An Attempted Hijacking
Was there ever any question that Gary Comegys, John Atkins and Don Ewalt were the Barrie Tilghman / Slumlord ticket? Tuesday, Salisbury Mayor Barrie Tilghman and SAPOA made their intentions quite clear.
Shortly before the 6 o’clock news Barrie Tilghman announced her endorsement of the “Dream Team II”. Comegys, Atkins and Ewalt are the ticket that will “work with the Mayor”. No one can say Barrie lied about that one. Gary Comegys has never opposed Barrie Tilghman on any material issue during his entire term on the city council. Atkins and Ewalt seem to be along for the ride.
SAPOA is making their opinions known as well. They just aren’t as open about it as Barrie Tilghman is. Instead Richard Insley, T. J. Maloney, Donnie Williams and their pals are practicing the politics of fear. Tuesday afternoon we obtained a copy of an email, authored by major slumlord Richard Insley, that asks his fellow slumlords to send a mailing to their tenants. The suggested mailing would tell tenants that their rents would rise if Terry Cohen, Louise Smith and Tim Spies are elected to Salisbury City Council. Mr. Insley suggests that the “independent candidates” for council want to drive every renter out of the city of Salisbury.
To quote Mr. Insley -
Below is a letter I intend to send to all of my tenants regarding the upcoming election. I suggest if you do, we can have an impact on the election outcome.
This is the most disturbing portion of Mr. Insley’s little diatribe. SAPOA is the largest, most powerful special interest group in the city of Salisbury. They have large financial resources at their disposal. They are used to getting their way. They control 75% of the city’s housing stock - and they intend that percentage to grow.
SAPOA wants a council majority that will pay lip service to promoting home ownership while providing only weak, nominal regulation to the slumlords. This is why SAPOA fears the election of strong, independent candidates like Tim Spies, Louise Smith and Terry Cohen. While there is no evidence that these candidates would attempt to run SAPOA out of town on a rail, they will most likely demand that the current laws be enforced.
SAPOA can’t have any of that! Better to lie to a few thousand tenants and attempt to hijack an election than risk a slow down in profits.
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Comments
Sorry –
just realized that you have a link (”copy of an email”) to Insley’s letter. What a disgrace it (and Insley) is.
I am reminded of Capra’s _It’s a Wonderful Life_ with Cohen, Spies and Smith in the Jimmy Stewart character, and the slumlord ticket in the role of Potter. The same thing is happening here. One group is trying to ensure better lives, safer homes and a quality of life for the citizens, while the other group is consumed with amassing wealth at the expense of the citizens. I can recognize a Potter when I see one and I don’t want Salisbury to turn into Potterville.
I wonder how sincere SAPOA’s renters will consider Insley’s message. If you live in a crap hole that you can barely afford and your landlord refuses to maintain, will you really want to be on their side?
The fact that 75% of the residential housing stock is landlord owned makes it even less affordable to buy a house of your own.
With so many businesses seeking to maximize the profits of their investment, there is substantial incentive for a Cartel-like group to form in order to keep each other from slashing rents. All the big landlords are buddies, and their private club is called SAPOA. Seems like a great opportunity to “reasearch market rates,” if you know what I mean.
Now that rents are so high relative to the price of the house, people want to buy/sell/trade the properties based on the inflated cash flow that develops. This also drives up the price of the house.
In addition, so many landlords in play keeps housing stock off the market that might otherwise exist. Less available houses for sale due to people moving means that you have to pay a premium to buy a house of their own.
Remember when SAPOA cried that having to pay an extra $50 per year for a license would force them to raise rents to unaffordable levels or cause them to go out of business? Many of these houses that are crammed with students are generating in excess of $700 per month in cash on top of the payment obligations for the property. They can afford $4 per month in additional expenses no problem, or rents can be raised .25% per person to cover the cost. What SAPOA was really screaming about was that the funds would generate more inspections, and that they would actually have to bring their crap holes into compliance with city housing code.
What a bunch of garbage. Wouldn’t it be better for SAPOA to go to the table to find out what plans they could be in on for improving the rental outlook with some new ideas, rather than promoting this sort of propaganda and keeping things just as they are? It seems foolish that they continue to be reactionaries instead of visionaries, given that they have some relatively intelligent people among them. Duh!
Nice spelling of “ajenda” in the letter! Didn’t he know that the rest of the “ajenda” includes banning puppy dogs, removing the flag from all public displays, and having a daily sacrifice of orphans on the train tracks? I’m surprised he didn’t note these obvious ramifications of electing anyone other than a landlord!
Insley is a weasel. Don’t let him win, get out there and vote, tell your neighbors to vote, and volunteer this weekend to get out the message that weasely weasels and the weasels who love them should not be elected.
This is a pivotal election for Salisbury, and the bottom feeders know it. This town could turn into a lot worse than Pottersville. It just has to keep the same crew doing what it’s always done, use the City as a cash-cow, and it’s going to make the South Bronx look like Beverly Hills.
It’s a wonder that the flies don’t swarm around that Pile-O-Lan-Lawds. Flies are attracted to that bunch.
It’s possible that “Ajenda” was intentional to attract the spanish speaking vote. Lmao
Yes, I agree the email is disgraceful, and that there are some major slumlords in the city. I do happen to know several people on that list personally, and know the domiciles they maintain. They work hard to keep their rentals clean and in compliance. Please, please do not paint every member of SAPOA with the same broad tar brush. Target the slumlords by name, don’t punish the SAPOA for the sins of a few of their members.
Please publish the entire letter and the addressees selected by Mr. Insley for his BS.
Is he the same person that Barrie Tilghman recently reappointed to the Housing Appeal Board?