Approval , George Ivey and Ridgeview to Alleviate Existing Safety Concerns and Liability Issues - Upon a recommendation from the Parks and Recreation Commission, City Council recently decided that the City should pursue alternative avenues of aquatic activities. Staff now recommends that the City take the appropriate action to remedy the existing safety concerns and liability issues associated with these two vacated pools by decommissioning and permanently securing them. Parks and Recreation staff and Public Services staff have worked together to develop a plan to permanently remedy all safety concerns and liability issues associated with these pools. This work will include the removal of pool infrastructure and filling in the ensuing void. All work will be performed inhouse, with each pool taking approximately one week for completion.
Mayor Pro Tempore Alderman Brad Lail lays the ground rules for Public Address of Council and City Manager Mick Berry gives the reasons for decommissioning the pools. Karen Hoyle addresses Council about City officials dividing the city.
Walter Witherspoon - I'm sick of it! The people need to work on solutions and not put trust and faith in the council. The council is not listening. Why have the surveys and charrettes, if you aren't going to follow through? What about the rule of law. This was not one of the six options. This is a new agenda.
Jimmy Davis - A summary of how we got to where we are now. The pools weren't maintained and the council is going against their own words and actions.
Larry Pope - The city has not lived up to it's commitments. If you won't listen to the taxpayers, then you need to resign. There are a lot of conflicts of interest on this council. Larry raises cain at the 4:19 mark. Sam Hunt gets sentimental about what the Ridgeview pool means to him. Thom Shell (Me) The race to the bottom. We aren't striving for excellence. When people show pride we take it away from them! We need to work together as a city.
Final Comments: Billy Sudderth about the cancellation and later movement of Kwanzaa from the Ridgeview Community Center. We are powerless. This should not have taken place. A Ms. McNeur (sp?) - Council member stated that she wasn't very smart if she threw her lot in with Ridgeview. Ridgeview and west Hickory are the two largest neighborhoods in Hickory and are the two poorest socio-economically. Patricia Wilson Johnson spoke about how the city has taken things away and not replaced it with anything. How can we be great, if our community isn't great. We want to bring people into the community, but first we need to take care of those here.
The Council voted Unanimously to approve the motion to Decommission and Permanently Secure Both Pools. Several people stormed out of council chambers shouting No Justice No Peace.
The Hound hopes that this is the wake-up call and education that people need to understand how our local government is working (or isn't). It is hard for me to believe that the good people of this community and the vast majority of those within local government can support this type of governance. I guess it is all about the paycheck. Will the regular people in this community ever have a say in how the city is governed, instead of this Boss Hogg crapfest!
My heart just cannot believe what my brain has taken in over the last several years. How can you run a government this way. I have been told by members of the Ridgeview community that no one contacted them to let them know that this issue was being worked on, much less decided upon. There is no way that this item should have ever been placed on the consent agenda. It shows that members in the Whitener building have a total lack of respect for the people in the less well-to-do sections of Hickory, but I am alright with this, because this lays it all out there for everyone to see. They believe the people of this city are their subjects.
Do you remember when the forces aligned on the Lowe's Home Improvement project issue. Alder Fox was vehemently opposed to the construction of that business, as was the Mayor in the beginning, and Alder Patton came to office because of the position that she took on that issue. Those political forces that aligned in that instance created a power struggle, which changed the makeup of the city council to where it is today. I am not pointing to this as a way of chastising anyone. I am pointing to this, because I want you to see that these sorts of forces of action do have consequences.`
People said that John Watts did not listen to the will of the people and he lost in a landslide, because people rallied around how that process formed and was executed. If John Watts had communicated with the public better about that issue, then he is probably still on council today. Many say that he turned a deaf ear towards concerned citizens, especially those from his ward. It does not matter, what we have seen in the subsequent years, and how that project has uplifted the area. In the end John Watts was right about that project and the positive effects it would have on the economic development of that area. What cost John Watts was the fact that he did not communicate well with the people of his ward or the people of the city of Hickory in general.
What comes around goes around. The people on the Council still have not learned that lesson. They refuse to listen to the people. It is a shame that the person who benefited most from that lesson seems to have no clue about this or has she forgotten? It is not only that the council refuses to listen to the people, because sometimes that is a necessity with leadership. The problem is that they have refused to communicate with the people over this issue. Who formed the charrettes and the surveys? Who directed city funds, and those supposedly sacred tax dollars, towards the implementation of these directives?
If I am the shareholder of a company that has wasted this sort of money on, and this much time on, a charade, then I would want everyone involved in this fiasco fired; no compromises, no ifs, no ands, no buts.... It is time that people express their loss of confidence in the leadership of this community's leaders, because there is none. They think the city's government is their toy to use and abuse as they see fit. This is not high school. This is not some kind of popularity contest. This is a results oriented business, and we have not seen any results for a long, long time.
What we're seeing is the race to the bottom with a City Manager, Mayor, and City Council with their foot to the floor board. They are always talking about "Quality of Life." Just whose quality of life are they referring to?
As I have shown you on this blog. We are ranked in the bottom 10% by just about every analytical survey done by national entities. The Gallup-Healthway survey that was released a couple of months ago ranked the Hickory Metro area with the lowest well being in the United States in most categories, that they studied. This study included 185 metropolitan areas throughout the nation. The Milken Institute ranked Hickory as the 197th best place to do business in the United States and Forbes magazine ranks the area as the 179th best place for business and careers. What does this say about what has been going on around here. Where is the sense of urgency?
It is not the average person who should be facing the consequences of this ineptitude. It is shameful to see the level of hubris related to our local governance and leadership (or lack there of). The people who should be facing the consequences are the people who have made the decisions that led us to this point. Yet, it is the poor people who keep getting less and less. We're told that the city is doing what it is supposed to do. The garbage is getting picked up, fires are being put out, and police are responding to calls. With this race to the bottom, how long will it be until our city leaders look to justify not providing city services to the South side of the tracks.
You say that is impossible. What if we got into a time machine and went back to 1995 and told the people of Ridgeview that by 2009 there would be no pool. This would have occurred after assurances several times in the early 90s that there would be an upgrade to the pool and/or a new pool was on the way. Would they not have thought this current situation was impossible then? I wouldn't put anything past what I have seen from this crew!
It is really getting old, and it is obvious that people just don't get it. We're always applying for some superfluous award like All-American city, Tennis Town USA, or something else that doesn't amount to a hill of beans. I don't care about plaques or trophies or photo ops. When we will know that the city is turning around is when one of these national surveys show us climbing the ladder and making real progress. These surveys lay a road map for what we need to do and number one on that list is to invest in your community's people.
The latest embarrassment of surveys was provided by Portfolio.com (Yeah, I knew about that one too). It ranks us as the 193rd out of 200 brainyist cities- Here is the PDF Link. Another notch in the belt. And the people at the top continue tinkling, because they won't admit that we need to invest in the people in our area in order to get out of this predicament, because that costs money. That is the Audacity of Ignorance. Cheap begets Cheap!
Let these pools serve as a reminder and a metaphor of the Old South style of culture that has brought us to this point, "As long as my clubs open, screw you. (Snap, Snap)Hey Johnny go fetch me another sweet tea."
Our city leaders don't want to work with anybody, unless it serves their personal interests. The people that used the pools and the kids, who would've had the opportunity to use those pools, will go by them every day and the story will be told, and the story will be spread. We all know that this is not over. This could have shown how a city can come together and do what is in the best interest for everyone from all walks of life. Instead this issue will continue to divide this community and those railroad tracks that run through the center of our city will continue to show the extreme disparity between the haves and have-nots in our community.
I really feel sorry to think of the legacy of the people who originally built Hickory. What was once a thriving and prosperous community will continue to head towards nothing unless we turn the corner very soon and it might already be too late. People who don't get it never will get it! No Justice, No Peace!
Stop the Demolitions of Our Pools - The Citizens for Equity in Government is sponsoring a Demonstration and Picketing at the City of Hickory’s Government Center 76 North Center Street, on Tuesday December 28,2010 from 7:30 – 9:30am. Please support our efforts.
Contact : Billy Sudderth (828-308-4669)
Why We Must Act! - Citizens for Equity in Government
Newsletter about the City Council meeting of November 16, 2010 - Addendum on the Hickory City PoolsCity Pools issue displays Local Officials' Myopic Views
REBUILDING & EMPOWERING FROM THE BOTTOM UP -- Citizens for Equity in Government
Citizens Of Ridgeview address the City Council about the City Pools Issue
Newsletter about the City Council meeting of July 20, 2010 - Addendum on the Hickory City PoolsMore than Pools
Hickory City Pools -- Told You So 8)
Continuing the Rant - The City of Hickory's Budget
Newsletter about the City Council meeting of June 15, 2010
Newsletter about the City Council meeting of May 4, 2010
HDR Editorial - Hickory council needs a member with vision
The City Council Candidate Forum Last Night - 10/29/2009 - (Audio Available)
From the Hickory Daily Record - Election issues discussed at forum
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2 comments:
What we have is a farce posing as democracy. The City had no intention of listening and following the citizens on this. The plan was determined and the meetings and surveys were a waste of time and money. The Mayor stated on the radio that the people didn't really understand the liability issues and the high costs to serve a small number of people. If that's true then why not just say so and not lead people to believe their views count?
The citizens of Hickory in general and Ridgeview in particular want pools and have pointed out the lack of programs, poor maintenance, failure to apply for grants and other issues that concern the usage of the pools. My belief is that the citizens of Hickory would use the pools and not just continue to crowd the YMCA's pool.
As bad as Council and Manager Berry's handling has been on this issue, it's only fair to point out that this past City election did not attract any challenge to Mayor Wright and Alder Fox, only 8.5% of the electorate voted, and only 77 voters showed up from Ridgeview. This, coupled with a weak, feckless, local media shows that our local civic life is not good and it's not surprising that we are not progressing.
I wish I knew what would change the listless, apathetic attitudes around here and jolt us into demanding more.
LARRY G LARRY G LARRY G!!!!!!!!!!
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