During yesterday's City Council Work Session the Mayor and Chief of Police introduced a proposed ordinance that came out of nowhere but is now being targeted as something the City Council came up with. Know this right out of the gate, this has everything to do with the Mayor. It is the Council's job to review any ordinance the Mayor proposes but for those of you who are targeting the Council, you are out of line.
"It particularly targets bars, restaurants, and convenience stores. If a property owner has 2 “confirmed” cases (read charges, not convictions), including underage sale of alcohol to minors, within a 2 year period, the Salisbury Chief of Police can close the establishment."
It should be noted that the Liquor Board already has complete control over licences and now the Mayor wants control over the Liquor Board. One might ask, why? Could it be that the Mayor is upset with the Liquor Board over an alleged incident at MoJo's not that long ago? Could it be that the Mayor has interest in riverfront property and wants to control whether or not a certain establishment can stay open or not?
All I can tell you is, Big Brother wants to get even bigger and the community needs to fight this from beginning to end. Yes, some establishments have more problems than others but I can assure you that those establishments that do have more issues are desperately trying to manage those businesses as best as they can. To attempt to INSULT the Liquor Board by creating such an ordinance to overpower them has to be what I'd consider the last straw for this community or any other.
You cannot have a controlling part time Mayor who pulls this kind of stunt to prove his/her power and control. Let the Liquor Board do their job. Let the Police Chief do her job and for goodness sake Mayor Ireton, stay out of local businesses business. It's no wonder Salisbury has the reputation it has.
Salisbury News has learned that Frank Hannah will personally come up from Florida to fight this ordinance as well as corporate lawyers from WaWa, (and the fight just got started).
Stop grandstanding Mayor Ireton. I keep telling everyone, Salisbury is NOT business friendly and that will change the very second I am elected.