today at 12:58 p.m. and again tomorrow at 6 a.m. and 5:58 p.m. The session lasted three hours and two minutes.

After the two council members were denied by the council majority of Louise Smith, Gary Comegys and Shanie Shields to use the council chambers’ equipment for live or taped broadcast of the meeting, Mayor Jim Ireton used his latitude as mayor to make the taping possible.

“We deeply appreciate Mayor Ireton making this service available to the public, as well as his time and that of the city staff in attending and listening to the public,” Campbell and Cohen said in a statement. They also thanked the city clerk, who attended and audio-recorded the meeting. Campbell and Cohen said they would soon put the audio recording on the website they share, www.OnYourSideSBY.blogspot.com, but that it is also available on CD from city clerk’s office, 410-548-3140, for $5, which covers the office’s cost of production.

“We especially thank all the members of the public who attended – tenants, homeowners, students, landlords, and other interested parties,” the two council members said in their statement.

“Together, we showed that Salisbury can, indeed, have a civil conversation about hot issues. To those who wished the panel had answered more questions, we would have liked that as well, but given the huge turnout, we did not want to deprive those attending of the time to speak. We answered what we felt we could within that limitation and look forward to providing more for the public’s education and continued feedback,” the statement continued.

“We are compiling the questions and input we received and are planning to have a follow up session to answer more questions, present additional information and obtain more public feedback. As soon as those details are available, we will inform the public,” the statement added.

As reported by the Daily Times, the meeting was dominated by local landlords, who appeared to oppose the entire package. A show of hands indicated that city residents appeared to either support the package entirely or supported it with some changes.

“I saw a number of people standing in the hallway due to the lack of available seats in the chambers and was able to get at least a few of the people requiring chairs seated up by the head table,” Campbell said.

Cohen noted that in planning the next meeting, they would try to give priority to those who came to the first meeting, but could not even get in the door to sign up to speak.

Campbell and Cohen emphasized again the importance of the public seeing the actual text of the legislative pieces, which are available by links on their website, as well as on the home page of the city’s website, www.ci.salisbury.md.us, at left under the “Neighborhood Legislative Pkg.” link.

For additional questions or comments, contact Debbie Campbell, 410-860-0893 and debbiescampbell@comcast.net, or Terry Cohen, 410-845-0296 and Terry@TerryCohen.com.