A month ago, I wanted to look into our population numbers, to see where we stood as a city growth wise. The numbers are really quite impressive for a town that really has not had a good economy for 8 years. I have grown weary of hearing the terms “small town” or “small city” bandied about by people that have a certain agenda for the direction that they want to take us.
Their code words are terms such as “controlled growth” or “neighborhood core.” These terms fall under the City’s Codes and Mandates, which are bound in a micromanagerial volume called “Hickory by Choice.”
It is my opinion that this cumbersome set of over 400 pages is part of what is holding this community back. We need to be asking businesses what they need to motivate them to locate here; instead, we are mandating what we want from them before they even take a look at us. Those two ideals are obviously incongruent.
I have already stated the direction that I believe that we should be moving our economy toward. We need to be looking 20 to 50 years down the road with a futurist's vision. What will the world be like in 50 years and how do we get there?
At the bottom right hand corner of this page, there is a set of links titled "Main Information Links" (I may reorganize this soon, but it will still be there). There is a link about Kannapolis’s Biotech plans. You should click on it. It takes you to a set of Google links.
Kannapolis is a city much like Hickory, with the exception that they are a little closer to Charlotte. Kannapolis was a one-horse town. They didn’t even incorporate until 1984. The city was all about Cannon Mills and Textiles. There was no diversification of industry there. When textiles left, that city was reeling at a much worse level than what we have gone through.
You see, I know this because my great Uncle (in-law) owns Whitley’s funeral home there. When my cousin Whit started telling me about the Biotech plans at the Cannon Mills property, I thought man that sounds cool. He never mentioned anything about the water transfer, but this was over five years ago and everyone in our city’s government seems oblivious to what was going on, at that time, 50 miles down the road.
That just shocks me in so many different ways. It seems to me that our government officials here would be trying to find out what is going on with the other communities in our surrounding region. Wouldn’t you be curious when you first heard about these Biotech plans that David Murdoch was trying to bring to fruition?
I would think you would be calling up the mayor or city manager there and lending an ear to get the lowdown. I would think that you’d be seeing if the tentacles of this development could possibly benefit our city or county.
Instead we have acted like we have been blindsided and bamboozled. We act like Concord and Kannapolis are cheating us somehow. Frankly, I think it all stems from jealousy, because they have something that our governmental leaders wish that they could have. And we’re still holding the bag, searching, searching, searching…..waiting, waiting, waiting….
I have crunched the numbers and the links are provided below. By 2010 our population should be over 42,000 people within Hickory proper and Catawba County should have a census of around 160,000 people. That means that more than 25% of the people in Catawba County live within the City Limits of Hickory. Including St. Stephens and Mountain View, over 40% of the county resides in Hickory Township. Hickory is the focal point of this region.
Cabarrus County, which was 10% to 20% smaller than Catawba County as little as ten years ago, projects to have 5,000+ more people, than Catawba County, living within its borders by 2010. The rate of growth for that county is double what we have here in Catawba County. In 20 years Catawba County should have over 200,000 people, while Cabarrus County will be close to a quarter of a million people.
People might sarcastically say “good” about Cabarrus County’s growth compared to ours. They might even say OH BOY! When they think of our City (under it’s current boundaries) nearing 60,000 people by 2030. The only problems we inherit from this situation are nostalgia and complacency.
All of the counties surrounding Mecklenburg, with the exception of Gaston, have realized exceptional gains in growth over the last 20 years. These counties are all over 40% growth in that time period. Hickoryites better soon realize that Charlotte is coming our way. We should be happy, not depressed, about the urbanization that will take place as a result. In my opinion it will mean better jobs, more activities, and easier access to public transportation around the area.
I believe that with proper planning that we will easily be able to manage this projected growth, but we must not live in the past. When my grandparents moved here in 1946 and 1950, there were only 14,000 people living in Hickory. When I was born there were only 20,000 people living here. For many, it is hard to accept the fact that our once small town is going to be so large in 20 years.
They are afraid of the unknown and what the future holds. But, we know that as sure as the sun will rise in the east tomorrow morning that the future is coming. We must embrace that future or we will continue to suffer the stagnation of the last eight years. We cannot afford to live in a world of denial that this is “Little Ole Hickory” anymore. That is what got us into this current predicament.
Mayor McDonald and the council (pre-2000) did not set us up for the 21st century. Times were good in the late 80s and all the way through the 90s. This town didn’t and still doesn’t really have a history to fall back on, so we just figured the good times would roll on forever. This period (the 00s) is our history. We didn’t have a backup plan. We must learn from this lesson and teach future generations not to repeat it.
We have good, honest, industrious, hardworking people. That is what we are known for and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. We can use those principles to build a history. That history needs to start now and it needs to begin with leadership and foresight.
I know that times are hard, but most times that is when movements take root. We need to tell our local officials what we want. Those of us that have connections need to use them and the rest of us need to keep moving forward and try to be more involved.
I will cut our city leaders some slack, because of the circumstances that they have inherited. But, it is time to move forward. It is time to embrace the 21st century and move past the Podunkville mentality. You should feel insulted when someone says Little Ole Hickory, They are saying that we are irrelevant.
It is time to be inclusive towards all of our citizens from every ward and give them all the respect they deserve. It is time to quit being judgmental. Every one of us is relevant. You never know when that person, you give that opportunity to, might become the iconic figure that puts Hickory at the forefront of history.
Hickory Census vs Cabarrus vs Mecklenburg
http://hickoryhound.googlegroups.com/web/hickory%20census%20vs%20Mecklenburg%20and%20Cabarrus.xls?gsc=6jxCdQsAAADUsl3AgISC6zjsxi141qaJ
Hickory Census Projections
http://hickoryhound.googlegroups.com/web/hickory%20census%203%20projections.xls?gsc=6jxCdQsAAADUsl3AgISC6zjsxi141qaJ
|
| Join To Get Blog Update Notices |
| Visit the Hickory Hound Group |
Friday, September 26, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
You are correct on several points Mr. Shell.
Our politicians especially Mayor McDonald and city council have left us woefully unprepared for the "future" which is here now. The even more distant future looks bleak!
Our City Council is more concerned with stopping progress and growth like the Lowes Hardware on 127N.
Council spends too much time figuring out where to plant some more flowers and trees while citizens can't find a job and pay for groceries and gas.
They create moratoriums and new laws to halt businesses with which they do not want to open in the city even though the businesses will pay taxes and bring in revenue to the city.
However, without progressive leadership we will always be known as little ol' Hickory. We have to vote these backward council members out of office before the perception of Hickory as being a hick town is ever changed.
Having a professional city government which would began with a new council and include a much more professional police department, planning and zoning, and any other city departments which fall short of Total Quality Management.
What the hell is wrong with you folks? More people means more traffic, more crime and more pollution. It might mean more money for the crooked politicians and possibly the slumlords amongst us, but that is all of the positives that it affords us. Some folks crunch numbers in a desire for more, but often times, with a little bit of abstact thinking, less actually is more.
So how are you proposing that we get to that "less equals more" philosophy.
I crunched numbers that showed historical growth. How are you going to magically reduce that growth and at the same time grow our economy? To me that is just nonsensical.
That might work for the people that already have all the money they will ever need, but it doesn't work for the poor and the middle class.
The city of Hickory powers that be need to work on learning how to define new opportunities and work professionally to bring those opportunities to fruition instead of just schmoozing with established business owners hoping they will toss out a bone. The planning and zoning department has an economic director to work specifically for Hickory. Less lunches and seminars in cool places to visit and more brainwork and productive research is needed.
Time to start now finding people to run for office that can get the kind of changes done more economic progressives or pragmatists, whichever term you like, would like to see. If we wait to woo those people, there won't be time to start a movement.
Anonymous,
Growth is inevitable in almost any viable city. Everytime there is a local high school or college graduation then those people have to find jobs and housing. Where do you expect them to live and work? At mom and dad's house forever?
We have to keep up with the population growth. We have to provide better education opportunities, more housing,and more jobs for all the people.
Yes, with growth comes some negatives that we must deal with but that is the way it is. The alternative is that our children and grandchildren must move away from us to a place that is growing and developing. That is not good for the family structure or the economy either. We can either embrace growth and provide jobs for our young people or we our cities will die a slow death like the cities which surround the steel mills and auto industries. When people start fleeing cities because of a dying economy then our real estate prices drop as well. A house you paid $200,000 for is suddenly worth only $100,000and you can't give it away. If people do not have jobs and can't pay a mortgage then they are not going to buy a house in a city where they can't even get a job.
We have to grow and plan for it well in advance that is unless you and others against growth are going to take in all those graduating seniors and provide them with jobs and places to live.
People who are against growth can always move to towns like Flint, Michigan, Youngstown, Ohio or some other dead end area.
Post a Comment