As noted yesterday, Salisbury mayor Jim Ireton and Councilwoman Shanie Shields are sowing the seeds of racial discord for political gain. In an attempt to garner support from at least one more councilmember, Ireton has resorted to threats that, at best, show poor judgment and display a dangerous willingness to place political opportunism over what is best for the city. At the worst, the Mayor is being a political opportunist that borders on being a thug.
Rather than my words, I suggest that you watch this video:
NOTE: There appears to be a problem embedding the video. CLICK HERE to view the video of Ireton's and Shield's remarks.
At 6:11 in, Ireton states:
I say this out loud to all of you. Council members are going to have a problem with the minority community; and I'm going to make sure the minority community knows this.
Ireton’s remarks are filled with inaccuracy and innuendo. It is simply not true that the council twice approved this project. In fact, they never approved it once. The legal advice which Ireton berates the council majority for seeking revolves around this very thing. The city council NEVER voted on accepting this project. Yes, a previous council did approve seeking a grant. That is a far cry from agreeing to have the city actively involved in building $179,000 condos (actually 1 bedroom apartments). Yes, a contract was awarded, but it was never approved by council.
Ireton sows the seeds of racial discord by implying that the African-American community is not part of the city’s revitalization; and that three council members in particular are at fault. If Ireton were a little older, and a little wiser, he would understand that riots have been sparked with words like his. Of course, if violence did erupt it would somehow be the fault of others – certainly not Jim Ireton.
Shields, ever the hypocrite, even applauds the city’s crime prevention efforts at the beginning of her remarks. She has been one of the most vocal opponents of the efforts to fight crime and the council’s greatest proponent of protecting the city’s landlords. During her tenure on council, she has NEVER been an advocate for the city’s African-American community. The only minority she advocates for is SAPOA!
Yet, Shields argues here that minority residents should protest and “take to the streets”. Unlike Ireton, Shields is old enough to know that people fought and even died to attain civil rights for African-Americans in this country. Playing the “race card” in order to score cheap political points cheapens the sacrifice made by the very people that fought to allow Shields the opportunity to hold office.
Ultimately the battle over “The Bricks” is simple. Do Salisbury taxpayers believe that their city should be in the business of renovating and renting the building. Given that one can currently purchase a condo of similar size in Ocean City for less than 1/2 the price of the projected unit cost of $179,000, it is obvious why Ireton and Shields have resorted to threats and attempts at intimidation. This is their only shot at winning the argument.
To date, the facts are on the side of the EVIL council majority Ireton refers to. Ireton, Shields (and evidently, councilwoman Laura Mitchell) are supporting a project that can best be describe as “leftism run amok”. It would be far cheaper to have the government purchase condos for these proposed tenants of this project. Given former councilwoman Louise Smith’s great support for this project (she went so far as to sign a change order, falsely attesting that the council had agreed to the matter), perhaps Ireton can just buy some condos down at Canal Woods. In this market, it would definitely be cheaper.
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Ireton is a F*n clown. How soon he forgets who got him elected. Shanie Shields was always against him and now he is in bed with her and the Barrie Comgys crowd. This is a sign of weakness in Jim Ireton and his leadership abilities. You can be rest assured Jim Ireton will not be elected again in any office!
ReplyDeleteI have not followed "The Bricks" project. Is it just to build more homes for lower income families? If so, isn't that what was accomplished with the Salisbury Commons, Foxfield, and Naylor Mill? And Joe, what is the climate like of Canal Woods? Would the tenants there be angry if subsidized apartments were bought and sold in the neighborhood?
ReplyDeleteRegardless, I do think it is outrageous that Ireton would play the race card. Those are fightin' words and not something our city needs to deal with right now.
Just imagine if the city had not tried to extort the Knoor boys and instead helped them build the brewery at the train station. Revitalization must come from commercial re-development with jobs, not adding housing to a saturated market. Ireton is an absolute idiot, Shields is just plain stupid. Salisbury will continue to decay as a welfare town with an anti-business attitude.
ReplyDeleteEverytime certain people of color don't get their way, they holler "racism".
ReplyDeleteSpot On ! 7:50
ReplyDeleteIreton has to go. He's a drama queen that will and has done anything to have everything his way, but this takes the cake.
ReplyDeleteMore grand standing, what a puke. Siding with Shanie is the dumbest thing he's done to date and proves his desparation to have everything, his way.
Way to go Jimmy that's just what we need is worse race relations with your help.
How Ireton can take this road is beyond my comprehension, he's a minority himself. Take that to the streets.
This is yet another example of why professionals are leaving or never even considering the Eastern Shore in general and Salisbury in particular. Too much in-fighting among the "politicians" and nothing ever gets accomplished for us (the citizens). While building more lower income housing does not make fiscal sense in this economy, there is no denying that the Salisbury City Council does not have the well being of the minority communities as a priority. Salisbury continues to move backwards even while other local towns have turned things around and begun to flourish.
ReplyDeleteThis is bad, very bad. Leadership is not given to you because you won an election. It is earned by the respect of the people you are to lead.
ReplyDeleteWhen someone resorts to name calling and personal attacts, it's an indication that person has no leadership qualities.
I am ready to move to Delaware...
I too have not followed this project much so I'm not sure but isn't "The Bricks" right smack in the middle of what can be best described as the "ghetto?"
ReplyDeleteIsn't that area crime ridden? Why would Shields and Ireton want low income people to live in that swamp? They need to "drain that swamp" first and then think about placing people in the middle of it.
To take down on their luck, vulnerable people in the middle of that madness is criminal.
Ireton is just an immature ignoramous. How can he possibly think that inciting riots is going to get anything accomplished in this town. As for Shanie, she's beyond hope, what you see is what you get and that sure isn't intelligence.
ReplyDeleteIf I can afford a home for $179,000 I am not living in the Church Street area. Who would choose to live there if you have the ability to buy somewhere nicer???
ReplyDeleteI voted for Jim Ireton because in him I saw a breath of fresh air after the rancor between former Mayor Tilghman and the City Council. What a huge disappointment he has turned out to be! As 8:36 writes, Ireton is quite the drama queen. Time and time again he has lost his cool and yelled profanities at those who don't agree with him. However, this latest debacle is the lowest yet he has stooped. To invoke racism--and be joined by Shanie Shields--because he hasn't gotten his way with the Bricks project is beyond the pale. Isn't it ironic that so quickly the Council/Mayor alignment has shifted? For how many years and with how many mayors and councils do we have to endure all this drama? Many of my friends who are not residents of Salisbury just shake their heads and ask me about the latest goings-on in City government. All the shenanigans used to entertain us; now they have become too embarrassing! We need a mature, level-headed mayor to run this city. Enough is enough.
ReplyDelete9:21, I'm beginning to think it's not "ironic" that the alignment has shifted. From the outside, it looks like Ireton has been doing everything in his power to discredit his old friends Debbie Campbell and Terry Cohen. All these press conferences take planning and there are far too many last-minute deadlines and changes coming from his staff that are messing up council agendas and schedules.
ReplyDeleteThe question is, why? Why is Ireton doing this?
The economics of the Bricks don't make sense. But neither does Debbie, Terry & Timmy's position.
ReplyDeleteThey're not offering an alternative. They're just opposing a Tilghman era project.
9:36, why? Simple. Ireton is a politician. Politicians use people to get what they want. Ireton used his friends to get elected. When his friends didn't give him everything he wanted, he went and got new friends to grind his old friends into the ground.
ReplyDeleteIn short, he's scum.
10:12 - a couple of suggestions were offered. One was to sell the NSCC building across the street which is owned by the city (thus attracting a new business)and use the proceeds to renovate the Bricks into new office space for the agency. That would leverage current progress and investment into more. Another was to donate the building to a non-profit or sell it on the open market.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the two of them would like to visit a nice newly renovated crack house in the future instead of the ones we already have. I think for the most part the HUD housing projects in Salisbury end up the same way. They end up housing drug addicts and need to be remodeled completely after the first 5 years. Just take a ride around the Salisbury neighborhoods and look where these projects end up.Most are a total disaster.
ReplyDeleteIreton is 100% right and he is doing EXACTLY what I voted him in there for. Debbie and Terry are the problem, and this blog's blind support of them gets more and more apparent by the minute.
ReplyDeleteAlternatives were so discussed. That former council majority wouldn't even talk about them.
ReplyDeleteI have no sympathy for Ireton, Shields and now Mitchell for their exploitation of minorities to get what they want. As a minority, I am fed up with politicians like this who portray all black people this way. My father died when I was 12 from complications of high blood pressure. My mother worked two jobs and my oldest brother quit school to work and got a G.E.D.
Stop making us all sound like we have to be saved and can't do anything unless you make it so.
Anon 11:59 said it all very well and very truthfully. Everybody sit still and let it play out.
ReplyDeleteSounds like he wants to make sure the minority community knows what's going on. For you to assume that will start a riot means that you think so little of black people that you expect them to riot when they're not happy. I wonder if you ever voiced concern when republicans were saying that the tea party needed to know what was going on in Washington. Did you expect riots then? Nope. Because those were good, peaceful white folks.
ReplyDeleteSorry, 2:30, but Ireton held his show with Shields who talked about the 50's and 60's. There were riots here in the 60's.
ReplyDeleteThe language was threatening. "I'm going to make sure your father know what you did." Threat. "I'm going to tell on you." Threat. "We're going to march on you." Threat.
That type of talk gets people riled up. Angry people do stupid things. The talk was designed to get people angry. End of story.
This (below) was in the paper right beside the Ireton article. This is what you get with low income housing.
ReplyDeleteCRIME: Scalding bath ends in child abuse charges
SALISBURY -- Wynita Evette Dale turned the hot water on and filled the tub inside the Booth Street town house apartment she shared with her mother. She was not preparing to bathe her child.
Oh yes we need to build a lot more low income housing so they will come.
Let them go burn down Watts again.
ReplyDelete6:54, I don't think it's fair to paint all inhabitants of low-cost housing with the same brush. What happened on Booth St., as reported in today's Times, is fortunately very rare. This woman--and her mother who gave the advice--are not fit to be parents. They have serious mental issues. They do not represent those of low income.
ReplyDelete10:12 said"The economics of the Bricks don't make sense."
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think we're all seeing more and more of this "Government Think" as the politicians go to war with each other over how, when, and where to spend other peoples'(us) money. Have any of these folks stopped to consider the economics of this project. And if they have, why haven't the future plans for it been discussed. (Will it be sold to private enterprise? Will it become a ward of the city and require massive subsidies? on to infinity).
It is an insult to the very people who fought for civil rights that they are using the race card in this debacle.People were beaten,attacked with police dogs and fire hoses,and sometimes even lynched while fighting for equal rights-their struggle is being mocked by Shanie and Jim in them comparing it to this crap.
ReplyDeleteJeff Simpson and Teresa Gardener must go, they are lunatics and spending money as if it wasn't theirs to spend.
ReplyDelete