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Monday, July 11, 2011

Salisbury Is Not Business Friendly

Joe,
A close friend of mine has a mechanic shop in Salisbury. His shop is joined with several other units with a adjoining neighbor that has a body shop.

About two months ago the Salisbury "Task Force" of about 8 or 9 people visited the facility to inspect the units, the "Task Force" said that they only come out when someone calls and makes a complaint. Later on the same day a man from the Salisbury "Health Department" also visited the facility to inspect the units, he also stated that he was there via a complaint that people were "urinating on the exterior of building"

Now what makes this interesting is that it's my understanding that these two business's have a neighbor across the street that also does auto repair and auto body work. From what I have gathered this person doesn't want the competition of the two tiny business's this close to his business and is doing everything he can do to run the little business's out and away from his business and that he is the person that made the complaints, that business is Kelley's auto body.

Fast forward to yesterday. Not hearing from the city in 2 or 3 months after their visit and assuming from what the task force said while doing their inspection, and what the health inspector said that he found nothing in violation, the two small business's thought everything was a-ok until yesterday. To their surprise a person from the city taped a bright orange piece of paper on the outside of each business and literally ran away after posting the piece of paper.

What was the bright orange paper? I'll get to that in a second. Let me explain how the building is set up. This is a large L shaped block building with nine units with six business's but only two that do auto repair.




Now to the orange piece of paper. The bright orange notice read,

Public Notice
This building is deemed unsafe
for public occupancy
under section ________116 #4________of the building code
of the City of Salisbury, Maryland
IT IS UNLAWFUL FOR ANY PERSON TO
OCCUPY OR RESIDE IN THIS BUILDING
UNTIL APPROVED BY THE BUILDING OFFICIAL
30 DAY VACATE                 SIGNED William Holland
BUILDING INSPECTOR         BUILDING OFFICIAL
My good friend called Mr Holland to find out what this was all about, Mr Holland just kept repeating that he should get a letter tomorrow, finally Mr Holland said it was because that there were no firewalls, and people were "pissing on the building" (those were his exact words) and numerous "life threatening violations" OH PULEEEEZE!!! "life threatening violations", "people pissing on the building"??? you have got to be kidding Salisbury. Isn't it strange that the only units to receive the vacate notice were the two that are repairing vehicles?  

Now the City of Salisbury is closing down two honest very small business's because of numerous frivolous complaints from the owner of Kelley's auto body and auto repair which is a very large business. I guess Kelley's is afraid that the two little business's will take a biscuit off his plate.

Now thanks to Salisbury the big business can have his extra biscuit and several families will not be able to feed their families.  

Thanks Salisbury

28 comments:

D. J. Underwood said...

I don't believe someone that does not sign their name to such a story. What are the two businesses? Is this someone angry with Kelley's? Real tough from no name.

Joseph Albero said...

D.J., The author of this letter did sign it. I withheld it, as I always do. We choose to do so to protect the author from personal attacks.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, this has happened many times in the city. One example is the former Market Street Antiques, comprised of some 40 or 50 small business owners. The City came in and condemned it. As you say, these actions are complaint-driven. Individual house owners can face the same fate if they are on the "outs" with their neighbors.

Anonymous said...

Is there an appeal process? It
should be independent from the city.When I had my problems it seemed th Board of Adjustments and Appeals were a branch of the departmrnt charging me.

Anonymous said...

I will agree with one thing. Salisbury is not business friendly.

However, I don't agree with the post. Does the friend have any proof that Kelly's Auto Body is in fact making the calls? If not Kelley's Auto Body could file suit for defamation.

If your post was to claim Salisbury was not business friendly you should have left Kelly's out of it. It sounds like your post was to keep business away from Kelley's.

Just Curious: Does your friends shop have a bathroom?

Anonymous said...

stop pissing on the building jeez

Anonymous said...

sounds like someone pissed in Mr. Hollands corn flakes! Also the Accused have the right to face their Accuser and should press who filed the complaint to start with. If they can't produce a complainer then why should you have to let them do an inspection?

Anonymous said...

The Good Ol' Boy network is still alive and well....and by well, I mean well for the Good Ol' Boys, and a plate of chicken manure for everybody else.

Anonymous said...

This is not the "original" Kelly's autobody. No that was one of the nicest people to deal with. Kelly's Auto Body is owed by a fellow name. "John Fassel" He only works off Mr. Kelly's reputation. Mr Fassel also is the owner of Bell Star Towing (Towing business WOW imagine that), as well as, Salisbury Transmission. Mr Fassel has been known to "bent the rules, skate the edge of grey" ofcourse with the "well I didnt get caught attidude! Mr. Fassel started Salisbury Transmission by stealing work from AMMCO Transmissions (on Lake street) Where he worked as a Manager. This scheme was " person comes in "I need a transmission work done" Mr Fassel says " Man I a sorry it will be 2 weeks before I can fit you in...BUT I know a place over On Williamport Circle in salisbury ..a their a realy good shop"....(follow the scam)..He was caught by AAMCO and fired. Mr. Fassel likes to "write checks with his mouth that his bank account cannot cash" He seems to go thru many many employees all with the same complaints of not following thru on his promises.....Mr. Fassel will get his in the end...they all do....

Anonymous said...

Welcome to Chicago style politics.
The same thing they do in Chicago if you don't vote Dumbocrat

Anonymous said...

Wow, if there's that many people pissing on the building, it should prevent fires from starting... Safety First!
Sounds like the other four businesses should have gotten notices as well. A fire wall works both ways...

Anonymous said...

still joes auto repair was great got my car fixed their all the time hope he sets up shop somewhere else he will be missed

Anonymous said...

I am a frequent client of Kelly's and they do great work! It sure is funny how for the last 2 plus years, the same guys who built my car are still there and continue to do whatever I ask them to do with reguards to my car. Perhaps if the "other 2 small businesses" cleaned up their act and quit looking like a ghetto, then Kelly's, or whoever complained, would have no reason to. As I have said, I know what the other businesses look like. Heck, 1 of those shops have left the doors unlocked to clients cars and come in to find homeless people sleeping in them. I would not allow any of my vehicles to either of those shops! I have and will continue to tell ALL my friends to go to Kelly's because they do GREAT work and they do it for a reasonable price! Thank you Eddie, Justin and John!!! Paint and interior still looking great!

bill b said...

so you are very quick to name the possible compamy that called in, butnot name the two business that got closed,intresting. lets air it all. sounds liek to me you are trying to defame Kelly's. Joe this is not right

Anonymous said...

I have been to Kelly's many,many times. They are honest and fair people. However John has recently hired a new manager for the body shop and in dealing with him he does not fit in with Johns usual staff. If it was Kelly's that turned in the complaint I would sooner believe it was the new manager and not John himself that made the complaints. I try to deal solely with Eddie when i go up there anymore if at all possible. John if you do read this blog at all, The new manager will end up hurting your business and running off your dedicated customers.

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:51 Eddie,Justin and John are the only three I choose to deal with there too. If you are who I think you are they did do a Great job on your car...

Anonymous said...

Take your car to SOS Auto Service. Great Service and the mechanics are very through there.

Anonymous said...

If I had a business and there were people pissing on an adjacent building across the street I would call code enforcement. This is the same "broken windoes" approach New York took when they cleaned up Times Square from the squalor it had been. If you let people make a mess and live like it's the third world areas degrade rapidly.

The unspoken part of this is that it is presumably employees of the competing shop business that are uninating on the building. Why? Do the competing facilities not have bathroom facilities? Why are they pissing on the exterior of the building? Habitual public urination by the employees of business is not normal.

Anonymous said...

This doesn't hardly seem fair. I've had my vehicle at the garage that is in question and I was completely satisfied. These two guys make an honest living by working hard and being honest about everything they do! As long as these two guys stay in business I will take my vehicles where ever they are.

The day I was there I saw nor heard nothing out of the way or unusual nor anything to make me feel uncomfortable. In fact, every business on that whole block seemed to be busy.

I'd have to fight this. This business has been open for a while and for an inspector to just recently drop by and put them out of business for having no firewalls and for urinating on the walls seems a little lame. Hasn't this always been a garage? Someone would have to show me proof of someone urinating- I wouldn't just take anyone's word on that. Whoever filed the complaint- snap a photo!

Anonymous said...

Salisbury does not have a Health Department. That's a county function.

Anonymous said...

This John Stassel guy is a crooked man. He likes to show up on accident scenes in his private vehicle before police arrive and solicit business. He promises free towing to his place and no deductible if you use his services, however, the insurance company still gets the inflated bill. He offers towing operators hundreds of dollars in kickbacks if they steer business his way. His time will come, just like the 17 cops and 2 body shop owners recently busted in Baltimore.

Anonymous said...

No one is answering WHY the employees of the two other body shops are urinating on the building. Either there are, or are not, bathroom facilities in those businesses. What American business owner would tolerate workers making the side of the building they work in a bathroom?

Is the unspoken issue here that the bodyshop workers are illegals and this is how they do it back home? I'm starting to get that vibe.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Joe, you are not getting the actuals to this story. Maybe a bit of investigative reporting will lead you to the conclusion there really are two side to a story.

Tee said...

hello folks, I'm the person that sent this in to Joe. I'll answer the questions that are posted and will be glad to answer any other questions that you might have.

1) Is this someone angry with Kelley's?

A) no not at all, in fact I don't have any anomosity against Kelley's and I can't understand why he does with the 2 business's.

2) Is there an appeal process?

A) Yes, the property owner is working on an appeal and will meet with Mr Holland on Friday.

3) Does the friend have any proof that Kelly's Auto Body is in fact making the calls?

A) Yes, John (the owner of Kelley's) told me personally that he called about what is mentioned in the post.

4) Does your friends shop have a bathroom?

A) Yes,

5) Why? Do the competing facilities not have bathroom facilities? Why are they pissing on the exterior of the building?

A) No one is urinating outside on any building. If so it's after hours from other tenants that rent spaces for hobby reasons. What John told me was that after the weekends he smells urine by "his" building and noticed stains on his blacktop. It's all an assumption on his part.

6) What American business owner would tolerate workers making the side of the building they work in a bathroom?

A) None I'd hope, neither of these small business's have "employees" both are operated solely by the owners. These are only 1 stall spaces.

Look I'm not knocking John, his employee's or the quality of his work by any means. I will even go as far as to say that Eddie is without a doubt the best painter I have ever seen. It's a shame that John is trying to get rid of Eddie.

Anonymous said...

ok heres the deal the employees are not pissing outside!! The businesses and also surrounding businesses back there have been having problems with homeless people breaking into cars and hanging out in the back by the railroad tracks. I know this because I know the 2 small businesses that are being harassed, I have seen the troubles they have been facing with the homeless people and that has calmed down since they notified the Salisbury Police and now the shops are checked on nightly.
I have also seen first hand at the complaint that was filed on the 2 businesses and it states that someone is pissing on KELLYS property , but Kellys has a fence around there parking lot (that was put up to keep homeless and consumers from taking there cars and not paying) plus the other businesses close around the same time as KELLYS, what are they saying the employees go there in the day time and pee in front of them, your are right were is the proof and also you are right there has been a mechanic shop ran there for years before these 2 got there, THEY PASSED THE INSPECTIONS A COUPLE MONTHS AGO I KNOW THIS FOR A FACT, also KELLYS need to pay there employees more if they dont want them to rat them out as this is where most the info came from, it is called i thought you should know because you seem like good people and this is what has been said and done by so and so, oh yeah there is also a relative that works for the city and they are related to the BIG FISH who is trying to get rid of the SMALL FISH, good luck guys and you have allot of other small business owners behind.

Anonymous said...

I have never been to any of these businesses, so I can't take sides.
If there are multiple units, and the building has been deemed unsafe, why would the others not receive notice also? And what makes it unsafe? Peepee on the walls? If that is the case everyone with a young son should have their homes condemned.
IF someone is really peeing on walls, should it not be a simple citation for public urination instead of calling a building(oh, excuse me, PART of a building) condemned?
To my (very limited) knowledge, any code violations are supposed to have 30 days to fix, as long as the building is not falling down. Did the urine wear down the support walls?

If there is a firewall issue, would it not come up in inspections? Would this indicate that all previous inspections were done incorrectly? Should I worry about every building I go in to? If inspectors missed a firewall several times, what else do they miss?

Something fishy is definately going on. Whether the one business mentioned is making complaints or not.. the city officials are weenies. This is just absurd.

Can I buy a jar of that peepee? If it is strong enough to bring douwn a building (oops, I mean PART of a building), then I'm sure it would be worth its' weight in gold for some unscrupulous people.

Tee said...

Q) If there are multiple units, and the building has been deemed unsafe, why would the others not receive notice also?

Q) And what makes it unsafe?

A) All I know at this point is what's in the "vacate" notice, hopefully I'll find out more this Friday.

A) this is a question that I cannot answer. It seams that someone has their "sites set" on the 2 auto repair shops only.

Q) If there is a firewall issue, would it not come up in inspections?

A) this is a good question. I was at this same location from 1992 until 2002 (10 years) (I decided to re-open when this space became available again) and had a few inspections through the years with absolutely no problems or violations.

Q) Would this indicate that all previous inspections were done incorrectly?

A) Again,I was there from 1992-2002 and every previous inspection the officer(s) actually stated how well kept, clean and up to code our facility was.

Q) Can I buy a jar of that peepee?

A) Absolutely, you know where I am and I will make you a heck of a deal. LOL

Let me also add, when the task force group of 7-8-9? officers came back for the second time we tryed to find out how their previous inspection faired, we were told we didn't have "anything to worry about" because all they found was that we needed to number the unit on the outside for 911, one receptacle outlet needed a new cover and that we needed to have out fire extinguishers inspected and tagged (they are all full) but not tagged.

Anonymous said...

WOW REALLY!! To answer the person who posted this comment, did we really have to go there??

Is the unspoken issue here that the bodyshop workers are illegals and this is how they do it back home? I'm starting to get that vibe.
heres your answer since you have not been paying attention and have not read all the posts, there is a BIG problem with homeless people livin behind the buildings and railroad tracks, guess what most of them ARE WHITE PEOPLE.

To seriously answer your question the AMERICAN business owners it just that. One of the businesses is owned by a WHITE WOMAN and she is a very hard working lady and has been harassed for years by the other business, because she is a woman and i believe the only WHITE AMERICAN woman that owns a Auto Repair Shop in Salisbury and for the other owner he is a WHITE man who is also a very hard worker and minds his own business and does not start problems. It sounds more like KELLYS cant handle a woman as a little competition!!!
so as far as your answer is NO THERE IS NOT ILLEGALS THERE its a shame you stereo type race like that! MAYBE you would say it was a WHITE person if you found hot dog buns and hamburger buns on the ground or a BlACK person if you found watermelon and chicken bones!
The main issue here people need to seriously grow up and leave other alone remember children learn from us