Mayor Taylor organizes density meeting for Salisbury residents

SALISBURY, Md. – Salisbury leaders and residents met at Wor-Wic Community College to discuss downtown density. Salisbury Mayor Randy Taylor hoped the meeting was informative to the community.

“We laid out the math as best as we could without boring people, and made a case that we will be deeply short if we don’t course correct.”

Mayor Taylor focused on an array of issues, with parking being a major concern – stating that with plans for a new Salisbury University Performing Arts Center
and, the current availability of parking spaces. The city can’t account for more people without proper solutions.

Salisbury resident Jared Schablein attended the event and called it bias. “I’m frustrated, because the event wasn’t held in the city of Salisbury. There was a partisan political organization being used to run it. Handing out cards and partisan material in the lobby.”

Another Salisbury resident, Joe Venosa, thinks the city needs to look closely at what higher density could mean. “My concern is the city’s fiscal future, and are we mortgaging based on certain projects? Most of us agree density is a good thing. How it’s done, and who benefits from it, and who doesn’t, is the biggest concern most of us have.”

The President of Wicomico Environmental Trust, Carol Dunahoo – wishes Salisbury develops. “We don’t think parking is the main issue. The city needs to be denser, more compact, more livable.”

However, Mayor Taylor believes Salisbury isn’t sustainable enough to become similar to nearby cities like Philadelphia or Washington, D.C.

“We’re trying to be a little more urban than our population or fans would expect. I think we need to keep that small-town feel, keep accessibility and convenience.”