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Thursday, December 31, 2020

The State of Hickory 2020

 A Prologue to 2020

It has been hard to focus lately. I’ve always been someone with many oars in the water. I started the year working my job, running errands, and taking care of a couple of properties. By March I was a full-time caregiver, still running errands, trying to prepare a garden, and taking care of those properties. In May I was back to my job, being a part-time caregiver, still running errands, trying to garden, and still taking care of those properties. That all continued throughout the rest of the year, but come December I became the infirmed myself, and to finish out the year I’ve had to focus on my well-being. Yeah, having a lot of oars in the water won’t get you much of anywhere if those oars aren’t paddling in the same direction.

I think that many of us have dealt with these issues over the past year. The population of our area has aged and so we 40 and 50 and 60 somethings have to look out for our parents who are 70 and 80 years old and need some assistance. It’s just the reality of the world we live in. When you throw in the healthy (really unhealthy) dose of paranoia brought on by the Coronavirus Pandemic, then it becomes mentally draining. The energy needed to make life work is incredible and much of the energy for these tasks, we don’t want to do, feels like we are wasting time. It’s like we are doing the same thing over and over again and not accomplishing much, so it isn’t fulfilling. I think many of us are burned out by all that has gone on in 2020.

 The Surface

I haven’t written one of these State of Hickory pieces in 5 years. I think if you go back and read them, you will understand that these documents are written with sincerity. I think much of what has been written has stood the test of time and has credibility. What I write here is what I see, read, and hear about the goings-on in this community and what I sense about the present, and what it projects for its future. Unlike what you get with so-called “Journalism” these days, these words that I put down aren’t meant to fulfill a company agenda or to make sure that I don’t upset certain people. These words are meant to paint a picture of reality.

When it comes to Hickory, on the surface, you see some good things that have happened like the new multi-use apartment building and facility across from City Hall called One North Center. There has been a lot of energy that has gone into that project. According to articles in the Hickory Daily Record, the developer will have invested at least $15.5 million in the project as part of its agreement with the city. The city in turn agreed to spend $3.5 million, primarily for structural improvements to the site. The City was paid $240,000 for the property, which they had owned and used as city parking for years.

The property does look nice and it will fill a niche for those seeking luxury and who desire that trendy downtown lifestyle that many other communities have developed over time. The people interested in living at One North Center are excited because they feel like they are pioneering stakeholders in Hickory becoming like other trendy cities in the region. This developed as part of the movement promulgated by the local Powers That Be over the past decade. These are the same folks that pushed forward the Boost Hickory group that got the $40 million Bond initiative passed in 2014.

As part of the Union Square revitalization projects we have seen over the past decade, tons of concrete has been poured to further urbanize and restructure the area that centers around the courtyard of Union Square. The folks that are energized about the apartment development across from City Hall have been super excited to see the cleaner and wider sidewalk that is the Citywalk. Local officials point to the completion of these projects as examples of a community moving forward, achieving goals, and making economic progress.

Of late, coming into Catawba County on Highway 321 from Caldwell County – Granite Falls, Lenoir, the mountains – as one crosses the bridge and looks to the left, we can now see the pylons put into the ground that is the foundation for the Riverwalk. If you drive River Road in the Lakeland Park Neighborhood, then you can see activity taking place at Geitner Park. One of the bright spots for years in our community has been the success of the parks out along the river. Geitner Park, Rotary Park, and Glenn Hilton Park have been facilities that Hickory’s citizenry have enjoyed for decades and Hickory Inc. tells us that they are committed to investing more in these assets to make them even better in the years ahead.

We also see the Business Park named the Trivium Corporate Center located in Southeast Hickory crossing Interstate 40 and heading down Startown road towards Highway 321 South. This business center is located between Startown Road and Robinwood Road less than 2 miles from the Interstate 40, Highway 70, Startown Road intersection. Looking at the maps provided by Catawba County’s Economic Development Corporation, one sees that there are currently nine large proposed developments within this property and room for more sub lots. Of the nine large developments, four are already filled and these are the type of high-tech manufacturing facilities, with good-paying jobs, that our community has long desired. The projects already in the works represent right at 500 jobs and over $150 million to be invested in our area.

What has been expressed to the community is that hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in Hickory and there are promises of more to come. Infrastructure is being built that will make Hickory more modern and appealing. Jobs are coming to the area that we have needed and desired for a long time. We are seeing residential developments being constructed that are in demand by the well-to-do and will make the heart of the city convey a small town of prosperity, sort of like The Wizard of Oz’s allegory about the Emerald City. 

 

The Middle

In the five years since I last composed one of these articles about our community’s condition, the economic landscape has certainly changed. Manufacturing was able to make a comeback during President Trump’s first 3 years in office with a focus on reshoring American industries that had been offshored over the past 20 years. In the United States, we were seeing solid growth in Gross Domestic Product due to the Domestic Business Policies that were put into place.

Before the Coronavirus Pandemic, the economy certainly looked to be on a path towards continued growth. Compare that to the previous 8 years where we were told that manufacturing in the United States was dead because we couldn’t compete with foreign cheap labor and other reduced costs of doing business. President Obama said he didn’t have a magic wand. There was a multitude of excuses that were given as to why we couldn’t get the economy rolling after the Great Recession that lasted from 2008 through 2009 – and beyond. We had one year of annualized 3% growth in GDP during Obama’s eight years in office. The key to National economic growth is correlated to manufacturing. Manufacturing takes raw materials and creates products. Selling products creates profit which moves the economy. The rawer the inputs >to> the more refined the product >equals> the greater the value >and> the greater the profit.

Hickory enjoyed the fruits of the Renaissance that we saw in manufacturing during the Trump Presidency because we are and have always been a manufacturing hub during the modern economic era in the United States. Obama’s years mainly saw an economy centered around Urban Expansion and a Global Economic Agenda that mostly benefited the upper crust of American society at the expense of the working class -- and the working class is the Middle Class. Our area couldn’t get a foothold under these policies, because we are a suburban population that isn’t metropolitan but isn’t rural either.

The major urban centers located near Hickory are Charlotte 50 miles Southeast, Winston-Salem 70 miles East-Northeast, and Asheville 75 miles West-Southwest. Most people don’t want a two-hour-plus commute to work every day. That drive would be a job in and of itself. So we aren’t going to be a bedroom community for the major metro areas. That just isn’t realistic.

The outskirts of our area are truly rural in nature. Those communities have suffered greatly from the Global policies that we have seen over the past generation. How are they supposed to progress when the Federal and State governments continually ignore their needs? These smaller towns and unincorporated areas in our immediate region have a relationship with Hickory that stems from Hickory’s location and its history as the commercial and transportation hub of the counties that surround it. Hickory has always benefited from this relationship, but that relationship has taken a hit over time, because of modern realities.

Hickory is the definition of caught in the middle. We are a community that was built upon Middle-Class values. We aren’t Urban and we aren’t Rural. We have all of the amenities of the larger cities of North Carolina and the Eastern United States, but those amenities aren’t as plentiful and they aren’t quite as nice, because of Economies of Scale. We are located a little too far from the urban centers to take part in the economic growth that those areas have experienced over the past couple of decades.

To express that growth in numbers, let’s look at the fact that Charlotte was the seventh-fastest-growing large metro over the past decade, increasing population by 15.9% between 2010 and 2018. Charlotte is now the 16th largest city in the United States by population and the fifth-fastest-growing city in the country. Charlotte’s expansion has been long-lasting and sustained. Charlotte's population was around 540,000 in 2000 and today it is estimated to be around 885,000. That means that Charlotte has grown by 64% since the year 2000.

Winston-Salem has grown by 8% since 2010 and 33% since 2000. Asheville has grown 11% since 2010 and 35% since 2000. In comparison, Hickory has grown by 3% since 2010 and by 11% since the year 2000.

If Hickory had grown at Asheville’s rate since 2000, we would have a population of a little over 50,000 people now. Asheville had around 30,000 more people than Hickory in the year 2000 and now it has 50,000 more people than Hickory and is more than twice Hickory’s size in population. If Hickory had grown at Charlotte’s rate, then we would have a population of over 60,000 by now. The dynamics of those numbers feed off of one another. The urban area populations grew because the Federal and State governments focused on helping them grow and people moved there for economic opportunity. On the other hand, we lost many of our best and brightest young people to those urban centers because of the economic opportunity that we could not provide.

 

Down Below

So here I am 13 years after I initially decided to publicly start writing about this community. What I have always attempted to do is paint a picture of our community as it is. Some people don’t care for my take on our community’s standing in the world concerning its economics, politics, and culture, I understand that this isn’t how everyone sees things. Like I have said so many times, I am not a salesman. My job isn’t to sell the community. I am here to paint a picture as close to reality as possible. Realistic assessments of where you are help individuals and groups of people make better plans that will help them achieve their goals to get where they want to be.

In November 2014, we saw the $40 million Bond referendum passed because Hickory Inc. pushed a narrative that it was urgent that this happens, because of the state of the local economic condition, which had been in a malaise since the early 2000s. Of course, that malaise was brought on by what I describe above – Globalism and Government pushing people into the Metropolitan Areas and focusing their directives upon those Urban Centers at the expense of communities like our own. We had basically been abandoned.

Unfortunately, during the beginning of this century, our community officials had made some decisions that exacerbated the malaise. They were promoting our area as a haven for retirees just when we were having our young people and nest builders yanked out from underneath us. Admittedly, I haven’t seen the demographic breakdown as of late, but over the first 15 years of this decade, we were deeply in the red when it came to the population growth of those 40 and younger. The reason we had any growth at all was because of the successful recruitment of retirees to our community.

As I said above, the population data reflects my assessment of the motives of Hickory officials and the reasoning behind the Powers That Be developing these current economic and cultural initiatives.

After the Referendum was passed, in February 2015 a bond commission was created under the auspices that it would play a role in the implementation of the $25 million of Bonds that were intended for traditional Hickory's infrastructure. Another $15 million was set aside for economic development and a business park in the Startown area. The Economic Development Corporation led by Scott Millar has been directing that project and over time it has become more apparent that he is playing a pivotal role in the developments taking place in traditional Hickory.

The Bond Commission hasn’t played any direct role in these developments other than to encourage community spirit and to support the public relations promoting the projects.

Most of the work pertaining to the development of these projects has been happening behind the scenes. The projects have been a collaboration of the City's executive staff and the project development firms they hired out. Freese and Nichols were the primary consulting group that worked in conjunction with city executives on the master plan for the city projects.

To be honest the implementation phase of these projects has taken forever, especially when it was sold to the public as urgent in 2014. Six years down the road from the Bond Referendum being passed and almost nine years after its forerunner initiative “Inspiring Spaces” was formed, I don’t think anyone would say that they thought it would take this long to not even be halfway into all of this. I don’t think what was promised could be said to be halfway delivered. I would also say that there hasn’t been much transparency in relation to this venture and that the perception is that city officials don’t have a feel for all of this themselves. They don’t know how long all of this is going to take.

 

Money 

For practically all of my life, we have continued to pump the public’s money into Union Square and to change it in some way hoping to make it the center of attention for the community like it was in days gone by. My issues with Union Square have never been personal. My issue is that Union Square development seems to be the sole focus of our community's leadership. Hell, in terms of real money (adjusted for inflation), we’ve probably put a billion dollars worth of taxpayer money into the Square and we have seen little return for most of Hickory’s taxpayers. And there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight to these initiatives.

I have nothing against Union Square property owners, shop owners, or their patrons, but I don't think it is the responsibility of the taxpayers (the investing party) to enhance the area for those people, especially when we are still seeing other parts of the community being neglected and disrespected.

Just think, I might own a restaurant, a clothing shop or another business in one of Hickory’s other areas miles away from the Square and Hickory Inc. is going to take my property tax money, sales tax money, and other city fees and redirect them to the benefit of my competition on or around the Square. Hickory Inc. is going to promote my competition at my expense. Do you see what I am getting at?

I also worry about the near term economic future of our community, because without the emphasis on manufacturing that we saw from 2017 through 2019, we might just fall back into that economic malaise that we just finger clawed out of. I hope to God I’m wrong. It has become apparent that the real problem with American manufacturing is that too many individuals are profiteering from selling out the interests of the American Workforce.

Hickory’s middle class is that workforce that has been constantly sold out for years. They are proud people who just want a decent job with decent pay and to be able to keep their money, have some nice things, and be able to invest a little in their future. They want a decent quality of life.

Hey, I’ll admit when I am wrong and when Hickory Inc. started talking about all of these initiatives and projects, and they started talking about the money involved, I thought for sure that interest rates would rise and we would be paying a crazy amount of interest, much less paying back the principal. Interest rates are still low, so we’ve been lucky by that token. Hickory Inc. has so far issued $30 million of the Bonds. The first issuance ($15 million) took place in August 2018 and the second issuance ($15 million) took place in November 2019. The first bonds were issued at a smidge under 3% and the second issuance was around 2.2%. They are 20-year term bonds and should be paid back by 2038-39. The third tranche of $10 million has not been issued yet, so they wouldn’t be paid back until the early 2040s.

We are still going to see property taxes rise to pay for these projects. The tax rate has risen 8.75 cents (per $1,000) since 2014 and you can expect it to rise further over the upcoming years. That comes along with the 4.5 cents (per $1,000) raised by Catawba County over that same span. That doesn’t amount to but $13.25 extra on a $100,000 property, but you know that isn’t going to pay back $40 million bucks either. Remember they have to maintain their present budget levels and the costs of goods and services will rise over time. The money to pay back these bonds will have to come from somewhere.

At some point with the debasing of the dollar through macroeconomic debt, we are going to have an inflationary spiral, but I’ve given up on trying to predict when that will occur because the worldwide economic wizards have the bands wound so tight, no one with a clue would have ever thought the current system would have lasted this long because it never has in the past.

 

And That’s the Bottom Line Cause The Hound Says So

I would describe the current condition of Hickory as better than it was but in need of constant situational awareness with regards to the National and Global Economic Landscape. We have certainly taken a big bite financially with regards to the bond projects.

In looking at what has taken place around Hickory’s City Center, I would describe these public works projects as upgrades. Existing infrastructure is being renewed, rearranged, reorganized, and recycled. There’s plenty that has happened to make the people who already consume Union Square happy. There isn’t anything that has happened down there that can be labeled as game-changing.  No public works that have been done down there, as part of this revitalization,  have been additional in nature. It is by definition a Beautification Project.

Well, people will talk about that One North Center multi-use apartment complex and that is an addition, but that is a private venture that the city helped facilitate through public investment. Hickory Inc. officials and its cheerleaders tell us that is what the Citywalk and the future sidewalk enhancement down Old 70 are all about. They say when they upgrade these sidewalks, more businesses and residences will spring up along these areas. Build it and they will come, so to speak. Well, we shall see.

How many more times can Hickory Inc. spend $3+ million (or even a million or a half a million) to help make a private project happen without some kind of a payback put in place? Yes, I understand what was said about it is necessary to clean up the issues that were buried under the city parking lot where this new Apartment complex is located, but there will be other properties with hazardous issues that have to be mitigated. We have seen that all across the city limits. How will we fairly pick and choose which properties will be helped along by taxpayer’s dollars and which ones won’t? I think that is a very fair question to be asked.

Still, not much has happened around other less fortunate areas of town that have continued to be abandoned. With all that has been budgeted and spent in the wash, rinse, dry, and do it all again City Center, we know that it will be at least 20 years before we could go about focusing on any of those other areas. If those areas are going to be revitalized, then it will take the neighborhood associations and possible business associations that will have to take the initiative to make things happen on their own. They aren’t going to get help from a City Hall whose resources are hyperfocused on the projects created of, by, and for the Bond Referendum and its supporters. I’m sorry but it seems that if those less prosperous areas are to be developed it will be despite City Hall and not because of it.

So what I am seeing and saying is that “It rolls downhill… It always rolls downhill.” Hickory spent years trying to get some attention from the State and Federal governments. It took a new administration with an “America First” perspective for Hickory to start rebounding. We finally got some of the attention we had long needed.

In turn, Hickory took the resources that have finally been afforded to it and decided to invest it in the same infrastructure it has been investing in for 50 years. The middle class, the people who most represent Hickory, continue to get muted. Like how Hickory had been ignored for years by the people above it, in turn, Hickory’s decision-makers have chosen to do the same to the people below them. They don’t seem to catch on to the irony.

Now it looks like we might be forced back into the situation we found ourselves in a few years ago. The Coronavirus Pandemic has certainly put everything into a holding pattern and I can just imagine the economic consequences that will follow the aftermath of this situation. The present year has certainly done us no favors.

Like a take on what an old mentor told me when I was younger, “Prepare for the worst and Pray for the Best.”

Please God, I beg you to bless this community in the upcoming year!

https://hickoryrecord.com/news/hickory-council-oks-new-residential-and-commercial-development/article_93b20ee2-cf2c-11e9-8c55-4340ce11b2f9.html

https://www.catawbaedc.org/properties/triviumcorporatecenter

https://www.hickorync.gov/city-hickory-sells-first-round-bonds

https://www.hickorync.gov/city-hickory-sells-second-round-bonds

 

Friday, September 11, 2020

20/20 in 2020 (part 2) - The Destructive Left

No Reason

You just can't reason with the Bleedin' Heart Blame everything on Trump Brigade. They think they care more than the rest of us do and they are going to tell us so. "If you support Trump, then you are evil." No, some of us are more judicious about how we pick and choose our battles. I'm sick and tired of Bleeding Hearts telling me I don't care because I don't fall all over myself for the Pop Culture Meme of the day. Whatever is on the mainstream television news that day.

Hey Democrats you whine about Wage Disparity. The notorious rich people in the country (Bezos, Gates, Buffett, the Walton Family, 90% of Hollyweird,,, and I can go on) are all big contributors to your party.

You whine about the systemic injustice of the police force. Most of the people pushing the violence are white. They are anarchist. They believe in NO GOVERNMENT. They are out here assaulting people and tearing up the inner cities which are heavily populated by minorities. They don't care about Minorities. Minorities are just a tool to be used for their crazy beliefs... a means to an end.

You think you are the protectors against the virus and Trump has done everything wrong. It's easy as hell to second guess the President. Give us specifics about what you would have done differently. Give us specifics about who has done better. You are long on pissing and moaning and short on the reality of the situation. You really don't have a clue.

You can be constructive or destructive in this life. Grow up, be mature, be productive, make things happen. Stop describing how virtuous you are and start actually trying to be virtuous. Actions always speak louder than words.

 

Liberal Media Privilege

At the Press Conference on September 10th, there was a moment during the President's press conference where ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl, who so obviously has a personal agenda and could care less about facts, starts out by calling the President a Liar (‘Why Did You Lie to the American People?’) and then proceeds to ask why the American people should trust him. I just want to ask why the American people should trust Mr. Karl or so many of the others in that room (Jim Acosta I'm looking at you) who so obviously are trying to shape opinion before having the facts. One can see these people's body language. That totally negative body language is 180 degrees opposite of what was offered to the last President. Can you at least try to be professional and show some civility.

Over the past several months, since they pushed all of this "Social Justice" narrative, they have been pushing another narrative called "White Privilege." According to them all Caucasians are naturally racist and don't understand it. Somehow we were all born with a silver spoon in our mouths and we need to wake up every morning and apologize for our "White" status. Personally, I find such a notion to be repulsive. I am a victim of my life. We are all victims of something in life. If I succumb to my weaknesses and vulnerabilities, then I am doomed to fail at whatever endeavors I pursue.We can all point fingers and say that "I have failed because of someone else."... I am absolved of any failures. It is always someone else's fault.

True Privilege status is the Mainstream/Lamestream Corporate Media Press Corps. These folks have a pretty high standard of living. These folks aren't physically sweating it out to earn a buck. They get to travel around and follow a story. They are given an opportunity to be the eyes and ears for their community. With that they have a responsibility to get the story correct, but so many times they choose to present information through their own personal prism to the point where they neglect the events and only report their personal opinion and/or the narrative of the corporate entity they represent.

Mr. Karl himself is the President of the White House Press Correspondents Association. He has taken it upon himself to be an attack dog against President Trump. Constantly he misrepresents what someone has said before asking a question, trying to frame the narrative, instead of simply asking a question. He is not an objective reporter. He has written several negative opinion pieces against the President -- like in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. The man took it upon himself to ban a reporter from the White House Press briefings back in March, because she showed up for briefings after he took it upon himself to constantly omit her when Press Corps attendance was limited after the Pandemic status was officially sanctioned. Her name is Chanel Rion and she is a reporter for One America News. 

Legacy Media representatives, like Mr. Karl, have attempted to shut down New Media Representatives at every turn and create barriers to entry to make it difficult for them to exist. Mr. Karl, you need to get on your knees and beg for forgiveness for your arrogance related to your status as a media correspondent/journalist, you have selfishly represented your own personal interests. Your personal agenda does nothing for the average American citizen.

 

The Destructive Left

The Trump deranged Leftists are always short on specifics about why they hate the President. They rarely, if ever, will give you a cogent-tangible reason. Most of the bleeding hearts are truly caring, compassionate people. They talk about Peace and love and understanding, but the rhetoric I have seen against the President, Conservatives, and Republicans does not match those sentiments  Their literal venom and vitriolic animosity has emboldened Anarchists to literally set cities on fire. 

They call President Trump a narcissist, while dismissing the last President spying on Trump's 2016 campaign. Former President Obama's administration used the FBI and intelligence to railroad people like Carter Page, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, and others, to the point of bankruptcy through the justice system, and cost them their livelihoods. Remember that Richard Nixon was forced from office for less. If a Republican had done anything like what the Obama administration did, they would already be in jail.

You reap what you sow. It's hard to build things and so easy to tear them down. Think about building a house. Think about building a skyscraper like the Twin Towers that used to stand in New York. Think about building a stadium like those new multi-billion dollar stadiums in Los Angeles and  Las Vegas. It takes months to years to build great structures, but it only takes minutes to tear them down. When people get angry they get destructive. They don't think about the consequences of their anger until it is too late and then they have to deal with the aftermath of their destruction. It is time to reflect on your anger. Take a deep breath. What is causing your anger?  Is your destructive impulse going to be worth the aftermath?

Sunday, July 5, 2020

A Bridge Too Far - in Hickory

Years ago I was treated to a few seasons of "How small time politics works in Middle America."

Seems that the theory works like this. "Don't tell me about a square peg not fitting in a round hole, cause that's what this here sledgehammer was invented for."

"OK, well what about all the damage that does? You know it's likely that the object will never work as it was intended again."

"Well, we'll worry about that when the time comes. Why are you worrying about that anyway? You just let me worry about about all of this. I've got the right people to handle the situation."

Basically politicians feel they are here to sell you Bull S*** and you are here to buy it.  They are salespeople. If they make people feel like they are a part of the process, even if they aren't, then most people will go right along with the initiative of the moment.


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I was part of a group of people that tried to fix the electoral system here in Hickory. Our focus was to allow a predominantly African-American area to pick its own representative on the Hickory City Council. Hmmm... doesn't that fit in exactly with what we have been through over the past month. Doesn't it matter that people who live in a certain area have the ability to elect the person who represents them, instead of having that person selected for them. We lost and the status quo remained.

The following year, we attempted to get a few of our own elected and that turned into a circus. It wasn't a circus because of anything we did. It was  a circus, because those who were in power weren't going to give an inch. We set forth objectives for moving the town forward in a prudent and fiscally responsible manner and some of what we proposed has subsequently been implemented, but to the victor go the spoils and those in power were enabled to take the next step in their agenda.

The next year, we got the $40 million bond referendum. Personally, I pretty much supported the idea of the business park and I didn't have a problem with the beautification projects, but I thought it all should have been done piecemeal, instead of with the elaborate scheme that they came up with. Now, we are 6 years down the road and this isn't the game changer that they claimed it to be. The economy around here improved because the National economy improved, because there was a renewed emphasis on manufacturing and Tada, we are a manufacturing area.

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So there is your background of what led up to what we have experienced over the past 5+ years. I haven't written much, because my life is a priority to me and I have been trying to weather the storm of my middle age. Besides, there really hasn't been a whole lot of government action besides the slow motion implementation of the Bond Referendum that was passed 5 years and 8 months ago. We are barely into Phase 1 of the Infrastructure build out and at the rate we are going it will be 20 years before these projects are done.

Deal is that I have a track record of credibility, because I can see trends. I'm certainly not always right, but I'm usually in the Ballpark.

Speaking of Ballparks. A few weeks ago, I read where the City of Hickory swapped land and paid money for property that belonged to MDI.   Hickory City Council to consider $1.4 million land swap with MDI - Hickory Daily Record - Kevin Griffin -  June 16, 2020

We heard mention of the city's desire to build a bridge from the proposed Riverwalk across Highway 321  at several vignettes back in 2014 administered by their Boost Hickory group, which was basically created by our Mayor of that time. I've still got videos and recordings of those proceedings. Some Boost Hickory Spokespeople speculated that this property, mostly located in Burke County, was going to become Hickory's own version of Birkdale Village -- you know that swanky area in North Charlotte (Huntersville) with those Million Dollar residences, gourmet restaurants, dazzling spas, and elegant boutiques.

What we do know at this point in time, is that the proposed pedestrian bridge across Highway 321 is supposed to lead people to the LP Frans (Hickory Crawdad) Baseball Stadium. Here are a few inputs I would like everyone to take into consideration. These inputs are public knowledge for anyone to see. This isn't me trying to be the Gadfly. This is an exercise in Critical Thinking. The Critical Thinking process is necessary to make the best decisions when multiple variables come into play within complex and chaotic parameters.

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1) The Highway 321 thoroughfare project leading north through and from Hickory has been put on hold, because the NCDOT is out of money and the State of North Carolina has put out a lot of money for the Coronavirus Pandemic and State Revenues are very unstable at this time. - https://www.ncdot.gov/projects/Pages/projects-temporarily-suspended.aspx

2) Cities warn of infrastructure spending cuts and more layoffs as coronavirus leaves holes in budgets - CNBC - June 23 2020 - Noah Higgins-Dunn - More than U.S. 700 cities plan to delay or cancel infrastructure projects after their responses to the coronavirus outbreak left budgets with unplugged holes, according to a National League of Cities survey released Tuesday.

3) Wall Street Risk Analysts Rise in the Muni Bond Market - Bloomberg - Amanda Albright - June 9, 2020 - The $3.9 trillion state and local government debt market, typically the safest of havens, has suddenly become one where assessing risk matters again, thanks to the economic wreckage wrought by the pandemic.

And the biggest Kicker of them all...

4) The Hickory Crawdads are no longer locally owned - The Crawdads are owned by the parent baseball club "The Texas Rangers" - Following the 2017 season, the Rangers purchased the team from Don Beaver. The Crawdads are in the lowest tier of Minor League Baseball - the Class A South Atlantic League. The Crawdads are also located in one of the smallest markets in Minor League Baseball. Within the Sally League, The Crawdads compete against cities like Greensboro, Asheville,  Charleston, and Columbia, South Carolina. All of those are cities with populations of over 100,000. Not only that, but there is the travel expense and distance associated with minor league baseball. These professional baseball players are traveling 400 miles to Hagerstown, Maryland, 500 miles to Salisbury, Maryland and 600 miles to Lakewood, New Jersey. Mind you that road trips are coordinated, but they are doing this by bus.

You might think I am fishing here, but here is what the Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred had to say about Minor League Baseball contraction in the face of economics. This was from last November before the Coronavirus Pandemic took control of the National Economic Outlook.



Here is a Fox News and Sports article on the subject from 3 days ago:

Minor League Baseball teams face uncertain future over canceled season - The league's future was murky even before the COVID-19 pandemic - Fox News - Ryan Gaydos - July 1, 2020 - ...According to Baseball America, O’Conner warned that about half or possibly more than half of minor league baseball teams could sell or fold completely. “It’s north of half (of MiLB teams) who could either have to sell (or go insolvent without government or other help). This is the perfect storm. There are many teams that are not liquid, not solvent,” Conner said. “I could see this (economic impact) lingering into 2022, 2023 easily. In some cases, possibly a little longer.”


And finally ESPN with an article that basically sums it all up

Key questions as Minor League Baseball officially cancels 2020 season - ESPN - June 30, 2020 - The Professional Baseball Agreement, the document that governs the relationship between MLB and its affiliates, expires in September. Last fall, in advance of baseball's annual winter meetings, news leaked of baseball's plan to cut the total number of affiliated teams in the minors from 160 to 120. That news kicked off a fiery volley of rhetoric between the respective league offices as both sides positioned themselves on the public relations and political fronts...      Will minor league teams survive this? Teams at the Double-A and Triple-A levels will survive, even though many have had to lay off or furlough staff in recent months. One thing that nearly all teams at those levels have is the certainty of being a high-level affiliate of a big league club next season and beyond, however the negotiations for a new PBA are resolved. Those teams reside in larger municipalities than lower-level clubs and thus have more corporate support and a larger season-ticket base. Nevertheless, even for those clubs, the loss of an entire season is a major setback.      What will minor league baseball look like when it returns?      ...The most likely outcome is that a new PBA will be agreed to, and it will be on MLB's terms. Given the terrain, desperate MiLB owners will latch on to pretty much anything that comes their way. Expect to see a reduced list of affiliated teams next season, a shuffling of affiliations and a restructuring of the leagues themselves as major league clubs seek greater geographic efficiency.

Hounds Opinion: So, when we take all of that and put it together, what is the sum of the equation. Hickory Inc. needs to put that pedestrian bridge on hold. Right now I won't get into the reasons why you don't jump into big projects with both feet. We've seen roads to nowhere, trails to nowhere, and other infrastructure projects that ended up being mistakes built from sea to shining sea across the United States. I hope we don't see Hickory building a bridge to an empty/dormant baseball stadium.

Sunday, June 21, 2020

20/20 in 2020

Sorry I haven't written much lately. My mother was in a car accident on Christmas Eve and severely broke her right leg to the extent that she had to have an external fixator. I have thus had a lot on my plate. She was taken to Wake Forest Baptist for a month. A superstar doctor was able to save her leg. The Fibula and Tibia were broken along with bones above and below the ankle. She had 14 fractures.

She was in Baptist for a month, then in rehab in Conover for a month, I took a leave of absence from my job and finally I brought her home on February 27th, but a couple of days later she took a turn for the worse and she had to be admitted to the Frye hospital with heart and other issues. I was able to bring her home again on March 9th. It was just a couple days after that when the Coronavirus Pandemic hit full force. We made 5 trips to Wake Forest Medical Center over the subsequent two months before we finally moved her to a hard cast and then a walking boot.

My life has been funky since all of that happened, but I know most people's lives have evolved over the past several months. Below I will place some thoughts that I have jotted down in various places over the past few months that I will relate to you.

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*** Television - The other day my mother was going to tell me about something related to what one of the talking heads on television said about Governor Roy Cooper's mandates about the Coronavirus and the lockdowns. I told her that I didn't care what they said on the TV, because their "news" is irrelevant. It has little to do with reality and more to do with their agenda. Like I told her, they like to manipulate the Dupes that are addicted to the television. There needs to the a Alcoholics Anonymous for TV addicts.  There are 12 step programs for about every addiction and Television can be very bad for those certain people in a vulnerable mental state.

***  Echo Chamber - an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own, so that their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered.

*** Virtue Signalling: (aka - Woke) - To take a conspicuous but essentially useless action ostensibly to support a popular cause but actually to show off how much more moral you are than everybody else... Advocating a political or philosophical position, and/or taking up a public cause, from a position of vanity, for the primary purpose of demonstrating your conformity with fashionable pop culture values.
***  Facebook - I'm just curious. Is facebook a place for the mentally ill or is it just a reflection of our current society, because there is no doubt in my mind that more than half of the place is Nucking Futz.

*** On Democrats blaming Trump for everythingI know that Democrats like to blame Trump for everything. Actually they like to blame Republicans for everything, but let's look at who runs the Major Metropolitan cities. Basically Democrat-Socialist-Progressives run these cities from top to bottom. They are so large that they control who becomes governor of the State. They have the Mayorship, and control their town councils and appoint the Police Chief. Democrat-Socialist-Progressives control the whole thing from top to bottom, because minorities put them in these positions, but somehow it's Trump's fault. Give me a freakin break. The cancer in our society is the Democrat Party and how corrupt it is and run like a caste system. It's a Gilded Age system where they live fabulously wealthy lives in their compounds and everyone else deals with the messes they make.

*** Social Media Bias - Either Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and other social media forums are allowed to be public commons and open without bias or they should be forced into divestiture. End the high tech monopolies and tyranny...  There are Antitrust rules that come into play over how these companies have been operated. Capitalism isn't at play here. Crapitalism (Crony Capitalism) is at play here and these entities are not above such laws. These are the modern day Robber Barons... Of course it is Democrats that have always protected monopolies and have been against competition. Look at the largest tech companies, that have bought out competition and vertically integrated into behemoths. All Democrats protected by Democrats. That's why you have to laugh when Democrats pretend to be for the little guy. They love the Gilded Age type culture... I am in favor of the Social Media Behemoths being run and regulated as public utility infrastructure like the phone company, power company, and cable companies are run and regulated... Democrat-Socialists seem to be in favor of a public forum that attacks free expression and speech. These Social Media corporation's growth was built upon them operating as a public commons. If they are going to enjoy enormous growth based upon that principle then they can't arbitrarily disappear people and their expression, because they decide to pick one side over the other. We don't tolerate that with other industries and we aren't going to here. It is a violation of Civil Rights. It is the same as arbitrarily denying me the right to eat in your restaurant for (because of) some reason you don't like me.

*** Proverbs 13:9 - The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is extinguished.

*** John 1: 5-9 - 5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Monday, December 30, 2019

Ode to the 2010s

It has been hard to sit down and focus and write about politics, culture, and society, but as we leave this decade, I feel it necessary to put out a message.

This decade started out on a sour note when it comes to economics. In 2010, we weren't yet really out of the Great Recession caused by the Economic crisis of 2008. In 2010, the National Unemployment (U-3) Rate was 9.6%. North Carolina's Unemployment rate was 11.4%, which was the worst we would see from the recession. 10 years later, we currently have a North Carolina Unemployment rate of 3.8%.

In Catawba County, back in 2010, it was about as bad as it could get. The unemployment rate was 14.9% and today it is 3.3%. We started out 2010 worse than the National Average and today we are better than the national average.

Does this tell the whole story. I don't believe that it really does. I don't think the issues that led to the 2008 Economic Crisis have truly been addressed, so we could find ourselves back in that mess again. The problem is that that isn't an economic issue as much as it is a social-cultural-political issue.

North Carolina's Legislature has been doing an excellent job of tightening its belt, while focusing on  endeavors that make the State more hospitable towards business than it was a decade ago. This isn't going to make people whose life focuses predominantly on social and cultural issues happy, but what they never seem to understand is that quality of life in our Monetized Society correlates completely with the Velocity of the economy. When the economy slows down, then those with little wealth will suffer the most. And even in Socialist Utopia, a slow economy means that those with lesser socio-economic circumstances will be the ones who suffer the most. It will just be more of them.

I think back to a decade ago. We were in the midst of the Obama administration pushing through Healthcare Reform. What is the focus of the current crop of Democrat Presidential candidates? The same garbage they were peddling and focusing on 10 years ago. They didn't solve anything and in many ways they made it worse. Healthcare costs continue to rise faster than wages. This article on The Middle Class Risks Consuming Itself says that the American Economy has become more and more dependent on Healthcare Services and its growth while the costs continue to become less affordable. In other words, the current model isn't sustainable.

2019 marks eighteen years since the event at the World Trade Center in New York. Subsequently, the United States went into Iraq and Afghanistan. President Bush 43 quickly claimed victory, but we are still involved in Afghanistan. This is the longest conflict in our nation's history.

From my personal experience and in my opinion, the Internet is a lot less freer today than it was 10 years ago. I think much of it has to do with "Smart" phones. The smart phone platform is dominating the computer technology market and it has become more and more monetized through Apps and Services. Personally, I have never been enamored with cell phones. I find them to be too tethered. While their size and purpose (portability) leads to independence of movement/travel, there is a lack of adaptability due to the dependence on the monetized apps that make them work and drives up their cost of usage.

When it comes to the Internet, one can't help but notice the controls that the Corporatocracy has placed on it. Yes, some of it is related to monetization of information by the Corporate Media, but you can taste the censorship, controlled content and narratives, and outright biases of the Leftist leaning Big Tech cronies out of Silicon Valley. I suspect that this is only going to get worse, because most of the public might use tech, but most of them don't understand it. They just want it convenient and user friendly. They could care less how it works.

The Big Tech big picture is that the companies who integrate these convenience based technologies are going to control more and more of your life experiences than they already currently do. They are going to push market you into buying their products or the products they approve of. The further you enter this Matrix, the harder it will become to extricate yourself from it. Most of you won't even care, because "It's Cool." You are putting your faith into the idea that you can trust these companies to have your best interest at heart. Are you ready for driverless cars and robot assistants and caregivers?

It might not seem like we have come all that far over the past decade, but were you really paying attention? I wonder what the advent of 5G technology is going to bring over the next few years. It is probably going to revolutionize the platform on which Information Technology is delivered and kick that Matrix I previously mentioned into another dimension.

These Are The Technologies That Will Transform The 2020s - From 5G To Vertical Farming - Forbes - Mike Scott - December 9, 2019

Friday, November 15, 2019

Foothills Digest - Fox & Hound Article - Summer 2019

The following is the 8th out of 8 Fox and Hound articles available from the Foothills Digest. It is the first collaboration that I have had with Sarah Everly. The current edition of the Foothills Digest is available on newstands and magazine racks in the area. I won't publish that article here until it comes out of general circulation. You should think about getting a subscription to the Foothills Digest. It is very artistic, has great literature related to our area, and it supports many of the entrepreneurs and creative people and their endeavors in our region.

In my mind, Sarah comes to this series with a bend that Gabriel got along too well with the Wascawee Weepubwican. We'll see. I'm not here for debate. I'm here for discussion. I have the thoughts of an Independent Liberated Free Man and I don't get stuck in Corporate Media Political Dogma and Rituals. If that is the altar from which you form your prism, then you will never understand a person like myself. Let's move forward in these discussions. My angle is to get as close to bringing a discussion of reality and realism to the public as possible. You won't see a list of Republican talking points in my discussions.


The following article is about "Quality of Life."

My personal reflection on the modern Democrat/Progressive/Liberal/Socialist of 2019. Everyone has ideas about how we move forward towards making people's everyday lives better. It's how we move from ideas to actions and then towards implementation that we differ. I like ideas that are Achievable/Doable and rooted in realistic principles. I'm into making your lives better as soon as possible. Pie in the sky, grandiose ideas lead to frustration and disruption and cause more harm than good. It wastes time, because people end up throwing their hands up in the air and having to start all over again. Feelings come and go like a whiff of air. Logic is steadfast and foundational. It is something we can build upon. We have to root our ideas in Logic and not Feelings.

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(The Hickory Hound: Thom Shell)

To open this dialogue with Sarah, the general topic is about what it would take to get Millennials to stay in our area. In a text, she says that her interpretation of past Fox-Hound articles: “mention “young people” and how our community needs to evolve to keep Millennials upward, but it is banter about Millennials instead of with them.”

I think some people may misunderstand where I am coming from, if they think that my main focus is just on attracting ‘Millennials.’ My focus is upon Science and the overall vitality of our community. Local officials, around 20 years ago, laser focused on attracting retiring ‘Baby Boomers’ because they thought the sheer numbers of that generation’s population would bring growth to our community. Unfortunately, retirees don’t create the economic velocity that young up and comers do and this most likely played a huge role in the economic malaise that we experienced in the first decade plus of this century. It threw our overall Ecosystem out of whack.

Chicken or Egg? Which comes first, the social dynamism of a community or its Economic Well-Being? My thoughts are in these articles, as well as on my website. Success is defined pretty simply, because “Quality of Life” correlates to economic growth, therefore our community’s overall “Quality of Life” is dependent upon growth in the largest workplace and consumer demographic -- Millennials. In other words, if young people aren’t living here or moving here, then we aren’t succeeding.

My thought process relates to not putting all of your eggs in one basket. We don’t need a certain generation. We don’t need a certain type of industry. We don’t need any certain category. What we need is balance. ‘If the chickens ain’t layin’ no eggs, and no eggs are hatchin’, then soon we ain’t gonna have no chickens.’

The reason why I have said that we need young people, and haven’t just said Millennials, is because of the demographic evidence -- lack of balance -- over the past twenty years. Besides, Millennials are now entering middle age. We have seen population stagnation for a generation and if we don’t stem the tide, then we are going to see population decline. Look at the Rust Belt areas of Western New York, Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Northern Indiana, Michigan, if we don’t regenerate, then that is where we are headed.

I’m all about a call to action. That is how I got involved in civic engagement. At 52 years old, as a DeGeneration X’er, I have seen my family pass away and move away to the point that there are only 3 of us left here. I have put ideas on my website, in this magazine, and in the public. The only thing that politics and good government can successfully do is create an environment for people to participate. The Millennials and iGen are going to have to buy in.

What will it take for them to buy-in? Perceived opportunity. Do they like it here? Do they want to be here? Can they afford to stay here? Do they have a future if they stay?

I have never had a problem with listening. I’d love to hear what the younger people have to say. I’d love to know what would make them happy, because I know that attracting these people to stay home, or to move here, is the key to the vitality and viability of our community.

We have a lot of ingredients that make for community success, but we’re having trouble with the recipe. Is there something missing or are we just not putting it together right?


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(The Fox: Sarah Everly)

In 2001 my family moved to the Hickory area. I was 9 years old and to me Hickory was a wasteland. Empty buildings littered the roadsides, parking lots were cracked and overgrown with weeds trying desperately to reach the light. The town was stagnant. There was a lack of youth. The youth that was here was wildly underpaid and their children? wildly undereducated.

Eighteen years later my peers and I have grown up. In large part, the once empty buildings are now filled with businesses owned by the under forty population. Growing up in the recession taught our town’s youth to make their own prosperity, to make wealth out of barren land and broken buildings. All of this makes it appear that this area is a lively and prosperous place to settle. It makes us look like, as Hound phrased it, we have the perfect recipe, but there is so much that isn’t seen to outside eyes.

As our under forty populations put their hours, hands, and heart into stimulating prosperity in our towns, they are being repaid by housing markets that leave them in vicious cycles of predatory landlords and few options to find a home they can afford. Our Boomer populations are selling their homes for four times what they paid, and anything sold under 120k is going to investors and serving as a fifth or sixth rental property. In my own experience I have found housing to be more affordable outside of our immediate area. Time and time again I have seen my peers move their families to Morganton, Nebo, or Charlotte, often taking their businesses with them. Add the housing crisis to the insurmountable student debt crisis, and public school systems that are still lagging behind and you have a recipe that is forcing us out of the areas that we largely helped lift out of recession.

I have to earnestly agree that our ecosystem is out of whack, but it is also my belief that we are facing another economic collapse. If housing prices do not fall, the market will crash. If interest rates do not stabilize, businesses will waste away or leave entirely. If our younger residents continue to work so tirelessly and only the Boomers benefit, we will burn out. If wages continue to leave tradesmen rolling pennies at the end of the month, they will follow the cash flow elsewhere. Plainly put, this area will be facing a drought of youthful prosperity within the next five to ten years. Do we want to stay? Yes! This is our home. We pulled the weeds, we paved the parking lots, we filled the empty storefronts. We had the odd privilege of helping craft this wasteland into the beautiful and bountiful community it appears to be. The idea of leaving is heartbreaking for many of us, but many of us are left with no choice. Can we afford to stay? Perhaps some of us, for now, but I’m not sure how much longer. Our recipe is lacking sustenance.

This is not to say that millennials consider Boomers to be lazily benefiting from our hard work. Many of them will never have the chance to retire because they too are lacking opportunity and prosperity. While eighty five percent of our community is panic stricken over billing statements each month, the other fifteen percent sip from wine glasses at country clubs or stand around in circles discussing rounds of golf. Things that most of our community will never get to do. It is bewildering to me that a town that once sought out retirees, is being sustained and developed by a population that will never get to retire.

A call to action. In previous versions of this column the call to action has largely been to raise wages, lower cost of living, etc…

I have to agree with those sentiments, but those things do not happen quickly. They may take years to happen. What condition will our community be in by then? We need swift actions. Actions like stimulating, or even adding more nonprofits. Non profit Microlending has been proven to bring communities up and out of their stagnation. These institutions often focus on lending to minority populations such as People of color, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, those with credit challenges, and those who do not have an established business portfolio. Adding lenders who service people that would otherwise be rejected by traditional banks to our community gives every individual an opportunity to pull themselves up, succeed, and then allow their success to benefit our community’s ecosystem.

Creating affordable access to trade certifications, hiring people of color, shopping locally, opening affordable and safe daycares, pushing our school systems to deliver quality education to our children, all of these things are immediate actions that we, as a community, can do to keep our younger populations prosperous, and upward.

Boomers to Generation Z, we all work hard. We all deserve quality of life. We all deserve a stronger, more united community. To borrow from Gloria Steinem, humans should be linked. Not ranked. When we accomplish that, we’ll know we’ve created the perfect recipe.

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James Thomas Shell’s Question:

Sarah, I appreciate very much where you are coming from with your article. If you go back and read all of the articles that Gabriel and I corresponded on, then you will read about some of the very issues you elaborate on here. I have been a big proponent of microlending and small business generators since the inception of the Hickory Hound in 2008. Can you further elaborate on how we can bring this to fruition and maybe how it might help you or someone you know on a personal Level? I understand where you are coming from, but there are many who don’t understand and can’t relate.

I understand your angst related to housing. Many of the issues, related to housing in our area, stem from the financial crisis of 2008, which had a lot to do with lending to people who got in over their heads buying overvalued houses. What do you believe can be done to re-open the marketplace to lower- income home buyers without going back down that path again? Maybe, as you alluded to, the market will have to reset by allowing housing values to fall to a level of affordability that correlates with those lower income levels. Are you looking for a government solution?

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Sarah's response to Thom

While it may be tricky to seek out microlenders to settle here, it’s relatively easy to educate our nonprofits about the existence of Microlending. Institutions like Women’s Resource Center work closely with programs like Work First. Knowledge of Microlending and how it works could cultivate opportunity for the jobless and underpaid women they serve. The same goes for Safe Harbor, Christian Ministries, etc... The people nonprofits ore serving are people that would be quickly rejected by conventional lenders. I’ve been a housewife for seven years. I have eleven thousand in defaulted student loans, a sobering reality that affects a massive portion of our community. A woman with a seven year job history gap and defaulted federal loans isn’t seen as a promising candidate for living wage jobs. She’s also not a candidate for traditional financing. If I decided to run a business, t4icrolending would be my only hope. Being provided with a low interest loan from a non predatory lender would help me establish a business that provides the means to get my student loans out of default and begin a valid work history. The fact is that thousands of our citizens ore in the same boat. Those thousands of citizens would similarly benefit from access to Microlending.

As for my ideas on our housing crisis, my opinion is not favorable to investors. While having a rental property is a wonderful way to build financial security, having six of them is an action of greed. My husband and I hove been searching for a home since February. Every home within our price range is swept off the market within hours, only to be listed for rent within three weeks time. These homes would come with a mortgage that equals half of what they’re being rented for. I also believe Airbnb is contributing to our housing drought. While families are being forced out of the city, homes are sitting empty half the year because renting them nightly brings in more cash flow than renting them to our residents. Cities like New York and San Francisco have enacted regulations on Airbnb in response the the cities’ rising homeless population. These regulations include guidelines that require hosts to be residents of the city that their Airbnbs are located and nightly rentals cap out at 90 days a year. If we enacted similar regulations hundreds of homes would be available to citizens nine months a year. Investors and Airbnb hosts, these two populations are leaving hundreds of victims in their wake and roaming wit little to no regulation and in turn the citizens that make our community prosperous are being forced to pay twice as much for housing or being forced out of our community altogether.


Sarah Everly’s Question:

As an individual with a focus on science, what do you think could be done to harness this interest and use it to benefit the younger populations in our community?

You’ve mentioned that you’ve watched your family members pass away and leave. I’m very sorry that has been the case. I am interested to know what kept you here. What actions and/or options were available to you that made staying in this community worth it? Do you believe these actions and/or options are readily available to every demographic in our community?

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Thom's response to Sarah

Sarah, our area was in recession well before it was acknowledged nationally in 2008 and we have never truly recovered. What some have interpreted as a recovery has actually been settling into a new normal. The Economic Innovation Group still lists us as an 'At-Risk' Community. That is a lot of what you saw in your teenage years. That is a completely different experience than my own teen years.

In the 70s and early 80s, my mother was a top-notch job recruiter in the Hickory area. Manufacturing businesses were actually paying people bonuses and helping them with housing to locate here. The problem was that as time went on there was resistance from our community's hierarchy to recruit more highly skilled technical industries. Regarding technical industries, a local entrepreneur started Superior Cable Company. Corning Inc. invested and eventually took over. People flocked to those jobs because of the compensation offered. This led to a Telephony Industry cluster in our area, which flourished before Trade Treaties caused a major scale back in the early 2000s, which coincides to the era you allude to.

The housing issue that you have faced is a National issue. In an Associated Press article out this week, we learn that "In the seven years since the housing crash ended, home values in more than three-quarters of U.S. metro areas have climbed faster than incomes... Nationally, home prices since 2000 have climbed at an annual average rate of 3.8%, while average incomes have grown at an annual rate of 2.7%." So yes, your personal experience is validated.

My personal experience? I moved back here because I was more comfortable with the family connection. My income would definitely have been higher outside of this area, but can you put a price tag on the family experience? I had to get creative and make a ton of sacrifices to buy my house and keep making the payments. I'm making less than I made in 2005. I haven't been able to afford upgrades, but the good thing is I locked in at the 2005 monthly payment. Because of the economics of the area, the value hasn't risen much. You are correct about rental costs.

As far as my experience versus others? That is more complex than I can answer here. I will say that my life has been built upon plenty of blood, sweat, and tears and nothing I have was accumulated through some special privilege. I look forward to future discussions.

Economic Innovation Group - Distressed Communities - https://eig.org/dci

Young homebuyers scramble as prices rise faster than incomes - Associated Press - JOSH BOAK & LARRY FENN - May 25, 2019

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Calling Irascible Crank

We haven't heard from you in quite some time. We are checking in on you. Would like to hear from you. Gotham needs you.

P.S. We have a specific request.