Houndvision: Let's take a Drive through Southwest Downtown

We will start out on the Northwest side of Downtown right at Union Square and drive through the Union Square parking area, which is dead at 5pm. I can understand closing at night on Sundays, but it is my opinion that this is a lost opportunity to make thousands of dollars. Small businesses cannot afford to throw away such opportunities, especially when Valley Hills mall is conveniently open a few miles away.

It is the right of these business owners to be closed, but it hurts the entire area. I saw that Josh's was open and the Tap Room was open. Those restaurants would do more business with those stores open on Sunday and those businesses could feed off of those restaurants being open after Church and early in the evening on Sunday.

Does it make sense that these businesses are open when most people are working and closed when most of the people are off of work?



The second video follows the trek back from 10th st pl SW between First Ave and Main Ave SW where one can see the blight in full. One can see the Piedmont Wagon wasting away in the foreground on the Northwest side of the tracks. What we see currently is a concrete canyon of blighted warehouses wasting away. We end up back on 5th st SW. To the left is a little garage that used to be a gas station, to the immediate right is Scott Matthews Law Office and I believe he has upgraded that property, at the 2 o'clock position you will see what was Hair USA and later Details, and in the foreground you will see 1859 Cafe.

I decided to take a right and go to the former parking lot of Ego's and Page One, where we now see graffiti, rubble, and dilapidation. Here we also see the 2nd Harvest Food Bank. 2nd harvest serves an excellent mission, but does it belong in a building so close to the heart of the city and are any of these buildings Economic Generators? If you ask me, we have seen negative momentum and Economic Degeneration created on this side of town!!!



The third video is, in my opinion, a metaphor of what this city has been all about. Everyone talks about appearances, but people need to look under the surface and see what is going on under that facade of green grass. This type of symbolism over substance has led this city to where it is today. Look under the surface people and you'll find out what is really going on. You need to embrace the level of discomfort that these sights bring. That is what will help us get these vital areas back on track. This property is next to 1859 Cafe. 1859 is my Aunt Jane Moore's business, but this property belongs to Alex Lee. I have mentioned this to city officials several times over the years, but it never gets taken care of. My Aunt has had this area cleaned up several times over the years, but indigents keep coming back and piling up refuse again and again and again. Look at the film and tell me what you think.



The Hound doesn't want to tell Property Owners what to do with their property. In years past, when business was thriving in those areas, no one understood the implications of the chemicals that were being used. Now we do understand and it is time to find out just what kinds of chemical contamination are on these sites and are any of these warehouses still storing toxic chemicals. I understand that Brownfield studies will help do some of this, but it isn't going to come into play until the building is on the market. Don't we need to understand the extent of this issue now?

I also want people to see where the arbitrary judgment of the issues comes into play. We hear all of the hoopla about the Buffalo's sinkhole, but what about what is shown in these little short films as far as the blight in Southwest Hickory? When are we going to see a sense of urgency come into play about these dilapidated buildings in the heart of our city? These short videos don't even scrape the tip of the iceberg.

I understand that these are tough economic times. Credit is hard to come by. But, in my opinion, we are not going to turn this city around until we start addressing the issues of blight in Southwest, Southeast, and the Industrial corridors of Hickory. Sorry I haven't perfected my video skills. I will get better, but anyway, I don't want you to take what I am saying for granted. One day, when you have time, please go check this out for yourself.


I thought it might be a good idea to add a map to show the route that was taken. I started out in front of the Embarq building (1) and drove through the Union Square Parking Lot. From there I crossed the tracks and proceeded west traveling down Main Ave until I got to 4th st SW. I took a left until I hit 1st ave SW. I took the right and drove to 9th st SW took a right and then a left back onto Main ave SW. I went to 10th st pl SW (2), before doubling back down Main St. I took a right on 5th st SW and then headed down 1st Ave to the Ego's - 2nd Harvest parking lot (3). From there I doubled back down main to 5th st and pulled across into the Alex Lee parking lot (4).

The driving distance from Union Square to 10th st Pl SW turns out to be .8 miles. Would you agree that this area should encompass what is referred to as Downtown?