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Don't you dare let County Executive Rick Pollitt or Mayor Jim Ireton fool you Folks, a new Wicomico Library is absolutely not necessary or needed. Look deeper into this topic and you'll see exactly why Council Members are being fooled into such a project.
You see, space has become an extremely valuable commodity within our local Government. The County has clearly grown, almost two fold. Space had to be given up for the County Executive and many others and this impeded on the City's space in the GOB.
The City has also grown with new positions and assistants that go along with them. There has been a contract for many years in which the City of Salisbury simply has to turn over $1.00 and sign the contract stating they take full responsibility for 1/2 of the GOB, (Government Office Building) yet the City has refused to sign the contract, even after we pushed the issue more than 2 years ago. Many Citizens were unaware of the contract to begin with and simply thought the City owned 1/2 of the building. Lord knows, you paid for 1/2, but that's not good enough.
So the County isn't complaining because they've had a tenant footing half the bills and maintenance but the City wants their own building. So how do you make such a project happen in such a horrible economy? YOU PLAY POLITICS!
ANY time our local government comes up with ridiculous ideas with wasteful spending, a red flag goes up in my mind and all I have to do, (in most cases) is look at the obvious. If there's one place money is available through Grants, it's a Library. You know, grow out of the space you're in and the Feds step in with millions of taxpayer dollars. I know, (says Gary Comegys, Barrie Tilghman and others) let's build something with a mini mall attached too for retail, just like Rockville did.
Well guess what Folks, there's an additional 12,500 square feet in the lower level of that Library. Did you also know they have a truck or two that delivers your books to regional Libraries as well. Oh, you may think this is minute but let me assure you, YOU pay for the employees doing so, gas, vehicles to deliver the books, maintenance and believe me, it adds up.
If they simply shut down the regional Library portion of their main building they would gain an additional 12,500 square feet, MORE then they'll ever need. Libraries are getting smaller, not bigger. Follow the trend. While it's hard for many to accept, the younger generations are now depending on computers and not as many books. In 10 years books will be almost obsolete, just like newspapers.
If they want to spend money, open more regional Libraries and do NOT relocate. The ONLY reason the City and County are encouraging this entire project is because THEY need more space and the current Library is PERFECT, hence the FREE GIFT of property from the City to the County, HELLOOOOO!
This kind of misleading governing has to end! We need fiscally responsible representatives and not bureaucrats. Now comes the biggest question. Is a new Library a desperate need to America? Yes, I asked that question properly because every single taxpaying American will foot the bill, (should they move forward) and we need to start asking ourselves, is the building falling down, absolutely not! Is it in disrepair, hell no it's not! In fact, that building was designed to last another 50 years!
Enough is Enough with this spending for luxury items. I have never once heard of one single legitimate reason why we need a new Library. I have been to numerous meetings and everything is a BS excuse. My Father in Law was the Director of the Wicomico Library System for some 20 years and he is outraged at this proposal. We spend millions of dollars on additional salaries for the bottom floor regional staff just to push books to other locations. It needs to be shut down completely and temporary buildings, (like Pittsville had) need to go up instead. If they're successful, build a small Library there. If they're not, shut it down, relocate the temporary building to another proposed prime spot and go from there.
However, building a multi million dollar structure, giving up extremely valuable real estate, simply because you want more space in the GOB is WRONG! I have nothing against Libraries. I have issues with being fiscally responsible and the MSM, (Main Stream Media) only reports what they're delivered and no homework is done as to WHY.
The reason Blogs have become so successful is because of articles like this. Citizens are, (in many cases) too busy to dig deeper into these matters and while most depend on local MSM to deliver them local news, you just can't do it in a 15 second television piece. The local newspaper uses the excuse, we published what we were told. So they don't ask any challenging questions and for far too many years massive multi million dollar projects went through without citizens being properly informed.
It's time we close that chapter and force the MSM to go back to their own grass roots and deliver more investigative reporting. Projects like the Wicomico County Library will only bankrupt this Country sooner than later. It is NOT necessary, it is NOT needed and the facility they are currently in will be around as a Public Library for another 50 years, DEAL WITH IT and stop playing games just so the City of Salisbury can relocate. Start buying up buildings on the Downtown Plaza and relocate the City there and put good money after good money!
Look at this project for its real incentive. Governor O'Malley will soon deliver a message stating he's cutting the budget by another $240,000,000.00. This means you're going to get pounded with more taxes and City & County Agencies are short another $240,000,000.00, let alone what he already cut this year. So Wicomico County and the City of Salisbury can't get a dime to relocate. However, IF they make this move with the Library they can get the money from the Feds and an empty building will become available for FREE. Wouldn't it be nice if our representatives simply told it like it really is. Instead, its rob Peter to pay Paul.