A fact sheet distributed early in the week by opponents of the proposed development asserted the development would have placed a strain on the town's water system, the police department, the schools, and other municipal services. That same document further charged that passage of the referendum would have meant hundreds of new non tax paying men, women, and children. And they concluded that defeat of the measure would protect the citizens from having future low income housing units from being built in their neighborhoods.
Apparently being able to fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time was enough.
There is, however, a special irony. Just a few hundred yards away across South Washington Street is a sign announcing Parkside Village, a planned community of $100,000 houses. The plan is to build between seven and eight units each year for ten years. That development in contrast to Stevens Manor is intended to draw new citizens to Snow Hill. And result in additional street traffic, additional utilization of town services, and additional demands on the water and sewer system.
But there has not been a murmur of protest about Parkside Village. It doesn't compute unless some addition factor is thrown into the equation. That factor is stereotypical perception of people who are poor and who are black. It is an attitude not unique to Snow Hill.
The same attitudes resulted in even more controversy last year in Baltimore County when a small number of poor Baltimore City residents were given vouchers and permitted to use those vouchers outside of the City. It arose again just recently as the Baltimore City negotiated a settlement with the ACLU which had charged the City with creating ghettos by lumping poor black citizens into huge housing projects. The proposed settlement would have provided poor City residents with vouchers to go into any of the surrounding counties.
But while racial and economic stereotypes are not uncommon, it does not make them any more attractive or any more proper in small towns like Snow Hill. The citizens of Snow Hill must begin to reassess their attitudes. Something easier said than done. The sheet sent out by Concerned Citizens of Snow Hill was so hollow, so false, and so transparent. That the community could have been taken in so completely is sad.