HDR Editorial - Hickory council needs a member with vision

Hickory Daily Record Version Link - Hickory council needs a member with vision (It is the second article in their Your Voice section) - I think HDR did an excellent job on the edit. I have no problems with it. In my opinion, it doesn't take away from the context.

Why I think you should vote for Harry Hipps (The Unedited Version)

I am writing this message of endorsement for my friend Harry Hipps, who is running for Hickory City Council in Ward 6 this Tuesday. At a time like this, I truly believe that Harry would be the person who can transform the City Council and move that body in the direction it needs to go.

Many of you don't understand how important the role of Hickory's City Council is. Frankly, I don't think the people on the Council understand how crucial their role of governance is. This city needs some direction and these people are supposed to be our leaders. Instead, they have looked at this job as a position of status and not of governance. We need economic development, which will lead to jobs; instead we get awnings downtown and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on signs and logos, with very little citizen input. Have these issues made your life better?

When you speak to Mrs. Patton, you find out that she is a nice lady. She does attend community events and she does listen to people, but where has what she heard from the average citizen led to major action that will make them better off? She has not provided "the Voice" that she promised four years ago. Instead, she has fallen in line with the crowd of comfort on the City Council. Think of who amongst them really represents the needs of the average citizen of Hickory. She tells us about the Brownfields and Operation No Vacancy. What are those projects going to do now for those people who live within these blighted boundaries? They want them cleaned up NOW!!! And what is City Council doing to get these people back to work ASAP?

Harry Hipps has vision, he sees the big picture, he has goals, and he wants to build connections with everyone in this city - both rich and poor. He wants to get the city pools opened back up in Ridgeview and West Hickory to give those poor kids something to do to keep them out of trouble in the summer and he wants to clean up the blighted sections of Hickory NOW!!! He wants to update our infrastructure, so that we aren't continuing to fall behind in this modern world. He wants to make Hickory Small Business Friendly and develop connections with the State Commerce Department, so that we can make worldwide connections, and bring Hickory forward into the 21st century.

You see folks, we cannot continue to roll around in this uncomfortable malaise and pretend that everything will eventually be alright. Do you think it's alright? We need to shake up the status quo that resides on that Council and get them to understand that they are getting paid to work for all of the people of Hickory. It's time for some put up or shut up politics and I know that my friend is not afraid of the challenge. I hope that you will see fit to give him your vote in this election.

James Thomas Shell

***Below are the links to the articles about the City Council Forum that was held last Thursday, if you would like to listen to the different contexts of the individual candidates.

From the Hickory Hound - The City Council Candidate Forum Last Night - 10/29/2009 - (Audio Available)
From the Hickory Daily Record - Election issues discussed at forum