Mayor Wright - Hal Row - Young Professionals - Boards and Commissions

This is a continuation of the Mayor's interview with Hal Row from March 5, 2012. Part 1 was about Ward Specific Elections. After coming back from the second break Hal talks about the Hickory Young Professionals meeting that took place on February 22, 2012. This meeting entailed " interviewing the young professionals about a topic that has become a key priority and strategy as our county begins to develop a collaborative Competitiveness Plan for the future.  What needs to be done in order to attract and retain young professionals in Catawba County could very well be priority ONE."

Hal attended the meeting, which I think is awesome. Hal gets it. The Mayor never has and never will, because he has the blinders on with a narrow focus on what his personal developed mission was from years ago. To give some perspective, it has been a little over 3 years since I called into Hal's show and brought up the issue of losing our younger demographic. That was the first time this issue was brought to the attention of the area and a couple of months later Taylor Dellinger of the Western Piedmont Council of Governments comes out with data that drastically supports my contention and totally gives it credibility. 

After all of that and three years later, the mayor seems to have given no reassessment or reappraisal to the concerns surrounding this issue. It is all about full steam ahead, even if it means going over a cliff. And remember folks, he is conducting this locomotive and we are going along for the ride.

If you don't understand where I am coming from, then listen to the interview below. 

Hal brings up the issue of nightlife. Young professionals want to work hard and play hard. Hal states that Charlotte is an hour from here, but they work here. They should be able to stay here and spend their money here. The Mayor talks about gleaning ideas from other cities. Then he goes into a diatribe about Greenville not building any bars (or bar strips). They improved corners, mixed use, restaurants...

He talks about being an hour away from Charlotte if you want the concert scene.  "We Cannot Guarantee Concert Profitability." There's a reason why concerts go to Charlotte and Atlanta and places like that. We're not going to be able to land Elton John ...

Hal stated that they have done things in Greenville. The Mayor stated that they have done things to make it ambulatory. People don't want to walk 200 yards.  He says if this is done in Downtown Hickory (Union Square), he will hear from the merchants and everyone about the loss of parking. He talks about spending most of his career in Raleigh and Charlotte and parking 15 minutes away from his office is primo.

Hal asks an excellent question about whether the City Council is "Pro Entertainment" -  Bars and Restaurant. The mayor says they are against people putting up bars who have had past issues or might over serve people. They don't want people coming from hundreds of miles around to Hickory to come to bars, because they are here in Hickory. They have no qualms about neighborhood bars, but they are talking about entertainment venues and nightlife. Hal says it isn't fair to call them bars, because people are looking for a place to go have some fun and dance and mix and mingle.

The Mayor said he was married and had children and a mortgage. He wasn't a young professional long. He talked about penny poker and (backyard get togethers). He stated that he wasn't opposed to (nightlife) or people getting together traveling to underground Atlanta. He talks about our quality of life being different and superior. He talks about Jason Yates (Tap Room) providing a good venue at a reasonable cost.



In the final segment, the Mayor talks about young professionals and others getting involved in Hickory Boards and Commissions. He talks about getting plugged into the City. Think about going to Neighborhood College (Mandy Pitts 323-7412) or Citizen's Police Academy. He talks about the various Boards and Commissions. He says that now is the time to contact the City Clerk (Pam Tallent 323-7409) to get an application in.

The Hound is sorry that he has to address the states of reality and logic. When people have talked about entertainment in the area, they aren't talking about a neighborhood pub to shoot pool or throw darts. We already have that. So coming at it from that perspective is sophomoric. I know that we aren't against bars and clubs, since the Hound was the entity that stood up with resolve against the constrictive nature, intolerance, and arbitrariness that we saw demonstrated by most of the Council during the Drink Establishment Ordinance of 3+ years ago.

The Mayor has been observed not being against issues relating to businesses owned by people he has a connection with and I'll leave it at that.

When talking about concerts, we haven't talked about a 20,000 seat arena. We have talked about a 3,000 to 5,000 seat amphitheater. That should tell you that we are looking at mid tier acts and up and comers. Our metropolitan area is nearly as large as Asheville's and Asheville has many of the amenities that we are looking for and yet the Mayor is telling people to fill their tanks and head 75 miles west or 55 miles to Charlotte or 75 miles to Winston-Salem. When people do that they spend their disposable income in those places.

As Alan Jackson of the Business Development Committee stated tonight, we haven't taken advantage of our location. Why aren't we creating draws to attract people, their money, and their value to this community; which at the same time would be beneficial on a number of fronts to the people that live in this community.

The Mayor states that they can't guarantee concert profitability. Well, No ---- Sherlock. No one who is a true Capitalist or American has asked the City to guarantee anything. The City is only asked to be a facilitator and intermediary of discussions. These people who purport themselves to be Republicans in this area are embarrassing when they tell you about how they are for small government, while they tell you why businesses will fail, stand in the way of free enterprise by picking winners and losers, throwing bones to their buddies, and attempting to micro manage every facet of the community's social dynamic.

Then the Mayor talks about the various Boards and Commissions. The best of those positions are taken by family and friends of the Council, so that they can maintain the control of the output of those entities -- more of that good ole like mindedness. Then there is the fact that they many times go against the recommendations of those entities, if the outcome of their (the board or commission) efforts go against the wishes of the Mayor and the Council.

And let's remind you of what has happened recently when Cliff Moone followed the procedures in a 100% correct fashion and was given the run around because of politics.