For those who are considering homeownership, the suburbs have long represented a traditional notion of the American dream: From pleasant neighborhoods to well-kept lawns to gleaming picket fences, the ‘burbs have traditionally been depicted as a wholesome and desirable way of living. But in recent years our national love affair with the sprawl has suddenly begun to decline. The growth of suburban crime and poverty has taken its toll on the neighborhood residents, but there are other factors at work, too. Studies show that people are steadily less inclined to own cars, and they instead crave the easy convenience of reliable public transport. The national population of children is declining, and young, childless couples are taking advantage of what the city life has to offer. Businesses are widely opting out of setting up shop in suburban business parks, keeping offices—and jobs—relegated to urban areas. For many, buying homes is being eschewed in favor of renting—while the cost of urban renting has steadily increased, so has the desire for easy, city living without the risks and costs of homeownership. It seems that the neighborhoods that used to represent a classic American idealism are now being transformed slowly in a ghost town sprawl.
The following information was provided by Insurancequotes.org and sent by a researcher Allison Morris who helped create the graphic. You will find the graphic interesting and disturbing.
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6 comments:
This trend could be a positive for hickory in rebuilding blighted areas of town, if we can coordinate the public transportation, walkability (which is not good in many parts of town), mix of retail, restaurants, business and residential to create a truly nice urban lifestyle.
We are too car dependent here and it's an expensive form of transportation. An urban alternative could be eco friendly, smart land use, neighborly and attractive. Could be a good trend........
And this is the strategy that I think this Council has been implemeting. The same issues they have been advocating, rebuild, reuse. Where have you been Mr. Hound and Mr. Hipps? Hound is at every meeting but has his spin which doesn't reflect the real movement the City is moving towards.
Wait this is the Shell game (again). Now you are advocating what the Council has been moving towards for quite some time. Look the other way folks, the Hound is right-not Council!
Here is what I can do. I can either moderate or eliminate the comments section and people can send e-mails to hickoryhound@gmail.com, because what is written above is completely irrelevant.
Let me explain this to you even though I don't think you will ever get it. Freedom of Speech is the 1st Amendment of the Bill of Rights for a reason, because when the British occupied this nation as a colony they suppressed and subverted the words and the will of the people. Freedom of Speech is not dangerous. Bullying is dangerous.
I am tired of being told that I am tearing down this city, when all I am doing is trying to get every ward in this city representation on Council. If you want to see the people tearing down this city, then look at the people who have ignored the 1st and 2nd ave corridor and many areas of this community including much of Highland and St Stephens.
So since you can't give any more that two sentence quips, when I have spent hours explaining myself, and so few people leave comments anyway, then we'll see how this works since I am going to start moderating comments, instead of allowing you to have free rein and do to me what you claim I do to others, which is complete and utter BS.
So if you want to, come find me and say it to me, because I haven't said anything on here that I'm not afraid to say to anyone.
Anonymous, give me some specifics. What has council done to spur development? What strategy are you talking about? I'm willing to listen with an open mind to see where I've been wrong. Take all the space you need.
Have you seen the Brewery going in an old mill? (with City supplied incentives on the building and streetscapes)
Did you go downtown to experience the Sails/farmers market/music?
The City is running the airport with great reports from the pilots that I have spoken to (and often).
Just a few that pop into mind. I don't think you are willing to see what really goes on to make improvements but rather focus and report on everything that is not done to your satisfaction.
It is easy to be a Monday morning quarterback.
That is the reason why I enjoy this so much, because you prove the point that I am prepared and game day ready. While I don't take pleasure in being chastised by people who are asleep at the wheel. It comes along with having opinions and comments and not drowning myself in kool-aid. What is that stuff spiked with anyway?
Let's go over these one-by-one. Go to Google and type the words in for the links please.
***"Have you seen the Brewery going in an old mill? (with City supplied incentives on the building and streetscapes)"*** - The Hound had excellent comments about this earlier this year and commented on other web pages congratulating this move. And I spoke of rehabilitating this building all the way back in September 2009n when it was graffiti riddled and had broken windows all over it
***"Did you go downtown to experience the Sails/farmers market/music?"*** As much as y'all want to make the tent about the propaganda surrounding the finished product, which I'm sorry, I'm not as impressed with as y'all are, but it is what it is and it will be there for good as a reminder of the PROCESS. It was the ramrod process. That 9is what we have said all along and the fact that nothing surrounding that structure has been open. Maybe that is the way some people gear their lives. Many of us don't. We believe in openness when it comes to spending public monies and we believe that you don't pick winners and losers. And I totally disagree with what Rudy has said. I do see cronyism. The same type of cronyism we rail against happening in Washington and it happens right here in Hickory.
***"The City is running the airport with great reports from the pilots that I have spoken to (and often)."*** - Once again this is spin or you are completely unaware of the mismanagement of the Airport that occurred for several years before the City took it over. I spoke about this in an article back in 2010, in which two members of the Airport Task Force pointed to the problems that occurred due to the City's associations with Profile Aviation and Riverhawk Aviation. The City's mismanagement of this issue cost tax payers millions of dollars in lost revenue. And the city only took over the airport after Riverhawk was forced by a bankruptcy judge to relinquish control of the airport. All of that information is all over this blog. That isn't Monday Morning quarterbacking. That is trying to wake people up to reality. And I hope that pops (sparks) a few thoughts in your mind.
I admit I like being satisfied. I think most of us do.
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