Will Salisbury go by way of Minneapolis?

By Thornton Crowe

By now, most of you should be at least mildly familiar with what happened to Minneapolis/St. Paul Mayor Betsy Hodges when her constituents called her out during a press conference about a police officer shooting a woman last week. The angry masses called for her to resign and, it seems, the pressure is mounting.

Yes, friends, she was like our Mayor, too busy with the aesthetics and fancy optics instead of dealing with real issues her residents faced on a day to day basis. She is disconnected from the region problems and continues to put lipstick on dead pig carcases. Sound familiar?

Day's tales of woe continue to mount as one ill-begotten initiative after another continues to unfold. From yesterday's ode to 'lowest crime in recorded history' to his insane puppeting about housing values being $133K more now that he's at the wheel, his mindless banterings seem to provide comic relief but not much else for Salisbury residents.

Can Main Street afford to lose businesses due to the never-ending gobstopper roadwork? While most older Salisburians remember there were more than one gas stations along that strip, it is likely Day and company haven't factored in all that contaminates soil - or the escalated cost to dispose of it. Therefore, when they reach the corner of Baptist and Main, will that turn into another 9-month ordeal? One can only hope the City Engineer (do we even have one?) will have already nailed down a swift solution but who knows with the haphazard manner our City seems to be governed.


With Hodges now feeling the heat to resign, it leads me to ponder; when will Salisbury have enough with the Day Clown Car Posse we live with everyday? Will it take that Section 8 low income housing actually being built smack dab in the middle of Downtown for the sleeping giant (aka Salisbury residents) to rise and take action? When is too much stupid, stupid enough to act? How many days do we have to live on Idiot Island before it becomes too old to bear any longer? Anyone? Anyone?

It's interesting when you ponder the local political scene because the media seems to fall lockstep with the national trends to damn the people actually working within our government while holding in high esteem those who are just full of hoodwinks for the public. Therefore, like CNN, they've rendered themselves useless in assisting you in discerning who's working and who's not!

All the Sears portrait poses and talks about 'cosmetic repairs' will not fix Salisbury's woes. Action and meaningful legislature will be the salvation - not banning chain link fencing. This is lost on our illustrious mayor as he continues down the same road, ignoring any constructive criticism.

Let's get one thing straight here...

Ah, some of you have sent in comments, claiming old Thornton is too hard on the Mayor and would never be satisfied with anything done to make Salisbury better. Many accuse me of naysaying all and that somehow, I get a charge out of browbeating the local political class. Hardly!

Unlike many I hear from, I don't see Salisbury as some lost cause beyond repair! I suffer from True Believerism. I do want Salisbury to rise from its own death rattle and it's up to the voters to do this - not someone like Jake Day. His fairy tale popsicle ideology is not what this area craves any more than Hodges is good for Minneapolis.

Some of you don't seem to grasp that if the local politicians I harp on would simply do their job and do right by you, the voters instead of all the endless pandering, lie spewing and cheap theatrics, they'd get no complaint from me whatsoever!