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| Salisbury's Riverwalk Current Condition |
By Thornton Crowe
Over the last week, the handrail situation on Riverwalk has become a source of hot debate here on Salisbury News. It all began when the handrails which used to line both sides of the river, running from the hotel down to Market Street Inn.
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| Riverwalk Handrails |
A week ago, a reader's comment was published where many debated the pros and cons of putting those rails back. Most commenters saw no need to do so, citing other places didn't have them. Then, last Friday, the City got it's first fatality when the police found a drowning victim floating near the hotel. Now that somebody's dead, it means major damage control for City Hall as now, the caution has turned into reality.
Where do you think the money will come from? Certainly not out of Day's paltry yearly salary; it will be coming out yours - Salisbury residents and businesses' to rectify the situation. Is this responsible governance? Creating big problems through sloth and then expecting taxpayers to foot the bill for said neglect or outright ignorance?
Remember, given the fact that Salisbury University has gobbled up a lot of the city properties to make room for Dr. Janet Dudley-Eshbach's great academic society - meaning less properties on the tax rolls; residential and business taxes has risen to off-set the deficits it created. Meaning property owners, the landlord class and businesses alike will have to foot yet another bill.
When will the bleed end?
One smart solution would be to tap local corporations, civic groups and churches to sponsor for the purchase, installation and continual maintenance of these handrails (which could've been done with the original railing had anyone bothered to think for a change). By getting companies like Perdue, First Baptist Church and Gillis Gilkerson to kick in with sponsorships, this would eliminate any need to raise taxes to cover the expense, plus give a nice little PR boost for sponsors. It's a win-win all the way around. Yet, this is seldom the way folks like Day solve problems costing the City money!
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| After Day's "Renovation" |
So there you have it, folks. Another self-inflicted crisis brought to you by City Hall where you will be on the hook once again as you have for decades to pay for someone else's bad judgement calls. When will you get sick of paying for amateur hour and elect a Mayor and city government which knows how to conduct business and get results for you instead of line their pockets while using your backs to step on in order to get to the next level in their political ambitions?
Aren't you sick of footing the bill for foolishness and incompetence?
72 comments:
There has got to be a better alternative to Day somewhere in Salisbury. Should we or could we change the city's charter to have a mileage limit outside city limits to look for a suitable candidate so we have a wider pool to choose from? I know it sounds extreme but business leaders live outside the city limits which prevents them from being mayor. No person in their right mind would live in the city limits due to all the crap that's gone on with the idiot liberals in charge. We need more principled leaders in Salisbury, it's becoming imperative if we expect for the town to continue existing.
Isn't there an old folks home right there, too? What are they going to do when one of those patients gets out and falls into the river? Go ask any nursing home person, they'll tell you this can happen and has happened from time to time. What will the city do then?
T C you need to run for Mayor. Your postings show you have the knowledge and common sense to change Salisbury.
Democrats don't seem to get it. Eventually other people's money runs out. This blood leaching has to end. Why can't we get better candidates?
The damn rails shouldn't have been removed to begin with. This renovation is going to cost more in fixing the damage from it than to actually renovate. Could this be part of the master plan?
With Smallsbury being mostly renters, this means higher rents. Will wages rise too? I don't think so.
Why doesn't Rinnier sponsor? They certainly get enough sweetheart deals from local government. They can afford it.
Liberals always see our money as their personal slush funds. They always run rampant with waste and abuse. It's all government levels.
Government's money fleece. All legal. All the time.
Anybody with any sense knew that removing the rails was a bad idea, how can someone cash their check after making such an irresponsible decision? We need someone who can help this City. Is there any such person? Is there still a future4 for Salisbury? I don't know anymore.
I love to watch how everyone changes their tune. All week us intelligent folk have been commenting on the stupidity and liability of removing the railing and the trolls have been chest thumping the "personal responsibility" mantra, without any thought of the scenarios TC mentions.
Then there were the idiots comparing us to San Antonio. Ever been there? No comparison, none, nil, nada.
His public relations department will spin a scenario that will attempt to relieve the bury of any responsibility for this, until the next tragedy.
Can someone be a renter in Salisbury and run for mayor?
The damn shame of it all is the inexperienced Boy Mayor making, (flat out) stupid decisions. Just what in the hell does the City even have a COUNCIL for anyway. If the Mayor continues to get every stupid idea rubber stamped by the Council the City will continue in a downward spiral and go bankrupt in no time at all.
Last week I asked "what Idiot" came up with this stupid idea. The next thing we know there's a drowning. I disagree with you on only one point in your article. You mentioned multiple people commented in the Mayors defense stating other areas don't have railings. It's not multiple people making those comments. It's Jake's 6 hired hit men paid to counter anything negative we publish about Salisbury. NO ONE is stupid enough to actually believe removing that railing is and was a good idea, NO ONE!
My belief is, Day really screwed up on his amateur budget. Look, he planned for $150,000.00 expense on the contaminated soil on Main Street and in fact the ultimate bill will be close to $800,000.00 instead. He has NO experience. He's hiring CHILDREN to replace seasoned veteran employees who know where all the bodies are buried, (so to speak). He wants people to believe that when you graduate, you'll stay local and not leave the area. He's a complete BS artist, no different from Jim Ireton, just a different face.
Jake Day, Jim Ireton and Barrie Tilghman are laughing right in your face. Jake knew he couldn't afford to repair or replace that railing so he manufactured the idea that it's a good thing to remove it all together, WRONG! Now he will come back to the Council for emergency funds to replace that railing and YOU taxpayers will in fact foot the bill. Yes, this was on purpose in typical Liberal style.
Finally, unfortunately ALL of the pictures shown here and elsewhere are images taken during high tide. I've been down there enough to know that the water drops quite a bit during low tide and you can't just reach up and climb out. When it's dark out, how are you going to fund any escape ladders? This has to be one of the dumbest, (on purpose) ideas I have ever seen.
8:45, absolutely. You must be a resident for at least one year.
It's a club and you aren't allowed in it. The cronies that run this place. They don't care about this town. As much as they BS that they do. All they care about is money. Once you realize this truth you will stop treating them like kings and start treating them like the charlatans that they are.
Lack of foresight is kill Salisbury. It's been killing it for a long time. This isn't new news in many respects. People continue to look to these idiots like Day, Dunn and Ireton do do their thinking for them. The problem is none of them think themselves. We have a bunch of morons running around not thinking! It's not even about Democrats vs. Republicans anymore. It's more like Common Sense vs. Mentally Unsound.
8:45, I've been to San Antonio numerous times and you are 100% correct. There is zero comparison from Salisbury to San Antonio. I preached what could be done with that river walk when I ran for Mayor. Why, because I have traveled the world and have been to almost every major city in America. That's called wisdom and experience. I didn't go to some seminar with a bunch of Liberal a-holes with graphs and charts watching power point displays of fabricated and well planned images and information. I can say I've been there and witnessed the successes and failures. Where's the Boy Mayor and Jim Ireton been? Hell, where's Barrie Tilghman been?
Just look at the Main Street revitalization project. Why in the hell would you start the renovation at Rt. 13??? IF you are trying to revitalize, why wouldn't you start where the main/key businesses are at the end of the Plaza and then go east! I'm telling you, these people are flat out stupid.
What's with this contamination soil deal? How does it go from $150K to $800K. Could understand a $25-50K discrepancy but that's ridiculous. Is this the real reason why they halted the project for awhile? Because they can't pay the bill?
What we need is a professional city administrator. But, since they will not be an uneducated connected born here, they will not survive, despite the fact, that this is what we need. They will be slandered and dragged thru the mud like every other professional that has tried to succeed here, only to flee in disgust, at the ignorant mentality of this community.
Nothing has changed in decades and it is catching up to you. Based on history, nothing will ever change here, and you will continue to be the outhouse on the eastern shore.
Can Day be recalled or removed due to incompetence? He shouldn't be mayor. He's actually worse than Ireton and Tilghman. At least they were never stupid enough to remove the handrails!
This is another gripe-a-Thon. You want change? Run yourself. Yes, the railings are in disrepair, but they need to be paid for somehow. Sponsorship might work, but that takes a long time to do. I am not arguing for day at all, he's a buffoon, and simple removal was a bad idea. But how do you change things by typing in a blog when you should be running for office!
Julia Glanz isn't a born-here but she is connected because she worked it while at SU. She got in good with Dr. Janet and people like Ireton. Sucking up to everyone who could help her. She's not school in administrative duties it takes to run a city. She's basically stealing her $100K+ a year because she's incompetent.
How long is East Main going to be torn up? It's a pain in the butt for anyone who needs to do business down there. Is Day planning to stretch this out like the 20+ year mixing bowl ordeal in DC? This ain't DC but Day is working hard to make it look that way, isn't he? Slums, ghettos, ill-begotten urban planning and all. I thought the Jakester had a masters in urban planning. Anyone ever bother to see what his GPA was, because from what I see in reality, he really sucks at it.
901 maybe if Day would stop f-ing up Salisbury, there'd be nothing to gripe about. Did you ever think about them apples, fruit tart?
8:58, Allow me to wake each and every one of you up to REALITY.
You see, when you Idiots go out and elect someone who is way too young and inexperienced, you get just that.
Now Jake let well seasoned experienced people go and replaced them with CHILDREN who make graphs and charts but don't know their head from their a$$.
When you speak to all your friends, neighbors and family and you ask, who did you vote for when Joe Albero ran for Mayor, 99% of them will tell you they voted for Joe, INTERESTING. Yet when the election results came in, Jim Ireton mysteriously won. People came to me and said, you need to fight the results. NO, YOU need to fight the results, IF you actually give a crap. I couldn't care less about a $25,000.00 a year job. However, if I had been elected I would've treated it like it was a $250,000.00 a year job. If you believe an election in Salisbury is legit, you're an Idiot.
The Boy Mayor and his new millennial staff GUESSED at what it would cost to remove contaminated soil and just like everything else, WHOOPS! So when Governor Hogan gave the City $1,000,000.00 towards the renovation Downtown I just laughed because I knew that most of that money was going immediately to the County Landfill.
Oh, by the way, you've heard not a damn things about that WHOOPS mistake in ANY other media source. More cover ups by your local main stream media.
Local media is a joke. They never cover crap like this Joe because they don't have the balls to do it. They would spoil their feelings of superiority they believe they have because they have some kind of access. But all they get with their access is garbage public relations pieces that are meaningless. Jake is good at spouting platitudes based in nothing. He's more like a PR Director than anything else. He can spin a good wordsmithing but when it comes to action and doing, he's absolutely impotent. He's a virgin trying to play in the big leagues. Probably why the landlord class loved it when he put his name (the only one) in the hat. He's another politician they can screw so they have more bank to retire in Florida with. He's a fool tool. Nothing more.
ANON 9:01AM Since when did reporting issues and giving solutions become a gripe-a-thon? You certainly sound nonsensical, promoting people to not understand the issues created by local government.
Could you be one of the Jake 6?
If you're looking for scrappy, I can do scrappy. In fact I can do scrappy really well! Your ignorance is way too hard to ignore so I thought it should be broadcast so your fellow citizens could witness your insidious point of view which holds no merit whatsoever.
Government is a four letter word.
Was it Thomas Paine that said, "Government in its best form is a necessary evil, in its worst form an intolerable one".
Or something very close to this.
9:01 said, "Sponsorship might work, but that takes a long time to do."
You lazy ass millennial snowflake. Yes Thornton, this has to be one of the Jake 6 because they're an Idiot!
So it will take too long, so BONE the taxpayers. Make up your damn mind too. Yesterday you Idiots thought it was a great idea to remove the railing and today, (now that someone is dead) you feel the need to replace the railing right away.
See Thornton, you were exactly right. They knew this would happen, they planned it to happen so that Jake could raised taxes and fees and make the taxpayers foot the bill by using emergence relief legislation instead of leaving the railing up, thinking out of the box and get sponsors to fund the repairs and revitalize the project over time. Now that the railing is gone, WE MUST FIX IT NOW! Typical LIBERALS!
Why didn't Day go to local companies and organizations to help fund the maintenance of the railing? Makes logical sense to me.
I'm sorry but I wasn't put on this earth to finance some idiot child mayor and his jacka** decisions and lack of any forethought. Nor was I put here to foot any bills for his lack of accounting/budget skills. This clown needs to go. I'm f**king fed up.
901 sucks if that's what Jake considers a public relations rep for the city. Sounds like a tool.
Can Jake Day be recalled? He's obviously in way over his head. Yes, I know he's got a year and change left but look at the damage he's done since 2015. Don't you think it's time to seriously consider getting this kid out?
All the real leaders in this area live outside the city limits and that's the reason why we have the idiot class to choose from for mayor candidates. Joe, move back! You got time.
We'd be better off hiring an outside person to be mayor for a couple terms. A professional who can get this place back online. Someone completely unconnected to the different classes here. Who will just make decisions based on sound judgement and experience. Screw residency. It's a load of garbage anyway.
If you think about the city in such a mess , look a little further , the entire country is the same , 8 years of socialism and communist leadership has had a domino effect on the counties , states , cities and towns. I think that Salisbury has been this way for longer than Obama. I've lived in D.C. ,NY and many other places , this town is the worse . Day is nothing more than a puppet for the very far left.
9:30 AM - Are you spouting rhetoric or do you have proof of who these "real leaders" that live out of town, are.
932 I've lived in many major cities and this place makes them look good. That's not saying much for Salisbury. This place is like the modern day Tammany Hall. Just remember, Boss Tweed went to prison and Jimmy Walker disappeared in the middle of the night. If we could only be so lucky!
It's not the town its the people look at what the downtown brings. Wonderful bus stop our glorious library/daytime homeless shelter and the place where every dope Fein/dealer in Wicomico has to go to when they get caught. Who in there rite mind would ever want to go to downtown Salisbury even if they had handrails installed on the river walk LOL!! Downtown Salisbury will never be a place to visit or shop. People that want to visit or shop do not want to be around the population that will always be there. We don't want to be robbed or have some homeless person begging change for the bus/booze they need.
Let's repeal Day and his whole posse. They're just a waste of money. Every last one of them.
9:30, NO! The position doesn't pay enough and they know it. No one wants the job for that very reason. It allows them to put whomever they want in as Mayor. Someone willing to rubber stamp a $140 million waste water treatment plant, $14 million fire palace, the sale of the old fire station for $70 thousand, the sale of multiple parking lots for pennies on the dollar, (all taxpayer owned properties) and the list goes on and on.
I'm NOT a rubber stamper. There was no way they could allow a Joe Albero to become Mayor and went to incredible extremes to make sure I didn't win.
I think "fake Day" should be in charge of coming up with the money not the taxpayers for the railings to be added back. He never thinks things through. Why can't Day and his friends come up with the $ for the rails, he could have a fund drive of people that can afford it, business leaders of Salisbury.
Why can't he tap daddy for some of the Perdue cash to foot this bill? He has an insider in right there to pretty much finance the whole damn project. Let daddy continue to support his boy genius offspring.
Jake certainly has many he could tap. Why not go to his Dad, Mike Dunn, the Rinniers and other landlords around here not to mention his buddy Barrie and Jimmy Ireton. Surely they could all find donors to put those rails back up without raping taxpayers. Its actually in their best interest.
Day is not what he appears. Jake has a little mans temper. When you question him or his authority he makes threats like termination of your employment. No this little turd fooled me once he will not have my support next election. Just the fact that he has kept Barbra Duncan and her hatchet man Kolb in place as SPD bled bodies at epic proportions tells me all I need to know about Fake Day. Day needs to let those balls drop and be a man. Sometimes you have to do things you do not like.
The removing of the hand railing was beyond stupid. Kids are on that walk way all the time not to mention all the pizza party crew strung out or drunk. Dumb dumb dumb.
Jake Day lied right to my face one time when I asked him about a situation. He will never get my vote regardless. I don't vote for people who lie about and to people. Even his mannerisms betrayed he knew damn well he was lying. Very unclassy and very unprofessional. He really doesn't deserve any additional terms. He's a moron.
Nice photoshop trickery on those photos. The water looks blue and clean. This is not how it looks in real life. If someone falls in they'd better hope they die because that water's so contaminated, it would kill them anyway even if they didn't drown.
Isn't Day having to go back and redo his budget because his landlord buddies rejected their tax hikes? He's out of town most of June. How convenient.
You'd think Day would get tired of running interference for all his botched jobs and just give it up. He has no idea what the hell he's doing. Never has. We should call for a refund on his salary. He isn't worth a plug nickel.
Once again the reason why the officials need to take their blinders off and LISTEN to the common sense and intelligent comments on this site. It's again one of the TOLD YOU SO moments.
A famous Benjamin Franklin quote comes to mind: Wise men don't need advice. Fools won't take it.
This plays itself out time and time and time again and has for years now with the Sby elected officials.
I have read a lot of comments on sponsorship. IMHO it will not work.
1) Perdue has done more for this City than anyone else with very little recognition are monetary value. They always attempted to do their part and now they are tired of the BS. You are lucky Perdue is still on the Shore. I am not an employee of Perdue. I for one would be ashamed to ask Perdue to invest more money in a "rat hole" called Salisbury.
2) You will not get Gillis to Sponsor nothing he cannot make money on. He is one of the leaches in Salisbury. Look at the properties he has purchased at ridiculous low prices. He is one of the major problems and is one of the "Good Ole Homeboys" with special privileges.
3) Rinnier is only in for the profit out of Salisbury. He is another Gillis. So don't expect nothing but crooked dealings from him.
4) Dunn, Cannon, Tilghman, other landlords and others in the "Good Ole Boys" group are not interested in Salisbury as a community. They are only interested in raping the tax payer for a hansom profit for themselves.
Now who are your sponsors? The ones that would sees the blatant corruption that runs / allows changes to Salisbury. That only happens when they get their kick back. Salisbury is worst than when the Mafia run NY and NJ. Who wants to invest in a crime / drug / gang infested City that allows this behavior
All this talk about rails.
What about the man that fell overboard and died. Where is the news coverage and sympathy for him? They covered the murders, but not the drowning.
Nor does anyone care enough to mention the real tragedy in all these responses.
Hopefully his family will be able to in some way sue the city for millions.
In my humble opinion, the town could put up yellow caution tape and line the whole town. Don't worry about the appearance, it wouldn't look any worse than the beer markets covered in advertisement as in the big nasty cities. After all, it is just a barrier to keep off the unwanted. You don't think those locks on residence doors keep the element out, do you? They are also a barrier to suggest you should stay out for health reasons.
Can someone answer 9:11's post please? I would also like to know if there is any project AT ALL when this is to be finished. It started in October and here we are 8 months later. Anyone Know?
I'm no lawyer but shouldn't there be a class action lawsuit against the city and maybe others for endangering the public, not doing due diligence to ensure the safety of the public and other things?
1239 the DC mixing bowl took over 20 years to complete. Wouldn't be surprised if local government drags it out. Look at how long it took them to finish Rt. 13. and that's not even done completely. This summer they're planning more construction down by PGH. That'll be torn up most of the summer and well into the fall. It's always their way. If I were a business downtown, I'd move the hell out. Robinson's moved out and they were right there. Can't imagine those businesses aren't experiencing some reduction in sales because it's a pain to get to them. Jake doesn't give a hoot the businesses in town so it's no skin off his nose if they lose money and close down. He's here to make people happy and brainwash them on it's all happening BS crap.
Thornton's been pissing all the right people off lately. Keep up the good work!
Funny how the City demands we, (by law) as property owners, put up a security fence around our pool but they can open the river up to all sorts of liability. This Idiot of a Mayor and entire City Council flat out suck.
Joe, you hit the nail on the head in your 303 comment. Exactly. Care to explain that one, Jakester?
Can't these people be turned into the Attorney General's office in Annapolis now that a death has resulted from Day's foolish decision here?
Hogan should put conditions on that $1M grant for the downtown. Big contingencies where Jake has to use his noodle before making these asinine decisions. He's obviously an impotent boob, so why not have State government oversight on his initiatives.
8:24 under what name is he going to run??? Do you actually think that's his real name???
Welcome to thugsville & poop poop river.Mayor should reconsider railings before lawsuits cost the city $$$$$$$$$$. You can't fix stupid.This city goes from one extreme to another. You should b thankful Perdue is still here ,there still considering moving to North Carolina.u can't blame them.
And not even a life rings or rings along the river. Plenty of people can't swim....
There is a Nursing home there Angorage and the people there do go outside ,I for one would not walk down that walk without the rails ,just know rails are needed
I visited that part of the riverwalk today at one hour after low tide. The water was 5 foot 3 from the walk, and the bottom was about 6 foot 6. A person falling off that height could easily hit bottom with his head and break a neck. The autopsy will let us know that.
Further, having worked 44 years in construction, OSHA and MOSH require that any walking surface over six feet high be protected by some form of fall protection, if not more than one. Railings with a toe kick not over 2 inches above the deck, a harness attached to a 5,000 lb. pullout anchorage point, a caution rope 6 feet from the edge with a full time spotter watching anyone who gets near, preferably NOT a stutterer, or a safety net to arrest the fall.
Heck, even City Codes require a railing on a porch over 30 inches, and at all stairs.
I think our fair City is going to be in deep doo-doo with these agencies, and an investigation must be called for. You, the Taxpayer, will be subject to the fines from this, and OSHA ad MOSH are not cheap!
Steve, great insights. Thanks for going down and checking that situation out. I suspected there was problems beyond the obvious but this just confirms how insane Day's decision was to remove the railing in the first place.
Interesting that you used 'deep doo-doo' considering testing from as far back as the early 90s showed the river as being contaminated with feces and other waste, which is dumped from the sewage system, Perdue and the Zoo. Therefore, that water is borderline on swamp; nothing close to being a place where anyone should swim or fish. Anyone falling in could end up with a fate worse than death.
As pointed out by Albero you need fencing around a pool and you said you need a rail for any porch 30" and stairs; hence, the city's removal is nonsensical and reckless. Gross negligence is a tort. Should Day be held culpable as someone else suggested?
It's so refreshing to see Day and his merry band of morons is looking out for citizens he represents. (Snark Intended)
Cheers, Steve.
Maybe Mark Lynch too, his nose is so far up Rinnier's and Day's butt!
Once again how about Legendary Landscape?? The boy mayor would only have to make a call to his Daddy, Mark Lynch would drop everything for old Randy
It would make sense if the railing was there before it should be there now. I'm surprised the hotel isn't putting up fencing on their part because they could be sued if a guest were to slip in. Why is this being allowed to go on like this without anybody having a problem with it? That water is just nasty and I'm surprised downtown doesn't smell like a sewer because of all the feces floating it it.
You cant walk on the river walk because of the goose poop. It has to be powerwashed before any event.
Probably cost more to remove the railing than to just fix pieces or sections where it was busted. Smart move, Jakester.
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