The ability to network may be the most useful skill a mayor can have, and Mayor Al Heggins has proven that she has the intellectual, professional and social skills to carry Salisbury’s message to those who can help us compete in this increasingly complex world.

Last week’s informational forum about opportunity zones is exactly the kind of information we in the community need to understand, both conceptually and practically. It is great to have private benefactors, as Salisbury is so fortunate to have, but it is greater to foster opportunities for investment in community that can be made by citizens as community. Understand the difference. One is about decisions from unknowable places and often unseen faces. One is about decisions arising from citizens working collaboratively right here in Salisbury.

There are some candidates running who certainly know about Opportunity Zones, and that’s a good thing, because the more knowledge about how and what can bring strong economic structures to our city, the better.

However, Mayor Heggins has succeeded in getting people from the federal administration to put Salisbury on their radar. This counts, folks.

And it counts because the mayor is encouraging the community to participate, to listen and then create the how in order to become investors. This can be a true public-private partnership creation, and one where the private is not just the “big players” but the ordinary small business people.

This is the mayor Salisbury has — one who fights for people to have every opportunity to grow their business, their future right here — and I hope people will be voting for her again. I will.

— Whitney Peckman

Salisbury