In my opinion, there has been a general acceptance of the status quo that seems to be ingrained in the attitudes of the local citizenry. Here is one such comment I read on the HDR website from joshsnc,
"Interesting to read the comments, and how out of touch some are. I am not sure you really understand what the roll of Mayor is in a town like Hickory where you have Town Manager and other professional rolls in place. What does Mayor Wright have to do with our Federal Govts decisions which have killed our local economy? Blame NAFTA blame Unfair trade practices, blame the leadership over the past 50 years for allowing textiles and furniture to be our main industries but don't blame the Mayor... geeze.I have never said that the Mayor is this city's problem. What I have said is that he can and should do better. There has been an acceptance that we can't do better, because of external forces; that the State and Federal Governments hold all of the cards when it comes to our Economic Development and none of our plight is our current local government's fault. I cannot accept that conclusion.
Yes, I understand that we have a City Manager form of local government. Does that absolve the Mayor and City Council in the decision making process, when they interviewed and then hire City Manager Berry? Is he supposedly responsible for everything? Folks, you do understand that they always have the ability to fire him, don't you? So who is really in charge?
And guess who brings city issues forward and votes on them? The Mayor and the City Council. The only thing the City Manager (and staff) can do is recommend. City Manager Berry has no vote!!!
Our City Manager form of government basically gives the Mayor and Council cover. This puts the Mayor, Council, and City Manager in the position of protecting one anothers' interests and what we have seen, in my opinion, is our City Manager looking to please the Council and our Council waiting for Manager Berry to lead the way -- this after they ran off City Manager McGee, because he was McDonald's boy.
I hold no animosity towards the Mayor, when I say that I believe Hickory has been directionless for 8 years. These are revolutionary times we are living in and I just don't think the Mayor understands that. I think he, and most of the council, have a sense that they are vested in Hickory, but what they see as "Hickory" is the "Old Hickory" -- Textiles, Furniture, Mills, and Factories. Maybe it is a generational issue, but I don't sense that they can envision the new era that this world demands that Hickory move into.
Our Mayor is an Accountant. Accountants are by nature "Bean Counters," living in a world of Debits and Credits, pluses and minuses, zero-sum... Accountants don't typically grasp compounding interest, exponential growth, or present and future value of assets like Finance Managers have to. We are living in times of exponential change. "Old Hickory" was developed with a structure of simple bookkeeping in simple ledgers with a simple business model. An era of modern global industry demands much more than that.
I think our mayor in many ways has been a metaphor for "Old Hickory." He's a Baby Boomer as are most of our "Old Hickory" citizens. He is headed towards retirement, so he seems to be primarily focused on AARP issues, which is understandable. He is pretty much settled in life and I think he is comfortable with who he is, which is a good thing.
"New Hickory" is represented by people who are struggling to find themselves and their identity in a world that no longer has a road map, while trying to break free from the constraints placed on it by the interests of "Old Hickory." "New Hickory" wants to join in with this new world's "Era of the Technologists," and is willing to take more chances and be more creative, but "Old Hickory" is worried about what they construe to be risky ventures.
Both sides represent valid points of view, but "New Hickory" has much more at stake in this adventure, because their future (THE FUTURE) is imperiled. What we need to see is the reality of all of Hickory coming together. "New Hickory" seems to be expected to create their own path to the decision making process. "Old Hickory" does not seem to understand that we have to encourage participation and start grooming the future leaders of this city. Rudy, Sally, Bruce, and Anne can't stay on the Council forever. What is expected, that we stuff'em? (Just kidding, sort of)
I think that "Old Hickory" has always been obsessed with issues of Authoritarian Control and the people of this city were accustomed to being told exactly what to do. I remember the old days of hearing all of the whistles going off during the day at Hickory Chair. People were basically trained when to wake up, toilet, shower, shave, arrive, break, lunch, break, go home, and do it all again tomorrow. The "Powers That Be" made all of the decisions and the citizens were basically told not to worry themselves with details. That arrangement worked fine in the days of Bean Counting and Mass Production, but those days have long since passed. Yet, many of our leaders and citizens are systemically attached to those old ways.
We have to change. It used to be no big deal for teenagers to quit school and go work in a factory. To his credit, Mayor Wright has stressed the need for an educated citizenry and he has railed against the drop-out problem that is now a dead weight burdening our community. The drop out condition was for years fostered by Factories in "Old Hickory," who benefited from the resource of low skilled, yet hard working, labor. What we do with this issue over the next several years will be crucial when it comes to our community's success or failure.
The big question is, what do we do during this period of transformation to bridge the divide between Hickory's old and new foundations? The answer is definitely not to throw your hands up in the air and say, "We have no control over our economic condition. It's all Washington and Raleigh's fault." That is the easy way out and what does it accomplish?
Time is of the essence and we can't afford "Four more years of no control" and what I mean is guidance. I think our local leaders get lost in issues of control. When they think of control, they think of that "Old Hickory" type of control of training humans like Pavlov's dog. That is the antithesis of what is needed. We need people who are self-motivated and self-disciplined. "Old Hickory" does not motivate people, it dominates them.
So if the Mayor reads this, I hope that he gains a little more insight into where I am coming from. His being the leader of this community needs to go beyond politics. There are things that he should be appreciated for, like championing education and fostering the attitude that city finances be kept in good order. To those I say Bravo.
Why was Rudy Wright elected Mayor of Hickory? Because he has Southern Charm and people don't perceive him to be a big businessman. The people around here dislike "Old Hickory" big businessmen, because they were looked at as domineering masters and they don't like developers, because they were taught "they are con men" by the "Powers that Be." People see Mayor Wright as being a small businessman, who owns a small sign shop company. They like the fact that he remembers their name and cares about their personal being. He has an excellent personal touch. He is also a good campaigner who sticks to a couple of boilerplate issues and keeps up with current events.
Is this good for our future? No, we have to have someone to move passed campaigning and understand that we are in revolutionary times that require a visionary who does not look at the "here and now" as a static event, but realizes that dynamics have played out and are going to have a direct impact on the future. Consistent (versus arbitrary) decision making leads to a more predictable future, because it reduces the variables in play. When that happens, then the players (developers and business owners) are more willing to play, because they don't feel like the ref is going to play a role in the final outcome (ie - the local government isn't going to cost me a lot of money because of poor decision making, cronyism, fraud, or they just don't like me).
Can Rudy still make it happen? Certainly, but he's got to look at life as though he is still trying to make it, instead of already having made it. He can't only look through a personal politicos prism. This can't be about ego. We have to have opportunity for everyone in this community. Mayor Wright has this thing where he talks about investments as Yes, No, Maybe Later. That is great for today, but Mr. Mayor what are you going to hand off when you finally do leave office. That needs to be your Vision, not how do we get through this day. We may as well give up, if there is no hope or opportunity in our future.
The Hound Believes that the citizens of this city have taken on a lot of the characteristics of this Mayor (or is it the other way around). Everyday I hear people railing over mindless current events that don't personally effect us, while we have real issues with out of control crime hitting real close to home right here in Hickory. People crying about how restaurants are robbing them (too expensive), while the city pays a lobbyist $50,000 for nothing fruitful and $50,000 and other amenities to a Downtown Development Association that has no quantitative goals or accountability. People going crazy about Backroom deals, in Washington and Raleigh, while the same appears to have been frequently happening in Council Chambers.
Yes sir, I have said it before and I will say it again. We the People are the government and if we don't start demanding results, then we will see none. If we don't expect openness, then we shouldn't cry when the surprise hits the fan. We all have to work together to create hope for the future. The Mayor and Council have to play a role in getting this community to buy-in to that future. Everyone should feel welcomed at city functions and city leaders shouldn't be giving people that "What are you doing here?" look.
Business as usual is a cancer in this community. Everyone better start investing more time, energy, and money in the future or that future is going to be a certain disaster. None of us should have to be burdened with the prospects of a Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda Future. To avoid those negative consequences, we must seize this opportunity to transform our city and create a Can Do, Shall Do, Will Do Culture.
4 comments:
Wow. Great post Thom, very well thought-out and thorough. Thanks for all your hard work keeping us inspired, educated, and committed to the political process in our city.
Terrific. The argument can be made, however, that Mayor Wright has been selected, elected, and maintained in office because he is doing just what the majority of Hickory citizens want him to do. Nevertheless, your concluding remarks hit the nail on the head. The solution to the challenges facing the city requires the inclusive involvement of as many Hickory citizens as possible.
How many people voted in the last Mayoral Race between Mayor Wright and Jay Adams? I have heard that it was somewhere in the vicinity of 6,000.
There were around approximately 40,000 people living in Hickory proper at that time. I would estimate that out of that many people, that around 30,000 people could be eligible to vote. That means 20% of those people actually voted and that at most 12% of those that could be eligible actually voted for Mayor Wright.
So we can extrapolate that basically 88% of the people that could qualify to vote a) didn't vote for Mayor Wright b) have not been engaged c) feel disenfranchised and/or d)could care less about any of this. That is hardly a ringing endorsement of the leadership of this community and nowhere near a majority.
I understand that the electoral process is what it is, but it begs the question. Can the process be deemed to be legitimate when so few people participate?
I think this shows the mindset of the Mayor and City well. Too many are passive and want someone else to do the work and take the risks. Most of the folks I talk to want a secure job and good economy but they want the structure provided for them. We need to work more creatively as individuals and as a community. Change is happening too fast to just hope a company or two locating here will do the job.
As far as the numbers of voters is concerned, it's sad that more don't participate or speak up. The mayor is legitimate but it speaks poorly of the citizenry. Apathy just lets the power hungry take care of their own interests and forget about the average person.
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