Local Decay!

A friend of mine posted this on his Facebook. One of his friends [who I believe I may have met at a party once] wrote the following Letter to the Editor about this festering cesspool of a 'small town'. It is probably the best thing I have ever read. POST THIS EVERYWHERE:

"A Letter To The Editor
Dear Council and Mayor,

I have lived in Salisbury since I was 4 years old. My wife moved here after high school to go to Salisbury University where she obtained a Master's degree in business. We have both work locally since we've lived here. I worked for two family run businesses, one of which was on the plaza. I have lived on the plaza and in various neighborhoods in town in my adult life.

I want you to be aware of my background because I am a homeowner (hence taxpayer), live and work here (again with the taxes) and have always intended to keep my skills here to be a benefit to the economy in this area. I believe we live in one of the most unique and beautiful places in the world.

My wife is now scared to live here and wants us to sell our home and move across the bridge to D.C. I'll let that sink in. My wife wants to move from "quiet little Salisbury" to "the big scary city" because she is afraid of crime. Something here is not right. We used to walk in our neighborhood (around Lincoln Ave and before around New York Ave) and now we don't.

We used to walk around the trails in the park. Now we don't.

We used to go out to eat in the evenings. Now we don't.

About the only thing we've spent money on in the last few months is upgrading our alarm system.

I asked my employer today how long it would take of me not doing my job before I was fired. If I came to work, did only a bare minimum, left early everyday and was grossly incompetent. I asked how long before I was let go if I took vacations when our company was in need or failed to work with the other employees or the many vendors we rely on. He said he'd give me a warning and maybe two weeks. I thought that was a bit generous of him. I would fire myself long before that.

I can here the excused brewing in the backs of your heads. I need the support of the rest of the council. I'd need a reason or face litigation if I did what I needed to do. I may have dirt exposed that would hurt my career.

I want to tell you that I don't care. I will not raise a family in a town with multiple, unsolved, broad daylight robberies. With multiple shootings. I can tell you this though, I will live here long enough to make sure each and every one of you never holds public office on the Eastern Shore again.

I will forward this email to everyone I know. I will send it to everyone I meet. I will post it on every blog and news organizations website. It will go on Facebook and Myspace.

My message is simple and clear. Take action now. Fire our grossly incompetent, absent, uncooperative, selfish, coward of a Police Chief. Ensure our police force has the resources necessary to fight the crime in this town. Utilize the existing resources and cooperation of our neighboring law enforcement. Most importantly stop considering your best interest over that of the community you serve because everyone else in this city that works doesn't get the same luxury. I have to consider the needs of my customers over my own, why shouldn't you?

If any of you think my email has been unreasonable I would have to assume you've entered politics for your own self-satisfaction and will vote accordingly. If you think I'm being threatening, imagine how I feel driving home at night. That's pretty threatening.

Thank you for your attention and please search inside yourselves, our poor city is dying. I don't care about Republican vs. Democrat, liberal vs. conservative or past feuds. I want clear, decisive and prompt action.

Sincerely,

Matthew C. Green"

4 comments:

Twirling Towards Freedom said...

I completely agree about moving to the city. I have felt safer walking downtown D.C. or Baltimore at night than Salisbury. At least when I lived in Boston, the only crime problem is mafia-related AKA "private".

Blog Editor said...

I wholeheartedly agree about walking streets of DC/Balt/Annapolis and feeling much safer {was in downtown Annapolis last night for Pearl Harbor rememberences and yummy seafood-it was beautiful}. And that is also where the jobs are. The only place where I see/hear of comparable predatory violence is around Arundel Mills mall and such-and the population is much larger.

I gave Salisbury/Wicomico my best but the place is still going downhill rapidly-it hasn't even stabilized out of its nosedive yet. And, man, there is nothing like selling a home in a violent, jobless county during a massive recession. There are a lot of good people stuck around there, for whatever reason, that deserve a lot better though for what they pay in taxes!!

swampcritter2 said...

Lived in Salisbury off and on for 15 years. Went to elementary school there. Back in the day it seemed like the whole town was owned by two people, Bill Morgan, and Avery Hall. This was a stretch of course, but everybody backed then complained about the back-room deals and the so-called "good ol' boy" mafia. Later when Barry Tilghman got to be mayor you heard people say she was going to dismantle the "good ol' boy" network. Hurray Barry!
Well things got worse with her heavy-handedness instead, and you have to ask why? I'll hazard a guess. The good old boys knew how to work together in spite of differences to get things done. They respected each other even if they disageed. They even liked each other despite having feuds and knew when it was time to bury the hatchet. It was easy for them to give back to the community, and they looked out for it.
Not so now. It's run by a bunch of self-righteous, self-centered asses, who care more about seeing their picture in the Pitiful Times. I no longer live in the 'bury, (thank God)my wife works there, we do some shopping there, but now we watch everything and everybody when we go there.
It used to be Eastern Shore's crown jewel. Now there are less and less homeowners, (no tax base for services) and more renters (no pride in ownership) working at poor paying jobs. No respectable companies will operate here. It's turning into a large rural slum town.

Tim Chaney said...

Had I won the city election for district 2, my vote would have been the 3rd vote nessesary to oust that bald headed POS of a police chief we have!

There are more than enough gun owners and hunters that if legalized possession of a gun happened things would settle down. It's proven more effective in other area's than increasing police staff and taxes!

I also got drugs off my street, yeah you have have to put your neck on the chopping block but I got R Done. More power with more people.

People today just don't have the backbone to defend their own rights to Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness and walking their own nieghborhoods!

Good write there Grasshopper!