Cloninger Mill Park - 2nd meeting - 2 Proposals - 1/15/2009

You can go back and read my excerpts from the first meeting that was held September 24, 2008 here (1st Cloninger Mill Park Meeting):

Mack McLeod of Parks and Recreation and Derek Williams and Jeff Ashbaugh of Site Solutions were once again present at this meeting. Mr. McLeod opened the meeting giving a topical overview of what had been laid out at the last meeting before handing the podium over to Mr. Williams.

Mr. Williams explained that there were 2 concepts. Both concepts value the trees on the 63 1/2 acre property. He stated that these trees are a true resource and provide a natural habitat for the wildlife in the area. Both plans tried to take advantage of the available sewer and electricity.

The trails for the Park will have to accommodate the natural stream and low lying area that run through the center of the property. The Hydrological features are part of the beauty of the property, but they represent flags to stay out of that area. There can be pedestrian bridges built as part of the trails. The creek naturally divides the site into an eastern and western area.

As far as the issues raised at the last meeting, they were addressed by Mr. Williams. Security will be handled by police patrols. The Police will drive through the parking lots and they will do bike patrols on the trails if there are signs that illegal activity may be taking place. A Park watch (such as a Neighborhood watch) may be formed. Site Solutions wants to maintain a natural buffer between the Park and Residential Developments in the area. Playgrounds, Parking Lots, and Picnic areas will be a 275 feet minimum from any residences. Trails will be 100 to 200 feet away from any residences. As far as the issue of Traffic Lights on Cloninger Mill Road, the Department of Transportation does not require one. The cost of one will be $140,000, which includes a $20,000 assessment from the NCDOT and $120,000 for the light itself.

Jeff Ashbaugh addressed the group next. He further went over the passive nature of the designs and what activities the park will probably encompass. It looks like the Park will include a Walking Trail on the East side of the Property, a Mountain Bike Trail on the west side of the property, 2 picnic areas consisting of 6 tables at each site, Exercise Stations, boardwalks, frisbee golf, and a scenic overlook at the north of the property viewing Lake Hickory.

The parking area on the west side of the property is pretty much settled on as being off of Cloninger Mill road, near the set aside commercial property. The issue comes with the east side parking access which will either be off of 43rd avenue or 9th street.

Here is the Picture as I remember the schematics: Cloninger Mill Park Pic

Many of the Neighborhood Residents don't want any parking access on the East side of the property. I would say that 75% of them made that clear, but the majority of those would accept the 9th street location if they had to make a decision. Many didn't care about the parking on the east side, but they would like to see the issue of more parking at the commercial site addressed. The vocal group, included one man with a British accent who repeated himself at least six times about the nature of the roads and the fact that people that don't live in that neighborhood would have a tough time navigating the roads.

A few people harped and bemoaned the fact that there will be a piece of commercial property attached to the land. This group included The City's Resident Curmudgeon Steve Ivester and his wife. They believe that there should be no commercial property attached to the land. As he put it, "In 100 years people will look back and ask why anyone attached a piece of commercial property to this land?"

The Hound can sympathize to a certain degree with the people that live in this neighborhood. Yes, it is going to change their neighborhoods to a certain degree, but I believe that it will be good change.

Please don't put your stock in with Steve Ivestor. He is against everything and doesn't care whether it is good for your neighborhood or not. He is against any and all progress. This park will increase the value of your homes. It will increase the security of your neighborhood. It will give you a place to walk your dog. It will give your children a safe place to play. It will help your health by giving you a place to exercise. It will turn a roughshod piece of land into a safe, well developed, scenic asset to your neighborhood. It will give you a true since of community.

For that gift to your neighborhood, all you have to do is accept that there will be a commercial piece of property on the opposite side of the property. That land, when it is sold, will be worth a few million dollars. That money will go to help develop this property and, as Mr. McLeod stated, another park in Hickory.

You should also allow parking spaces on the East end. Let's get real, the road isn't the obstacle course the British man made it out to be and your children are most likely not going to be playing in the streets any longer, if there is park access now available. The city will also accommodate your needs as far as traffic calming measures go, if the east access is allowed.

If you have speeders in that area now, then it isn't because of outsiders. It is because people in your area are racing up and down the roads. It sounds more like the naysayers don't want to have the intrusion down 9th st, because they don't want to slow down. That is truly sad.

The bottom line is that it sounds like you want the city to build a park where only your neighborhood gets access from the east side. You want city taxpayers to foot the whole bill for the park, because that is what would be necessary if the commercial property can't be sold. That isn't fair to city taxpayers, because the whole city will be expected to pay for this park, the park belongs to all of the people of Hickory, and you want access limited to the very people that the park belongs to. That just sounds very selfish to me and that "not in my backyard" mentality is what has our local economy on the verge of a full-fledged depression.

Hickory Hound Facebook Group

Let's Grow This Thing!!! - Go to Facebook

Check out this interesting article from HickoryHumans about a possible expansion at CVCC to accommodate a Center for Emerging Manufacturing Solutions (HickoryHumans article).

If focused properly, I truly believe that this will be an excellent investment for our community. Along with the engineering center we may see some real progress toward innovation being made in this area.

To the right, under the main information links, I have created a new link to New Science Magazine (newscientist.com). I think there are a lot of interesting articles and ideas in this magazine that are at the forefront of the future. This community is going to have to start thinking outside of the box and move toward new technologies, if we are ever going to get back ahead of the economic curve.

Wall Street Journal : Unemployment, Blog, & Quote

Article about Hickory's Unemployment, The Hickory Hound, and Quotes including Mine. Please Read. (28,548 jobs lost in the Unifour from June 2000 thru November 2008 & 7,568 jobs lost from January 2008 thru November 2008)

WSJ Article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123153289645569033.html

Workforce Stats in Excel Format:
http://hickoryhound.googlegroups.com

People can help improve economic outlook

(Published in the Hickory Daily Record on January 10, 2009)

The employment situation in our area is bad and getting worse. We know about the financial crisis, and sadly many working people will suffer from years of poor management by government and business leaders.

As a citizen who tries to be responsible, I have communicated with national and local leaders about economic and regulatory issues, but I think we also have to look honestly at ourselves and what we can do to make our local situation better.

First, we need to watch our personal debt. The average household now has $9,000 in short-term debt, and this is a weight around our families' necks. If you still have your job, paying down debt would be a great investment.

Second, we should try to give a little more to our churches and civic organizations that help people who need it. The need will grow, and we need to step up our help to our neighbors.

Third, we need to think about our schools' drop-out rates and education in general.

When our economic development and government leaders pitch our area to businesses that may be interested in locating here, the quality of our workforce is a big issue. In the short term, if you are unemployed it may not be your top priority, but in the long haul it's crucial that we try to upgrade education and vocational training.

Let's pray that this recession will end soon.

Harry Hipps

A STEP ON THE PATH TO ????

The announcement that Hickory has landed another call center is good news in a dismal economy. As we all know, the macroeconomic picture isn't pretty and unemployment is rising in our area as it is in most areas. My sense is that the recession will be longer and more painful than most pundits predict. We should prepare for a worse case scenario. But, nevertheless, this call center will provide jobs for a good number of our neighbors and we should be thankful for them.

Since this is the second call center that will locate here and there haven't been many other companies coming here (except for the often touted MDI and Target) I would like to make a couple of observations:

First, we need to rejoice for the good news and double down on efforts to attract more. We still have a lot of ground to make up both in terms of the number of jobs and the pay scales. In the whole Unifour area, since the furniture and textile bust, we have lost around 24000 jobs. Many of these jobs paid $15 to $18 dollars an hour. The jobs at the call center will pay pretty well but certainly not what we lost. We have to get what we can but at some point we need to land industries that pay the fat checks .

Secondly, while the call centers are good news it does not create a "Hickory Brand". And we don't want to be the Bangalore, India of the US (should we call ourselves Hickolore or Bangalickory?) In the former economy, we were known internationally for furniture and textiles. This was our "brand name" if you will. Now, I am all in favor of a diversified economic base but we need a focus for Hickory. What will we be known for? The county has made some strides in biodiesel. Charlotte is trying to lure energy companies such as solar panel manufacturers and nuclear plant technology. Kannapolis has the biotech operations that David Murdock is creating. And Hickory will have ????????????

Double-H Believes : Hickory is a center of retail sales (drawing from a 6 county area) and we have a vibrant restaurant scene. If people are coming to shop and eat, why do we not have more entertainment businesses?

Manufacturing is not dead. Burke county has attracted a specialty battery company, there are medical devices, medical textiles, military textiles that camouflage soldiers, etc. We need to get industry leaders and partner with them to get ahead of the curve on some of these and locate them here to use the talent base and assets we have here to build our brand. The call center is good news. Now let's get some momentum.