Here is a link of investments made by the City of Hickory in "Downtown Hickory" since 2002.
I got these numbers by reading the minutes of City Council meetings published online. These grants were approved in the consent agenda or directly approved by vote during City Council meetings.
By looking at the numbers, we can see that the vast majority of these grants and studies were done for the benefit of the area in the immediate vicinity of Union Square. 41 of 47 of these grants (87.2%) have been made within 4 blocks of the geographic center of the city.
55.3% of the total number of downtown grants were awarded to these City Center Private Businesses and the dollar amount totaled 23.3% of all downtown grants. The use of these grants included; replacing doors and/or windows, renovating facades, demolition, replacing awnings, landscaping, parking, and painting.
There has also been hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been directly allocated to the Hickory Downtown Development Association.
In the Hounds Opinion :
These numbers show a lack of singular purpose. It seems that people are just flailing away in the dark trying to make downtown work, but the equation just doesn't make sense. Come on, this darkness is self-imposed. Everyone that has lived here for the last 20 years knows what the problems are. We don't need more studies. Consultants have told city officials what needs to be done and it has been conveniently ignored, because it doesn't fit certain people's agenda.
An example? Consultants said that we needed more 4 hour parking downtown in 2002 (council meeting of June 16, 2002) and yet it was insignificantly addressed at the time. Guess what? It was reintroduced in the Catawba Valley Neighbor's article a month ago. The vast majority of the time it wouldn't matter if you allowed people to have extended parking times. Someone down there doesn't realize that having customers (and not running them off) is important to having a viable commercial area.
The tenants want Valley Hills Mall type revenues, but they want the bargain basement lease rates that they pay to operate on and around Union Square. They would never stand for paying half of what Valley Hills Mall tenants pay. Here in lies one of the major issues, because low rent equals low profit for property owners and thus low reinvestment in that property. You don't get something for nothing; cheap begets cheap.
A successful major retail anchor tenant would necessitate a complete change in the existing infrastructure (and philosophy) of the downtown area. Having more customers would lead to more revenues, but it would also mean more traffic on existing downtown streets and surrounding neighborhoods.. Would the Oakwood neighborhood stand for this?
It is my opinion, that the current cabal that runs downtown would not stand for a more robust downtown area and the traffic that would bring. These are the same people that so adamently opposed Lowe's Home Improvement on Hwy 127 and they did everything in their power to stifle the progress of the 127 corridor. Look at the minutes of the City Council meeting on November 16, 2004. The people that were opposed to that development are the same people that are heavily involved in the Hickory Downtown Development Association. No wonder our downtown is such a mess!
It is our opinion that these grants to private entities need to end. What is the citizenry getting out of this commercial welfare? For one of these $5,000 grants, the city could be obtaining close to $100,000 in funding, by using that money to pay for interest on the issuance of bonds. That would be more beneficial to our city. Grant money should be going towards creating commerce (and jobs), not towards beautification projects that create nothing. These grants are arbitrary and thus unfair. If the city is going to give certain businesses $5,000 for renovation, then they should give every business $5,000 for renovation.
The Hound's braintrust have some ideas on how to give downtown a new purpose, but we aren't going to propose these ideas yet, because we feel that people with a vested interest in downtown's current circumstances will not allow this vision to be properly vetted. Hickoryites are going to have to say, "No More!"
Union Square may be the geographic city center of old Hickory and historically it deserves to have a purpose, but we all know that it is no longer the economic center of this city. We don't need to force a square peg into a round hole by needlessly trying to return to the days of yesteryear. Nostalgia is great to dream of, but it becomes a burden on our economy by trying to implement a 1960s mentality into a 2010 world.
It is time that we move forward. There are issues in this city that have needed to be addressed for years. It is time to start developing the city as a whole. It is time to quit neglecting the rest of Hickory just to humor a few merchants in downtown Hickory. It isn't fair, it isn't just, and it isn't right.
