There are more vacant storefronts and buildings in the county seat than there have been in more than a decade and its aging population base is still struggling to rebound from the recession.
Mayor Charlie Dorman knows this is a critical moment in the town’s history, and he says he has a plan to turn everything around.
We sat down with Dorman this week to talk about the details of that plan, which includes a few interesting ingredients such as a bigger highway, a new perspective on the town’s geographic location, a renewed focus on the river and a man named Day.
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First of all to say that an excursion railroad will draw people from 200 miles away is bs. Strasburg railroad is one of the biggest draws on the east coast for rail fans.....between museums and true steam train rides on the oldest operating railroad in the US. Just popping up a train ride will do little to nothing. There is no real rail history on the shore. Snow hill has been on a decline for decades.......the entire shore is facing the same issues snow hill is facing now. People leaving.....no real jobs....no industry......the shore has never figured it out and is way late to the party.........farms though wonderful do not create jobs...ect......the shore doesn't have much to offer as far as a place to settle and raise a family unless your loaded to start with.....
ReplyDeleteIf everyone knew about the great food that grocery store (can't recall the name but it sells gas inexpensively) in Snow Hill sells they would be there. I always get some Sweet Potato biscuits when they have them and their fudge is the best. We picked up 4 good sized fried fillets of trout ($10) for dinner the other night and it was delicious. They had Beef and Dumplings also.
ReplyDeleteThe post is about the town of snow hill surviving......not cheap gas and a few cheap groceries.......it's about jobs.....industry......the things the shore doesn't have much of.
ReplyDeleteIs there any homeowner under the age of 40 in Snow Hill?
ReplyDeleteYes there are homeowners under age 40 here - just not many. The person who commented above got it right. We need industry - specifically manufacturing. Tourism isn't going to float Snow Hill. We should annex the cannery on the other side of the bridge and zone it appropriately to allow a marina to be built. The Distillery / Microbrewery is a good idea but there is more. The local zoning is being ignored by government officials. There are boarded up homes and homes needing to be torn down but the owners are never held accountable. HEY MAYOR AND COUNCIL!!!!! Read the book "Broken Windows"! Move the state owned buildings (Court, DSS, DJS, etc.,) off of the river and open them up to public sale so they can generate tax revenue. Use some of the unimproved land that lies just on the outskirts of the residential areas as an industrial park and give businesses some tax incentives based upon employment thresholds. Hotels along the highway just give people a place to stay for the evening and then they will be on their way - not a good bet for bringing people to the area. I like the idea of events on the river but let businesses and the chamber of commerce arrange them. Rezone smartly, issue tax incentives wisely, provide necessary infrastructure, and get out of the way. Let private industry do what it does best - grow and create jobs. If we want to make Snow Hill a tourist attraction we have to remember that it will be seasonal at best due to the climate.River fun is a summer thing and we will never have a ski lodge here. We had better get used to the idea that a well rounded community with a healthy balance of residences, retail establishments, and manufacturing is our best hope for a healthy economy. Tourism would be the cherry on top. This isn't ocean city and we will never attract a million visitors a year. Accept that. There is also the matter of crime. Our police department isn't large enough to address the crime problems we currently have and we haven't seen our new police chief in weeks. The Sheriff's department is too busy to handle our crime and the rest of the crime in the county. Chief Kirk was everywhere but a more proactive department is needed. This new chief isn't providing us with the forward thinking police department necessary to make our area a safe place for young families to raise kids of businesses to open. Everything needs to work hand in hand to breath life back into Snow Hill. But we better hurry or we will go the way of Girdletree and Stockton - which have been classified as official U.S. ghost towns.
ReplyDeleteThe previous mayor certainly hurt the area as well
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