Today’s “Founders Quote Daily” from Patriot Post is appropriate as usual:
“An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation.”
John Marshall, McCullough v. Maryland, 1819
And we’re STILL a high-taxing state. Anyway, Good Lord willing and if the creek don’t rise I’ll see you at the Salisbury Tax Day Tea Party this afternoon.
This post was inspired by a post on the Views of a Salisbury Grinch website, although I can’t discount an earlier post on the topic over at Delmarva Dealings.
Tomorrow I’ll be in downtown Salisbury attending the Tax Day Tea Party, but it’s fairly rare that I go down there on business which doesn’t involve the political. (One exception will be the upcoming Salisbury Festival, at least to check out the car show and local bands.) I have little use for the available shopping downtown and haven’t had much of a need for legal services since I came to Maryland.
But that’s certainly not to say that downtown Salisbury isn’t important. While the Centre of Salisbury and adjoining shopping along U.S. 13 is rightfully the retail hub of the lower Eastern Shore region this doesn’t mean retail doesn’t have a place in downtown – far from it. Nor should the impact of those eateries and entertainment facilities in and around downtown be discounted either. They have a role to play in downtown Salisbury’s present and future.
However, I think there is a three-pronged approach to making downtown a more vibrant area. Two pieces of the puzzle are pretty simple and won’t take a whole lot of effort; it’s the third piece of the jigsaw which will make for the most difficult fit.
There also needs to be some assumptions made of items which have to occur irrespective of downtown’s fate.
One is that crime needs to be curtailed and the streets made safe regardless of the time of day. In this I don’t advocate for or against any particular style of policing or who actually accomplishes the goal, whether it be the city police department, the Sheriff’s Department, or a combination or merger of the two.
The second assumption is that the effort will not bear fruit overnight and that progress may not be steady. Perhaps it’s best to think of this as something along the lines of a plan for 2020 or 2030, but with interim tangible goals along the way which will account for most changing conditions. (Obviously if a tornado or other natural disaster occurs we have a whole new set of priorities and a much cleaner slate to begin from.)
But there are three parts to bringing downtown back in my view.
The first is pretty simple: what do people want to see downtown?
Some would like to bring back the old retail-oriented downtown, and in some limited fashion this is a workable solution. But the days of a Woolworth’s or similar retail outlets are long gone.
Others would like to have more residents call the area home. There are already opportunities to live and work downtown but not many take advantage of them. For the most part I think it’s partially because of crime and partially because services aren’t all that convenient.
Many see the possibility of a downtown oriented toward arts and entertainment, with galleries, coffeeshops, and bars playing local music dominating the scene. But would SU students and “townies” be able to coexist in the same area or would it become mutually exclusive to one group, shutting out a large segment of the population?
I think the best way to answer the question is simply to ask it. Why not a coordinated effort to poll the public?
This is a place where the old-fashioned media and new media can coexist. We can put a list of possible ideas in the Daily Times, local television and radio websites, and significant area blogs. It would be quite interesting to see the variation by source as well.
With this snapshot of public opinion in place (or even without it, although I think it may help) the city can embark on the second step.
Often design professionals (and others interested in those professions, such as college and high school students) get together and hold a design charrette to kick around ideas for a particular project. What I propose is a series of three weekend-long charrettes, perhaps a month or two apart, with a public presentation and critique after each. In that way there can be a guideline fashioned for development downtown that has both professional design influence and citizen input.
It’s the third leg of the triad which will come the hardest, and that’s investment. Even the best-laid plans won’t come to fruition with no one to back them financially.
At the moment, there are businesses and other investments downtown which are doing well while others are hanging on by a thread. Those which are doing well obviously would like to see additional successful examples but the problem is in those lagging businesses downtown which are economic drags whether because of a poor business plan, a lack of amenities, the sluggish economy, or a combination of all three.
Just as a house in poor shape drags down the value of those surrounding it, vacant storefronts are eyesores which make remaining businesses look the worse for wear and make investors shy away. (For an example, see Salisbury Mall, former). There needs to be incentives in place to encourage investment – not just downtown, though, but all over Salisbury. A chain is only as good as its weakest link.
There’s another aspect of the downtown area which may or may not be a factor in its success, but chances are that it will have an important role to play.
More than many cities, Salisbury’s riverfront seems to be ignored to a great extent. In many downtown areas the body of water is the main attraction, but not Salisbury. Yes, there is a pedestrian path along the river but little of note fronts the river through much of downtown except parking lots. I’ll grant the Wicomico River isn’t much to look at (but is plenty to smell) for much of the year; however, the river is navigable for much of its length downtown.
Yet much of the development in the past occurred a block or two away along Main Street. Perhaps this is a remnant of the Wicomico River’s working past (and present) but should the river have a role in a revitalized downtown, and at what cost?
We know Mayor-elect Ireton promised to clean up the Wicomico River but how will those ideas work with the thought of renovating downtown? And what of infrastructure – turning downtown into a district which has a different function than the Salisbury of today may require a large investment in utility upgrades.
Nor should the needs of outlying areas be ignored by the siren song of a vibrant downtown as a dream which may not be achievable. It’s quite possible that the public doesn’t have the desire, will or intestinal fortitude to save Salisbury’s downtown and it slips into the sands of history like the downtowns of a thousand other small- to medium-sized towns.
We don’t have to suffer that fate, but then again what we have as our downtown may just have the proper functions and layout to suit Salisbury’s needs with a minimum of modification. Perhaps it’s meant to be an area which mostly functions as the legal hub of the area with just a smattering of retail and dining, enough to suit those who work there already. It’s not that anything is wrong with that scenario, but we wouldn’t be hurt by looking into other possibilities.
In the past I have noted that one of my favorite books is Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. As a small offshoot of the whole Tax Day Tea Party movement there is an effort afoot to send a copy of the volume to members of Congress. This has also made for a new term in the political lexicon, “going Galt.”
By definition, “going Galt” is slowing down the work schedule or the innovation so as not to become one of those affected by President Obama’s “soak the rich” tax scheme. In other words, if I worked 70 hours a week and made $300,000 for my efforts, “going Galt” would be dropping the workload to 60 hours a week in order to make just a little bit less than the point where extra wealth would be seized by the IRS.
The “Going Galt” website interprets the idea this way:
When you see that a majority of your government’s policies and programs are not simply inefficient or ineffective, but are actually wrong in principle and detrimental to your own personal goals, then every dollar taken from you and spent implementing these programs becomes not just an act of theft, but an act of slavery as one is forced to support one’s oppressor. Seen in that light, it is crystal clear why people would choose to reduce their taxes so as to starve the beast and free themselves from its clutches. For these people, “Going Galt” is not an economic decision, but a moral one. They are ultimately fighting for their freedom and should be applauded and supported in their actions. (Emphasis in original.)
It is this view of government as oppressor which is moving from the radical to the commonplace as expressed in the Tea Party movement.
And if that still seems like a fringe element sort of concept, another method of measuring government impact on one’s life has been around for many years and buttresses the point of just how intrusive those bureaucrats are becoming.
While sine die for our Maryland General Assembly occurs tomorrow, a number of revenue enhancements they have adopted over the last many decades means that our state’s Tax Freedom Day doesn’t come along until next Sunday – a date which ranks as 5th latest in the year among the 50 states. (Sarah Palin’s Alaska is the earliest, they were freed way back on March 23. Right behind them is Bobby Jindal’s state of Louisiana which celebrated the milestone on March 28.) As a whole, the average American celebrates today, just two days before the IRS collects its due and 103 days into the calendar year.
However, the Tax Foundation (who determines each state’s tax burden as a percentage of the calendar year) cautions:
Tax Freedom Day, like almost all tax burden measures, ignores the current year’s deficits. If the projected deficit for 2009 were counted as a tax, Tax Freedom Day would arrive on May 29 instead of April 13-the latest date ever for this deficit-inclusive measure. (Emphasis mine.)
Hence the frustration that’s beginning to boil over like a tea kettle, whistling loudly but ignored by those in charge.
It would be an interesting question to ask our legislators and those who determine how our money is spent (all the way from the Salisbury City Council and Wicomico County Council through our General Assembly to Congress on the legislative side and from Rick Pollitt to Martin O’Malley to Barack Obama on the executive roster) just how many of them have actually read Atlas Shrugged – much less understood the concept behind Ayn Rand’s work.
If they’ve read the book, they will hopefully understand that the squalor which builds as conditions deteriorate for the masses isn’t all that far-fetched in a nation where unemployment is rising in most sectors except for government employment. It’s a workforce where most are honest and hard-working but you run more and more into the modern-day Wesley Mouch.
It’s my belief that government – at least as constituted in modern society – cannot solve problems because by doing so the agency or bureau would eliminate the reason for its own existence. Thus, problems tend to be addressed by regulation, which creates another set of problems for a new agency or bureau to work on. Government agencies can easily multiply faster than rabbits, and each gets a larger workforce that depends on taxpayers for their wages and benefits.
By getting into the legislative body, one can set the agenda for perpetual re-election and power by creating as many government jobs as possible while attempting to spread just enough benefits to the voting population to curry favor come time to vote. Is it any wonder that the campaign to win office nearly always spends far more than the office is worth salary-wise?
Yet those we place in charge of representing us cannot be counted on to even read the legislation which spends trillions of dollars of not just my money, but my daughter’s and any children she’s fortunate enough to have. This despite our President’s pledge to give Congress and the public enough time to read what’s he’s about to enact.
So while I feel this effort by the Galtists has its heart in the right place, the only thing that politicians listen to is the votes on Election Day – unfortunately the Tea Parties will long be a thing of the past once that day of reckoning arrives again.
In somewhat unrelated but still relevant electoral news, I found out today as well that one of the local left’s favorite whipping boys (because of their support for Congressional aspirant Andy Harris), the Club For Growth, is losing its president. Outgoing head Pat Toomey announced today that:
With 41 Republican senators, we should be able to use the filibuster to stop (liberal senators) in their tracks. But several of those Republicans support that liberal agenda. One of them is Arlen Specter. I personally believe that it is time for him to go. And that job falls on me. Very soon, I intend to announce my candidacy for the United States Senate in a Republican primary challenge against Arlen Specter.
In other words, a possible rematch of the 2004 campaign looms where Specter and Toomey battled and establishment Republicans (including President Bush) angered many of the grassroots conservatives by publicly backing Specter.
Taking over the Club will be former House member Chris Chocola from Indiana.
A short, non-political post today.
Since this is the day associated with renewal and spring I’m hoping that the hatchet is buried among all of us after a bitter election season and we can choose to disagree agreeably.
Unlike Christmas, Easter is a religious holy day which hasn’t been totally commercialized (aside from candy makers). For most it’s a day spent with family and that’s what I plan to do as an invited part of a special someone’s family. It even looks like a pleasant day to enjoy nature’s renewal as well.
Thus I wish a Happy Easter to my readers and I’ll catch up later tonight.
Apparently Michael Steele wanted to jump on the Tea Party bandwagon a little too late. This comes from the DontGo Movement:
A few days ago Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele asked to speak at the Chicago Tax Day Tea Party. He was thanked for finally reaching out to the movement but denied to speak.
National Communications Director Juliana Johnson states, “Steele hasn’t shown any interest in this movement until now, until the cameras are rolling. We denied his invitation. In addition, this is a nonpartisan event, not an RNC event.”
Eric Odom, Director of the DontGo Movement, said in his letter to Steele’s people, “…We’re still excited to know that Chairman Steele will be in Chicago and we hope, after knowing that he’ll be in the city, that he’ll stop by and mingle with the Americans who will be rallying on April 15th. This will also present a fantastic time for Chairman Steele to LISTEN to what we have to say and perhaps gather some thoughts on what the RNC needs to be doing moving forward.”
As I made clear before, we as a local party have no official role in the Tax Day Tea Party proceedings in Salisbury but many of us will be there as private citizens and fed-up taxpayers. That’s something which transcends party lines in our neck of the woods.
But some of the DontGo people were even less kind about the GOP getting involved.
Is the Tea Party tied to the GOP? Of course not.
In fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is, the RNC has been about as effective as a lead balloon in actually engaging the free-market minded grassroots with regards to political action. The RNC, as well as all but two Republican members of Congress, have been eerily silent over the past few weeks.
RNC Chairman Steele’s office did reach out to me on Tuesday (although rumor has it that he is now denying such a conversation took place) morning and the person I spoke with asked if we would be interested in having him speak at the Chicago Tea Party. This request was, of course, at the last minute and only after national media eyes became involved.
But that was the first time the RNC had really injected itself at the national level into any part of the Tea Party Movement. (Emphasis in original.)
And I can see why the Tea Party organizers seem wary of a political party and apparatus getting involved. It’s politicians of both stripes who have placed our nation in the situation we find ourselves in, and while Republican principles run toward fiscal conservatism their voting patterns of late haven’t always lent themselves to backing up their words with deeds.
Instead, we have a huge proportion of Americans who have washed their hands entirely of politics, much to their detriment. The cynicism and mistrust many look to those fat-cat politicians with is well-earned and has been pretty much since our Republic was formed. Even in the day of our Founding Fathers there were unscrupulous men who sought only their own enrichment in the public arena.
In the end, one day of protest isn’t going to make a huge difference. We’ll get together, hear a few speeches, and have an opportunity to vent our frustration. However, the next day we’re all going to wake up and little will have changed in the free-spending ways of Congress, the legislative bodies in the several states, and local jurisdictions everywhere.
To make a lasting difference will take more than a one day rally, and the involvement is going to take its toll along the way. Our original revolution was years in the making as was the war between the states. In this particular era thus far we’ve managed to make our changes by ballot and not by bullet. Sometimes I think the best we can hope for is that these widening differences between the government and governed don’t come to bloodshed.
As those who haven’t been under a rock for the last couple months know, Salisbury’s city elections came to a yawning conclusion (for the most part) earlier this week. At the moment the only two people remaining on pins and needles are Cynthia Polk and Shanie Shields. After Shields led on Election Night, absentee balloting has thus far turned the tables and placed Polk in the driver’s seat by one vote with still a handful to be counted – a flat-out tie is a definite possibility.
But that rivalry is nowhere near as bitter as a couple I’ve observed over the last week. Let’s begin with the pitched disagreement here on this very website featuring “Outraged Richard” against a diverse coalition of commentors who really don’t care who Jim Ireton sleeps with either. In fact, as long as Jim isn’t going to make himself into an example of a gay mayor (as opposed to a mayor who happens to be gay) then I see no issue with that for 95% of the population. My objections to Ireton are strictly policy-based although I reserve the right to comment if he makes his lifestyle choice a political issue.
Aside from “Outraged Richard”, I think the issue pretty much stayed where it belonged – in the closet, as it were. But I’m certain this statement will draw more comment on both sides – good for readership I suppose!
Now, whether the recent uneasy truce between Jonathan Taylor (aka the Salisbury Grinch as in Views of a Salisbury Grinch) and Joe Albero of Salisbury News will hold or not probably depends on the seconds, thirds, and so on in their duel. We ended up making the rivalry a thorny side issue in all three electoral races, with Taylor favoring Gary Comegys, Shanie Shields, and Muir Boda while Albero backed Jim Ireton, Cynthia Polk, and Debbie Campbell.
Depending on how the District 1 race turns out Albero may go 3-for-3 but longtime readers of the local blogs may recall how disheartened people were with Louise Smith (who had pretty much unanimous backing from the local bloggers.) So Joe shouldn’t count his chickens before they hatch because Polk could be the next example of a vote in favor of those Albero detests.
Perhaps a legitimate question can be asked regarding what happens next with both websites. Taylor wants to change his direction and focus on the good within Salisbury but that will be a turnoff to those who expect him to counter what they consider the overreaching by Albero on certain topics, and this redirection will likely be greeted with a great deal of skepticism by those on Joe’s side, particularly G.A. Harrison of Delmarva Dealings.
And then you have Albero and his numerous co-contributors, along with the sycophants who slavishly support whatever he says. The question can be asked whether his enemies list – a grouping which seems to dwindle with each passing day as the political winds shift – will become too small to keep Joe’s site interesting. After all, one can only read so many police reports and public service announcements before wishing for red meat, and let’s face it – Barrie Parsons Tilghman was a major source of protein for Joe and his readership.
For someone like that, there always needs to be a foil; an archenemy to unite one’s purpose. Mine is big government, unfortunately that particular devil of mine isn’t going anywhere soon. Aside from the occasional Harrison article, one thing Salisbury News generally lacks is good political commentary. But Joe rarely lacks for an enemy – I’ve even come in handy a time or two along with pretty much every other blogger who’s not a contributor of his.
Most troubling amongst all the conflict is the ease with which both men stepped into the realm of making it about family. Personally I don’t care who went first, neither needed to go there. And to be perfectly frank I’m of the belief that the truce isn’t going to last very long because there’s too many anonymous commentors who like nothing better to stir up trouble and have an axe to grind against either Taylor or Albero.
While Joe tends to dismiss what I do and the reach I have, he forgets that I’ve been at this longer and have a pretty good memory of what’s come before on the local website scene. There’s been a number of what I dub “anti-Albero” sites and thus far Joe has outlasted them, in part because he has a larger enemy (and likely deeper pockets too.)
So if Taylor is no longer the bogeyman and Barrie Tilghman is out of the political picture, who becomes the enemy Joe craves? At the same time, can Taylor resist the frequent opportunities for cheap shots?
If either want to get the respect each thinks they deserve, then both Joe and Jonathan need to achieve a much higher level of discourse than they’ve shown over the last several months. Only time will tell who blinks first in this contest of wills.
This is a story of what will hopefully be a triumphant return and a do-over for one young man with a dream.
In 2006, Brent Allar was drafted by the Orioles in the 14th round out of Texas Cristian University. Like most Oriole draftees, his first full year of pro ball (2007) included a stop in Delmarva playing for the Shorebirds. As a whole it wasn’t a terrific performance (no wins or losses, 3 saves in 20 appearances covering 20 innings and a 5.85 ERA) but most likely those numbers would have placed him back here for 2008.
Instead, last season was a lost season for the native Texan who turned 24 last month. He only made a total of seven appearances split between the Gulf Coast League Orioles and Aberdeen, pitching just 6 1/3 innings. In essence, beginning 2009 here should give Brent the opportunity to make up for lost time moving up the ladder – assuming he can remain healthy.
Especially as this is the time in baseball for new beginnings with a lot of hope, I thought Brent was the perfect candidate to begin my fourth season of selecting a Shorebird of the Week. I also would like to see this season be the inauguration of the Shorebird of the Week Hall of Fame as a prior selection makes it all the way to the Show.
So tonight in Lakewood the Shorebirds will begin their 14th season of South Atlantic League play in the quest for league title number three, and their first in 9 years. Hopefully Brent will help anchor the solid pitching staff required to give the Delmarva nine a real celebration come mid-September.
I suppose history does have a way of repeating itself.
While a few places have jumped the gun, the majority of tea parties inspired by an on-air rant by CNBC’s Rick Santelli will be occurring on April 15th, the dreaded day of reckoning for many American taxpayers. (This includes one in Salisbury on the steps of the Government Office Building from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.)
One thing that has struck me as hilarious is Media Matters whining about how much coverage these protests already get on Fox News. And this is a problem why? Seems to me we saw a lot of antiwar protests which made much more news than their feeble attendance would suggest they dictated.
It may be foreign to those who slavishly believe Media Matters, but there’s a lot of us who are fed up with government overspending and a lack of not only accountability but just plain humility among those who hold the pursestrings in Washington, D.C. President Obama, at the moment you may “trump us” but don’t count on that being the case after 2010 – I’m not sure you can get out enough government largesse fast enough to buy the votes you need to maintain your hold on Congress.
Still others may dismiss this as a Republican stunt, but as a member of the local GOP let me make clear that we as a party have NO official role in the proceedings. It sure doesn’t mean there’s not individual members who support it and will be in attendance – as I said I plan on being there.
Nationally this movement has attracted a number of heavy hitters. This update comes from a press release I got a few days ago from the Don’tGo Movement, a relatively new grassroots group:
The Tax Day Tea Parties are being held across the country on April 15th to protest the unprecedented wasteful spending by the Obama Administration and certain members in Congress.
(DGM) National Communications Director Juliana Johnson says, “As we get closer and closer to the Tea Party date we continue to grow stronger. We have over 300 cities planning Tea Parties with that number growing every day. If this doesn’t show that Americans are displeased that (sic) I don’t know what will.”
The Tax Day Tea Parties will be occuring in over 300 cities and have an expected turnout of over 150,000 people. The groups sponsoring the Tea Parties are Smart Girl Politics, the DontGo Movement, and Top Conservatives on Twitter. They have the endorsement of Newt Gingrich, Michelle Malkin, Dana Loesch, and numerous other groups.
In truth, the release was to announce that Sean Hannity had promised to cover the Atlanta protest live on his FOX News show that night. Obviously that will make for a spirited affair, and hopefully the Salisbury version will also bring out the local media too. By the way, I don’t believe any of these sponsoring groups is over one year old – all are very recent creations spawned by the monster that is online social networking.
While the long-range forecast is for a cool and showery April 15th, we are talking about Delmarva here. (They’re also predicting a sunny April 16th for the Shorebirds’ home opener – yeah right!) Either way, we can’t let a little rain deter us from making our feelings known.
It also will make for a good photo-op as tea mixes with the rain and flows toward the Wicomico River. Make sure to be there and watch it run.
Here are the unofficial results for the 2009 Salisbury city election. There’s still a number of absentee ballots to be counted but it appears that Jim Ireton will be the new mayor by a fairly significant margin.
There’s also a decent possibility that the constitution of City Council will be unchanged, although the absentee ballots will determine the District 1 results between Shanie Shields and Cynthia Polk – after the initial count just 3 votes separated the pair.
Probably the only real surprise to me was the strength of Ireton’s win, since I was thinking more along the lines of an 8-to-10 point win rather than the 18 point bulge he enjoyed. Obviously the primary win margin held true through the general election as those who supported the also-rans and those who skipped the primary split in a similar fashion to the March 3rd balloting.
The District 1 result could echo that of 2005, where it was the absentee ballots splitting in Shanie Shields’ favor which allowed her to oust an incumbent. If Cynthia Polk picks up just four votes history could repeat itself.
While I would have liked to see Muir Boda put up a little better number, it’s no surprise that Debbie Campbell won handily. As I said in a comment for the last post I’m hoping Boda takes another shot in 2011, when there will be three District 2 seats open.
Looking ahead to 2011, I seem to recall in the dim recesses of my mind that Louise Smith only wanted one term in office so that seat would open up. Terry Cohen would be a formidable incumbent but voters may be more inclined to throw out Comegys as a loser in the previous election. Thus, it is possible that we could have significant turnover in the City Council at the midpoint of Jim Ireton’s term.
Of course the question now becomes just how much of his ambitious agenda Jim Ireton will be able to accomplish with the limited funds he’ll have at his disposal. Perhaps the better question may yet be just how high he’ll need to raise taxes and fees to cover those items near and dear to his heart – or how indebted he’ll be to Barack Obama and Martin O’Malley to chip in and defray the overt cost to city taxpayers.
As far as City Council is concerned, the question now becomes whether that infamous 3-2 split will change if Polk overtakes Shields in the final count. On a number of key issues the Council split with Comegys, Smith, and Shields lining up against Cohen and Campbell. With longtime Mayor Barrie Parsons Tilghman out of the way, it’s assured that for a certain segment of the population there will be no one to blame if Salisbury’s struggles continue.
Another change certain to be pushed is a change back to a line-item budget once again. Over the last several years the trend has been to a more general departmental budget, but Jim Ireton campaigned on a platform of transparency and we’ll see if he follows through fairly quickly on his promise once the FY 2010 budget is put into shape.
Above all, I hope Ireton allays my concerns with some of what I see as anti-growth positions. Even though my paycheck doesn’t completely depend on growth anymore I certainly don’t want this part of the Eastern Shore to stagnate any longer than it has. We seemed to be one of the first areas into the recession and hopefully we’ll be among the first out.
There are a number of strikes against us, though, and if the wrong parts of the Ireton agenda are enacted too quickly it could set us back even further.
Tomorrow the voters in Salisbury will cast their ballots for three city offices: mayor and two of the five council seats. However, the turnover on City Council could become three of five members if Gary Comegys is elevated to the Mayor’s chair. On the other hand, if Jim Ireton wins the Mayoral election and both incumbents retain their seats the current composition of City Council will continue on with a change in the philosophy of the Mayor’s office.
But which scenario would be the best for Salisbury? Well, if you want my opinion you’re obviously here to read it.
Let’s look at the Mayoral race. The biggest issues are crime, fiscal responsibility, the neighborhoods, and the environment. Both candidates are advocates of community policing, which in and of itself isn’t a bad idea. On fiscal responsibility, though, Ireton simply spoke in platitudes about transparency in spending and improving the audit. Gary Comegys has at least placed the ideas of privatization and outsourcing city services in the hopper and vows to “make it easier for businesses to do business in the city.” I don’t see that pro-job attitude coming from the Ireton camp as readily.
Needless to say, both candidates want to improve the neighborhoods and the Wicomico River. A couple questions spring to mind about what Ireton proposes though. For example, what funding would be there to establish a Community Law Center as Jim has advocated? Or the Wicomico River Project? It seems to me that Jim has a lot of ideas about using government to improve the quality of life, but is that truly the place of the city’s government to accomplish?
On the whole, while neither candidate is exciting or going to radically change Salisbury for the better, I have to believe that the better person for the job is Gary Comegys. I just don’t see Jim Ireton as being as good for bringing jobs to Salisbury – however, he’s the odds-on favorite to win given his reasonably large margin in the primary.
In District 1, the same sort of rule applies. I’m not crazy about either candidate’s prospects for improving the city because Shanie Shields hasn’t done a whole lot to distinguish herself in four years on City Council. However, there’s not a whole lot to recommend Cynthia Polk either. It’s difficult to see her as a good contributor to the cause.
The only race between two good candidates is in District 2. Both of them promise to be good stewards of taxpayer money, and either would be a great City Councilman. It would actually be somewhat of a nice scenario to have Comegys elected Mayor and allow the loser of this race to be selected to fill the vacated District 2 seat. I could see this more readily if Muir Boda loses than if Debbie Campbell does.
Now many who read this will say that the “good-ole-boy” network will be alive and well if Comegys is victorious. But there would be a different network in charge if Ireton wins and I’m not convinced that the change would be any better than that we’ve experienced in the 2 1/2 months since we’ve placed a new President in office.
We continue to pile up the postings for the Carnival of Maryland. This time the hosting duties were assumed by the lone LiveJournal in the Maryland Blogger Alliance fold, Creating a Jubilee County.
The next edition comes back to the Eastern Shore in two weeks because I’ll be the host for C of M 57. I enjoy putting these things together and hopefully I’ll have enough time two weeks hence to do it justice. One topic that I may consider for inclusion will be the wrapup of the 2009 General Assembly session, but there’s also competition locally from the Salisbury city election, the county’s budget woes (which are probably echoed 23 times over across Maryland), the opening of the Shorebirds’ 14th season, and Pork in the Park (there’s a “battle of the bands” that Saturday evening.)
Regardless, the clock is now set in motion for the next Carnival so over the next two weeks I’ll see what the cream of the crop is among items submitted.
While I wasn’t necessarily out to get my name in the paper (fortunately there was no accompanying picture) I did want to chip in my two cents regarding the direction of the county budget at the meeting last evening. Apparently the other local bloggers were more concerned about who has particular candidate signs in their yard, but I was very interested in where my hard-earned tax money goes and so were about 80 other people who attended the meeting and had an opportunity to say their piece.
As County Executive Rick Pollitt noted, the budget is still a “work in progress” and depends heavily on both citizen input and events in Annapolis as the General Assembly finishes work on the state budget (as Rick said the budget was “not safe” with the continuing session). This was an “invitation to become engaged in the process.”
With all but one County Council member present (Stevie Prettyman was the absentee) along with State’s Attorney Davis Ruark, Pollitt (who also quipped that “sometimes I wish I wasn’t” County Executive) rolled through a PowerPoint presentation about the budget then opened the floor to comments.
