Smooth Move
Just about any time that Salisbury Councilwoman Debbie Campbell wants to bring up something substantive she gets shut down. Motions die without a second or she is rudely interrupted.
At Monday’s Salisbury Council meeting Ms. Campbell felt that the city giveaway of the Ulman Theater property was too important to try the front door. Instead, she came around the back. Ms. Campbell moved to extend the contract the owners’ had with city (and failed to comply with). The rubber stamp swallowed it hook, line and sinker.
What else could they do? They know that the Taylors failed to meet their deadline. If someone went to court, they would loose. This forced the council to go on the record and defend their actions.
Ms. Campbell wanted the city to take back the property and then offer to lease it to the Taylors. This would allow the city to retain a piece of property that had been appraised at over $100,000. Instead we heard that no one else wanted this property and that the Taylors had “faithfully followed†the terms of the contract (according to Mike Dunn). Mayor Barrie Tilghman called Ms. Campbell’s logic a “hollow argument†and compared actually compared what the Taylors are attempting to the Baltimore Inner Harbor project (see “The Spin Mistressâ€).
Council President Mike Dunn still didn’t get the what Ms. Campbell was doing when he interrupted her and stated that she was arguing against her own motion. Perhaps Dunn is just a variant of Duh!
PS – We all owe a debt of thanks to Hadley at Justice for All for bring the Ullman Theater deal to our attention. This is another example of taxpayer assets being used to enrich the privileged few.
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Comments
Our mayor and city council are supposed to work together as a team, regardless of their issues on policy. To belittle someone in a public meeting is a liability that has gone on in Salisbury politics for a long time, it’s rude, ignorant and a shame to our citizens. I’m beginning to believe that the only way public meetings will become civil, is to elect a new mayor, and not her hand picked whipping boy! The only things that have changed under Tighlman’s reign, uncontrolled growth, dead end jobs, disharmony among civil servants, fecal ecoli bacteria in the Wicomico River, and increases in taxes and fee’s. One city council member was asked, “What about over crowded schools,” answer, “that’s the counties problem.” That quote is much like Marie Antoinette’s “Let them eat cake,” quote that got her beheaded~!
The Mayor and several Council Members have stated that “no one was in line to buy that property.” Guess What Mike Dunn, Barrie Tilghman and the rest of this crew, you never advertised the property being FOR SALE and if I had known I would have been the first in line with cash! So tell me then, are there any more properties I can prove this to you with that might be heading up for sale soon?
One thing I can tell all of you is, I have never lost a single penny on land deals and I can assure you I have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on the Stock Market. So all the money I pulled from the Stock Market is available to purchase property with. I’m IN LINE NOW, tell me what’s available?
Mr. Chaney:
Let’s be candid — the “city council member” to whom you refer is Dunn — Cathcart is the one who says it’s not really important because “Bennett has always been overcrowded” after she told us that the students could easily be shifted to other schools. Then, there’s Comegys.
If we had a Council majority that was not controlled by the same interests that Barrie serves — landlords developers and their favorite lending institution, things would be much better. For almost another year we have to stop the Dream Team as mush as possible. Can we count on you to help do that and then get rid of them in next year’s election?
Freeflowing idea’s in harmony have no boundaries or limits that can impede accomplishment. The people we elect must work together and respect each others opinions even if the opinions are not shared by all. It’s called democracy. Suppressing public opinion is a fascist act that cost the lives of over 1,250,000 American soldiers, from the Revolutionary War to today, they died to give me the freedom to speak my mind.
According to Robert’s Rules, what Mrs. Campbell did was an infraction…although it’s not surprising that nobody noticed. President Dunn has previously stated the we don’t use Robert’s Rules.
Comegys observed that no one else wanted the “surplus property”. He failed to state that the sale was only advertised as a very small notice in an obscure piece in the local paper that had no detailed description. I have spoken to more than one person who would gladly have paid $25,000 or more for that parcel had they known it was available. I don’t think the Ulman Theater property should have been declared surplus.
The Mayor’s comment about Mrs. Campbell’s “Hollow Argument” did not take into account the fact that the Taylors were in default of the contract three times, and might still be in default if they had not been forced to comply. The Taylors got a sweetheart deal and in my view have not exhibited a “pioneering vision”.
Mrs. Campbell sucked it up and did the right thing under the circumstances, and the Mayor and Council did not miss their opportunity to bash her. Small minds think alike.