Reason for optimism as Salisbury charts its path

The Daily Times

Back when I worked on the Mid Shore, I heard the rumors about Salisbury. The crime. The drugs. Wander down the wrong street, I was given to understand, and your body might never be found. Not quite the gates of Dante’s inferno, but close.

I did notice, when I started working here, that compared to Easton there are a hair-raising number of violent crimes in Salisbury — shootouts, murders, drug deals gone wrong, kidnappings and so on. I also, however, found a growing, changing city and a sense of optimism coming from the top. Businesses (including the Daily Times) are moving downtown. A new marathon is coming, and the National Folk Festival, to name a few examples.

While many mayors talk up their towns, I respect the way Salisbury Mayor Jacob Day doesn’t just run around to ribbon-cuttings being a cheerleader. It’s more than talk. He’s got long term goals. I think even those who have their differences with him (chain link fence rules, anyone?) would agree he has a strong vision for what the city can become, and plans for how to get there.

Now, new businesses and a revitalized downtown aren’t going to just erase murders and robberies. More people in the community need access to the benefits these new businesses will bring, and how to get them that access is one of the most difficult questions facing the city. Until it happens, some of the root causes of the crime will continue, among them poverty, drugs and a sense of hopelessness.

These social poisons are sickening many rural areas, not just the Lower Shore. JD Vance’s book “Hillbilly Elegy,” a compelling read, starkly describes economic decay, drug addiction and family breakdown west of here in the Appalachian regions where he grew up.

In Vance’s opinion, part of Appalachia’s problem is that it has given up, that residents see their poverty and many other problems and throw up their hands.

Being mired in social and economic problems is bad enough without also getting bogged down in despair. Despair adopts problems into your identity: Violence and poverty are part of who we are, people reason, and so it’s not going to change. Why fight it? Just wander deeper into the swamp. Maybe drugs or alcohol will help us forget.

Hope, by contrast, can help restore dignity and motivation. It’s not about covering your eyes and ignoring what’s going wrong (that’s wishful thinking, not hope). Instead, hope bolsters the will to see problems, then tackle them anyway.

The next step is vision: When the community knows what it wants, and comes up with a plan for how to get there.

Salisbury is taking some of these steps.

Again, I’m not being flippant about the issues confronting the city. They’re real, and you can’t just whip out some pom-poms and cheer your troubles away.

But I think the mayor is onto something with his optimism, and I’m excited to see plans coming together for a better community.

Email Andrew Sharp at asharp@delmarvanow.com. Find him on Twitter @buckeye_201 and on Facebook @andrewsharp201.

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