Foothills Digest - Fox & Hound Article - Spring 2018

This is the 3rd Fox and Hound Article from the Foothills Digest. It is the second article in which I collaborated with Gabriel Sherwood. The topic is about Developing a "Vision" for our community. Creating a Vision is essentially the initial process in developing the objectives of an Economic Development plan.

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In Spring, hope springs eternal. There is a fresh optimism that the new growth around us will lead to abundance and prosperity. It seems we see a disconnect all around us, when we have so much to offer one another. Older people have wisdom that younger people need as they follow in the footsteps down life’s path. The younger folks bring the freshness and energy needed to continue building upon the structure of society. The goal of mankind should be to make this place better. We all have to work together to make that happen. We need to appreciate one another. We need to understand one another. We need to connect.


(The Hickory Hound: Thom Shell Intro)
My goal in discussing this Fox and Hound material is dedicated to a thread associated with Economic Growth. The initial discussion related to my thoughts about our area’s need for a comprehensive Economic Development plan. I talked about a plan defined by transparency, accountability, and establishing benchmarks that helps build trust with the citizens.

The next discussion, I addressed “Vision” for our area, trying to relate that we need to change how we view communities in the big picture. Our region, rural in nature, will succeed better by relating ourselves not as Smalltown Americana, but as several small to mid-sized communities interconnected through similar, mutual interests having a population of over a half a million people.

Now, I want to talk about aligning with the marketplace. In my opinion, there is somewhat of a disconnect between what currently defines the communities of our region and where communities with robust economic circumstances stand.

What constitutes the modern marketplace? 1) The Marketplace is the everyday world of trade and/or economic activity. 2) The Marketplace is where intangible values compete for acceptance; as in the marketplace of ideas. 3) The Marketplace is the interpreter of supply and demand equilibrium.

Marketplaces are constantly changing. The Modern Marketplace isn’t the formal infrastructure where people gather for trade, as it could be interpreted in days gone by. In fact the internet has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that concrete, mortar, and steel aren’t necessary. In the Modern Marketplace, you still must have human engagement, at some level, to have a market.

Whether it is an individual, company, or community, an economic participant cannot grow effectively and efficiently, if it isn’t fully connected and engaged with the marketplace. You must constantly engage your customers to understand their needs (demand). If those who you are looking to attract don’t perceive value in your product, then you will lose them to competent competitors.

Growth comes from customer demand. Demand is understood by discovering a customer’s unmet needs. Current purchases don’t necessarily reflect future opportunity. Recognizing your current position in the marketplace requires you to understand the frustrations, attitudes, and unmet needs in the market. Proactively, you must develop your organization, products, and priorities keying on customer engagement to meet customer needs and resolve frustrations.

As an example, I have been to various community meetings and events where public officials painted the rosiest of rosy scenarios about where their community stands economically, socially, and culturally; in other words, the community’s position in the marketplace. I get it, this comes part in parcel with leadership, status, and how one justifies their authority, but it does not necessarily correlate to economic reality. It does not necessarily correlate to economic success. Remember what I told you in my “Vision” article, “Economic growth correlates to quality of life.”

There is a disconnect between area leadership and their understanding of the younger generations in the community. Community leadership is mostly of the Baby Boom generation. We are told about all of the community activities we have to offer and I can’t disagree. We are also told that younger people (think Millennials) say there isn’t much to do and that is why they go to Charlotte, Asheville, Raleigh, etc. for excursions.

We look at the statistics and see the obvious loss (and lack of engagement) of the younger population in our community through this generation, while tellin’ everyone “nuthin’ could be fin-ah than this part of Carolina.” To me it’s obvious, if we want to attract younger folks, we’ve got to find out what they need and start addressing the problem.


(The Fox: Gabriel Sherwood Intro)
Agreed. There is a disconnect between the older population here and the younger generations, largely in conceptualization regarding the changing realities of our economy in relation to memories of a much different time. When you ask those neighbors of ours in that content age range and demographic, they are often less likely to support strong minimum wage mandates. I don’t assume folks didn’t work hard to gain their successes, I only ask the older generations to realize they may have been starting from a different spot. Not saying folks haven’t experienced hardships, but the cost of the education that fueled much of their success was substantially lower than our students face today. There is also the compensation non-college educated folks are getting now as compared to then, and that is a huge issue on this topic.

When I hear of the marketplace I think of buying power, and that leads me to consider wages. One thing that makes younger folks leave are wages and lack of opportunity for increases. I waited tables for years here, while at CVCC and making 2.13 per hour plus tips, and more than once have gone home with 20 bucks or less. Because I was a single parent, there were also nights a plenty when I paid to work. I served at one place where a chef who prepared meals for our wealthiest neighbors, while struggling with tooth pain and other issues due to no insurance, could barely support his family.

Had I not lived in Public Housing while getting an education it would not have been enough to maintain my family, and it certainly wasn’t enough to be upwardly mobile. I know at least five people that left because our service economy here didn’t pay enough to service their bills or maintain them while they tried to stay, all of them mid to late 20’s in age. If one reads the review sites and looks up Hickory we can taut a great lineup of corporate salaries with an average just above 41 thousand. Great tech and logistics companies, lots of manufacturing , and our medical industry that is quite developed for a city our size... but jobs for those younger folks don’t keep them around if they don’t pay living wages. I have multiple friends who weren’t college bound and wanted to work, and their options for hourly wages are better in the larger cities.

We do have some of the jobs to attract Hipsters, and a culture burgeoning to do so as well, and we are better for it. But, the average young person needs a market that is accessible. That’s both in a physical nature and about our lack of a strong public transportation system, and in the income disparities around us that keep some of us looking for ways out. Access is key to engagement. If we don’t give younger people jobs to pay their bills and ways to get them there without each person parking a car on the street, we aren’t offering the kind of access the average will stay for.

A strong push towards a living wage for our area would not only help those here, but show others that we are concerned not only with jobs, but that those jobs can lift our citizens access to all marketplaces. Of course, there are bills in the NC General Assembly that increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021, but HB2 a couple years ago also had the effect of freezing local minimum wage increases. A push against that law may be required, because frankly...we don’t want to wait another three or four years to start offering a living wage, and that’s assuming either bill passes the NCGA for a governor to sign.



Thom Question and Gabriel response
Gabriel, besides raising the minimum wage and social issues, economically speaking, what can we do to wake our area more attractive to the younger folks?

Well, and I have mentioned this once before, we need young tradespeople ‘round here. I work with a growing plumbing company that wants to expand into total home services and the people just aren’t here to fill the jobs. CVCC is going to have a free hall soon, so why not try for plumbing, HVAC, and electrician training courses? Then internships with locals looking for young and trainable tradespeople. We can also make a statement if we focus on recruiting female tradespeople, because we have a lot of interest around here.

Also, how about entrepreneurial incentives and guaranteed startup loans at lower rates for entrepreneurs that stay here after graduating CVCC or LR? When folks have some ownership in an area, they stay and build things. Perhaps an organization dedicated to supporting not only new young business owners, but also a plan that could solve two problems at once. We could treat our empty buildings like the discount travel sites treat empty hotel rooms, and rather than have them sit there empty...allow legitimate businesses the opportunity to rent to own at a low rate. This could allow businesses on the verge of expansion the opportunity to grow with a bit of a financial safety net

There are a couple of warehouses around town that we would take and start using immediately if it were not for the process of purchasing and investing in upgrades, because we know many of them will need other investments. This is restrictive to companies that can afford to purchase, but not to invest, or the other way around. If businesses on the verge of growth could move in, and increase to a financed loan after a time, that would offer a grace period and get the buildings occupied. These ideas would take investment from established businesses and local government.. .but when we raise the water level, our pond gets bigger and more folks can fit in it.

What do you think about raising the investment expectation our business community should make in our citizenry? It won’t be easy, progress often isn't. but it’s one way to show we care about a lot of our younger folks around here who have seemingly been left behind by the success of precious generations.


(Thom response to Gabriel)
Yes Gabriel, there is a disconnect and lack of understanding about a lot of things these days. When it comes to these issues, I’m just not into the label thing and can’t keep up with all the categories. Economically speaking, I know I’ve heard many of the folks that have moved into our area talk about the low cost of living as a major reason why they moved here. It’s inexpensive compared to larger metropolitan areas. They’ll flat out tell you they also like the lack of hustle and bustle of those larger cities. But folks, hustle and bustle is the result of economic commerce.

There is a flip side to that equation that our older newcomers many times fail to recognize. That inexpensive cost of living many times comes at the expense of those trying to earn a living.

Truly, I understand your angst about wanting to have the minimum wage become a living wage. In my background profession (Restaurant/Hospitality), we employees many times aren’t getting fairly compensated for the skills we acquire. There isn’t much difference between the pay of an entry level restaurant employee and someone with decades of experience.

I just don’t think we get to better compensation levels with artificial wage constructs; higher minimum wage mandates lead to less help being hired, more workload for each worker, frazzled brains, frazzled nerves, mistakes, lower quality services and products, and burn out as you attempt to do more and more work with less and less help. Personally, I understand the need for a minimum wage, but at some point that minimum wage can rise to become more of a hindrance than a help. It can rise to the point where entry level workers don’t get hired and also keeps the experienced workers from getting the merit based pay raises they deserve.

What I think will help wages is a better business environment. More people able and willing to open businesses will lead to competition. Competition between businesses leads to innovation, when fulfilling the needs of the marketplace. Competition for labor will lead to higher wages. We had hustle and bustle, in this community in the 1990s, with the internet revolution spurring worldwide fiber-optic infrastructure layout. Our fiber-optic boom created the highest employment level in our community’s history and led to the highest wages and wage growth we’ve ever seen.

Yes, government can do things to better facilitate an economic growth environment, such as creating “Business Improvement Districts” and facilitating microfinance mechanisms. This helps those who don’t have the financial capability get innovative ideas/products/services off the ground. I just don’t think government will solve all the issues with the marketplace. People and their needs create the marketplace.