Staff report
Neighbors living in the City Park area of Salisbury came together Thursday night in hopes of forming an official organization to represent their neighborhood.
In attendance were more than 10 members of the neighborhood (particularly from Henderson Street.), Salisbury Police Officers Ann Cooper and Greg Beam, City Planning Director Joe Morris, Salisbury Code Services Division Manager Chris Branham, and Salisbury City Council members Mark Lewis and Paul Woodson.
Neighborhood members asked the Salisbury officials a variety of questions concerning their neighborhood, such as: ordinance enforcement and nuisances; how to form an official neighborhood organization; information on the community watch program; crosswalks to the City Park and Hurley Park; and speed problems.
Lewis and Woodson encouraged the members of the neighborhood to attend the second City Council meeting of each month to participate in the public comments section.
Morris also encouraged the group to attend the Oct. 29 meeting of the Neighborhood Leadership Alliance, which is a new organization that brings all Salisbury neighborhoods together to exchange ideas and solve problems.
Branham promised the residents of the neighborhood that if they have a nuisance, his department will take care of it in one way or another, as quickly as possible.
Cooper educated the group on the community watch program, and said she would come to their first official meeting to properly educate them on the program if they were interested.
Prior to the meeting, Morris hung up a large poster of the neighborhood around the City Park, and had the residents place a dot where they lived.
“This is a very small circle of representation,” said Morris. “We all need to think, ‘How can we extend those dots at our next meeting?'”
The Oct. 29 NLA meeting will be held at 4 p.m. at the Salisbury/Rowan Utilities Department.