A Subsidy By Any Other Name (Part 2)

Are you a Salisbury taxpayer?  Did you vote for Barrie Tilghman?  Are you shocked at how the Congress or the Maryland General Assembly spends your money?  Well, that makes you either addled or a hypocrite.

Tomorrow night the Salisbury City Council will, in all probability, vote to borrow $10.9 million so that the “Road to Nowhere” can be built ahead of schedule.  A few people will be given the opportunity to speak against this blatant developer subsidy.  Council President Mike Dunn will gavel a few people out of order for being “uncivil” (this is the new rule that makes any opposition to Barrie or Mikey “mean spirited” and therefore unworthy to be heard).  Councilwoman Debbie Campbell will make the only honest argument regarding this issue and the ordinance will pass by a vote of 4 – 1.

Now wait a minute!  I thought we needed the “Road to Nowhere” (the Northeast Collector Road to residents of Barrieland)?  The “Daily Times” has published numerous articles about how the RTNW is going to permit better traffic flow and decrease congestion.

Yeah, I used to believe the same stuff until an acquaintance of mine suggested that I buy a map, get in my car and drive down there.  Now if the Einsteins who designed this project had put an overpass over the US 13 Bypass and connected up with E. Naylor Mill Road then you really would have something.  Believe it or not, most people you talk to think that is exactly what is going to be built.

“I’ll just be able to zip right down to the mall.”

Sorry folks.  You’re going to be dumped down on to Kelly Road or E. Gordy Road.  Remember to take into account all of the extra traffic that will be generated if Barrie gets her way and the “Village” (old mall project) is built.  Of course when some child, or older person out walking the dog, is killed by this traffic dumping down onto roads that weren’t intended for this amount of traffic I’m sure that Mayor Barrie isn’t going to step up and take the heat for it.

Don’t believe me.  Just look on a map.  Better yet, look at the official Barrieland newsletter (Sorry, that’s the “Daily Times”).  You try to figure out how all of the traffic planned for this road is going to flow once it hits Kelly or E. Gordy.

Why, then, are we building a poorly planned road ahead of schedule?  The answer is simple – DEVELOPMENT.  The Aydelotte Farms development needs that road so that they can build.  No road, no water and sewer.  No road, how are people going to get in and out of this vital subdivision?

Now we all know how important this project is to a community with already overcrowded schools, already congested roads and a thinly stretched public safety infrastructure.  According to Barrie, Mikey and Gary this project and this road are key to the future of Salisbury.  It reminds me of a Congressman I used to work for.  Every time that someone had the nerve to suggest closing Ft. Monroe he would swear that Ft. Monroe was a “lynchpin of our national defense”.  Ft. Monroe has a great location, a good Army band and served as the HQ for the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command so that a bunch of high ranking officers could live in subsidized housing overlooking the Chesapeake Bay while most of the real work was actually done out in Ft. Leavenworth, KS.

Needless to say, we’re going to get a road that won’t serve its stated purpose, will increase rather than decrease congestion, and will probably be dangerous.  The developer is going to get paid twice for his road, once by the taxpayer and again when he sells the land.  And you know who is going to pay for the bond service.  Just remember that city council elections are coming up soon and the incumbents will be the ones who gave you the “Road to Nowhere”…. and a tax bill to pay for it.