12 Steps to Fixing Our Nation's Financial Woes

This is a recognition that our Nation faces serious personal and national economic-financial issues. These twelve steps are integral to putting "We the People" back on the right path to fixing our financial problems. These Twelve Steps are derived and adopted from the original Twelve Step Program published by Alcoholics Anonymous. I truly believe that many people in this country have dependency issues when it comes to debt financing as related to materialism:

1) We must admit we are powerless over our material wants and needs and that our spending has taken over our lives and imperiled our future. Some people spend money as a way of raising their personal self-esteem. They have done this at the expense of their future economic viability. It is important to realize that those materialistic desires will never fill an empty soul.

2) We must realize that a Power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity. In my opinion, this doesn't necessarily have to be about God. This can be about having a Purpose in life. Refocusing on a Purpose gives one the force (or energy) to do good things and realize that life has meaning. Materialism leads to a "me" lifestyle and to greed and selfishness in a group setting and in culture. I think that this is much of the problem that our society is facing today, because instead of working together toward the furtherance of our society, we are all pulling in different directions to represent our own selfishness and greed. That is the reason we aren't getting anywhere. There has to be a balance between what is best for the individual and what is best for society.

3) We must make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him. To me this means that we have to realize that life isn't just about us as individuals. Each one of us have wants, needs, and desires. We have to learn that we cannot enslave others to fulfill our desires. We are all subject to the variables of life that relate to all of us as individual beings. That is one of the hardest aspects of life that we as individuals have to learn to accept, because we aren't going to ever be fulfilled. Life isn't about fulfillment, it is about acceptance of what the force conjures up though fate. You have to accept that things happen for a reason.

4) We must search ourselves and fearlessly and fairly evaluate our personal morality. Are you a good person or are you a bad person? Do you go out of your way to help others or hurt others? We are all sinners. None of us are perfect. We all have good and bad days, but we must realize that our actions have consequences to those that surround us and their actions have consequences to those that surround them. My personal actions can set off a wave of negative consequences that can have far reaching negative implications that we do not realize when we are stuck on ourselves as individuals. The opposite can also ring true. A positive attitude can also spread throughout a community and society. You will truly reap the harvest of the seeds that you sow.

5) We must admit to God, to ourselves, and other human beings the exact nature of our wrongs. No one is perfect, but the harder that we try to strive towards perfection, the closer we will come to achieving it. If we don't try, then we will never come close. It is alright to make mistakes, but those that do not admit or live in a state of denial about their errant ways will be doomed to repeat them.

6) We must be entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. We can't put off solving our problems. We must deal with them today. Procrastination only leads to more procrastination. Once we assess our lives and accept our transgressions, then it is time to remove them from our lives.

7) We must humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings. When we feel powerless and overwhelmed about our transgressions, then we need to pray or meditate and reach within ourselves for the willpower needed to keep from submitting to our weaknesses. That self-reflection will help one realize that they can attain inner-peace over time. The longer that you can remove yourself from the weaknesses, the easier they will become to deal with, but at some point they must be dealt with head on.

8) We must make a list of all people we have harmed, and become willing to make amends to them all. If we have financially taken advantage of others, then we must admit to them what we have done and do our best to make amends. This will help to clear a guilty conscious. If we owe creditors, then we must be upfront in our dealings with them. 99% of the time they will be willing to work with you, so will family and friends. If you are in dire straights, don't rob Peter to pay Paul. Tell your friends up front that you are in dire straights. I am sure that if they can help you, they will. But don't set up a timeline to pay them back, because if you don't meet it and they then need the money, it will put a strain on your friendship.

9) We must make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. If telling the truth to someone you care about will hurt them, then it is best to keep it to yourself. This goes for finances, as well as any other type of interpersonal dealings. If you borrowed money from a friend and blew it on something frivolous, then it's best to leave that out of the equation. Just be up front that you blew their money and that you will do everything in your power to make it up to them in the future. It may put a strain on your friendship, but you might not lose that friendship.

10) Continue to take personal inventory and when we are wrong promptly admit it. When you fall off the wagon, then face it head on and deal with it, otherwise you will end up back at ground zero or worse.

11) We must seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His Will for us and the power to carry that out. We can't lose sight of what we are doing by getting our personal finances and social lives back in order. Many times these vices snowball until they careen out of control. We must be honest with ourselves, because many times these self-inflicted wounds are forgotten once they heal. The emotional scars are there for a reason. Embrace them and learn from them. A meaningful life comes from making sure that those bad experiences are lessons that aren't constantly repeated.

12) Once we conquer our demons and realize a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, then we shall try to carry this message forward to others who may have a similar problem, and practice these principles in all our affairs. You have gone through all of this for a reason. Don't be embarassed about it. Teach and tell others about the hole that you dug for yourself. It goes back to the morality issue. Lead by example and others around you will do the same. If we all become self-reliant and at the same time charitable, then this world will surely be better for it.

In no way am I wanting to stir up a religious debate, but this is a moral issue. We have created a lot of moral hazard by telling people that it is ok to live beyond their means and that the Nanny State will bail them out when they get in trouble.. There is no way out of the bind that the government has put us in, but we as individuals need to learn about Self-Preservation and the role that it plays in Liberty and Personal Freedom.

Take Charge Folks, this game is nowhere close to over. We will restore this country back to its glory!!!

Harry Hipps Commentary on City Government

The City Council Meeting of 3-3-09 was a great meeting that showed our City government at it's best and worst. First I'll comment on the best. The announcement of the agreement between ASU and Hickory to enhance educational opportunities here is great news. Sadly we have a large uneducated and undereducated population here. It affects our quality of life and is a drag on the economic development we can get here. Thankfully our leadership has correctly identified this as a vital area of needed improvement and this is great news for Hickory.

More of the positive things going on were highlighted with the committee reports, especially the presentations on Parks and Recreation and the Libraries. These folks are well focused on what we have now, trends for the future and showed a passionate and professional approach towards their areas. We are blessed to have citizens like this working for the betterment of Hickory.

The John Locke Foundation recently announced that Hickory had fallen from the 2nd highest in terms of taxation for a City our size to 13th. Spending what we need within a budget that is based on reasonable economic assumptions, being careful with debt and City investments are great principles to follow in City finances and this has been done very well. Kudos to all.

All was not perfect of course. The Appearance Committee gives out trees for Arbor Day to support Hickory's image as a tree friendly area, which most would support. After that they seemed to be fixated on downtown which seems to be characteristic of Council as a whole. To be fair, it's difficult to address some of the ugly, blighted areas of town within this committee since it involves economic vitality, specific landlords, and their concerns (or lack of concern) and a host of issues too large for an Appearance Committee. But it seemed at times that they are flailing around for a purpose and downtown is what's easiest to latch onto.

The final issue was what really showed the weakness of the overall approach to governance with respect to discretionary spending. As the Mayor pointed out, most of the budget goes to water and sewer services, fire, police, etc. After taking care of core services there isn't a large percentage of the budget that can be used for discretionary spending ($70 million out of an $80 million budget goes towards Water, Sewer, Sanitation, and Security) .

At virtually every Council meeting there are small amounts given for various projects. Some of these, such as facades for arts organizations, landscaping or building improvements for charitable organizations (such as the Salvation Army) are probably a good use of these funds since the community as a whole benefits from arts and we owe compassion to our needy. But, in my opinion, there are too many small scale grants that use City money for private interests. Not only is this unfair to the businesses that aren't as well connected politically, but it is getting in the way of larger, more important projects.

This was clear at the Council meeting when the prospect of putting some electrical lines underground was discussed. Duke Power is proposing splitting the cost 50/50 with the City to bury some power lines. This has been a much discussed desire of many citizens for a long time now. It would be a maximum of $300,000 per year for three years. Even at this large cost, only a couple of miles of lines would be done. Duke Power would be concerned with the lines that are most prone to being downed by trees and safety concerns, whereas the City is more concerned with the aesthetics of the lines. The lines done would be at or less than one percent of the lines in the City (I believe new construction will bury lines for future use).

The total cost of the entire City would be tremendous. A reasonable view is that this type of project will be very long term if ever. In addition, there are sewer lines in Hickory that are 100 years old. This is a ticking time bomb. At some point large expenditures are coming. My question is this: why are we piddling with small scale spending, like shrubs and windows for certain area businesses, when we need to start looking seriously at our infrastructure? We complain about the federal government spending so much on earmarks and pork barrel projects and then do it here.

We need to come up with larger scale plans for our infrastructure as well as larger scale development for some of our blighted areas, and stop the nickel and dimeing. There are pressing needs that are becoming more urgent. We need some serious thinking about our priorities. While raising taxes to pay for things is always an option, I believe we need to stop the trickle of small ticket items and think about the big needs we have.

The good, the bad, and the ugly - what a meeting.

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of March 3, 2009

This newsletter is about the Hickory City Council meeting that I attended this past week. City council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each Month in the Council Chambers of the Julian Whitener building.

At the bottom right of this page under main information links is a Hickory's Local Government link. If you click on that link, it takes you to our city’s website, at the bottom of the page you will see the future dates for meetings scheduled for this year.

At the top of the page, if you click on the “Documents” link, you will find historic Agenda and Minutes links. Agendas show what is on the docket for the meeting of that date. The Minutes is an actual summary of the proceedings of the meeting of that date.

Here is a summary of the agenda of the 3/3/2009 meeting. There were a couple of important items that were discussed at this meeting and the details are listed further below.

Invocation by Cindy Jordan, Director of Spiritual Care Catawba Valley Medical Center

Special Presentations:
A. Presentation of FY 2009-2010 Board and Commission Work Plans Board / Commission Presenter - The Mayor stated that this was one of his favorite meetings of the year when we get to learn what our civilian volunteers are doing. Only 1 out of every 200 of our citizens participate on one of these boards.

1. Animal Control Advisory Board - Lt. Reed Baer 1) wants to increase the advertising of the Spay and Neuter program. City will help contribute to the cost of the procedure. 2) Coordinate with Catawba County Humane Society to get citzens to contact the Humane society - helps reduce animal control man hours 3) Animal Control Ordinance enforcement is meeting requirements. 4) Cost effective measures to deal with stray animals. Shelter costs are currently $71,756 they will rise to $97,894. A new medical program is responsible for the rise to try and get more animals adopted. Currently the shelter is averaging 210 animals being taken care of each day.5) Sponsor 2 rabies clinics this year to get animal vaccinated at a reduced cost.
(The Hound would like to see people have to obtain a license in order to breed animals. The fee should be equal to the cost of spaying and neutering any animals. We need to get control of the stray animal population in this community. It is inhumane to let animals breed and not take care of them.)

2. Citizens’ Advisory Committee Ms. Yvonne Setzer - Todd Hefner presentation. Trying to create affordable housing for the Green Park, Kenworth, Ridgeview, and West Hickory Neighborhoods. Currently working on a $3.92 million block grant.

3. Community Appearance Commission Ms. Jennifer Helton - presentation made by another lady 1) Funding for Downtown grants for aesthetic improvements. 2) New program being developed called "Friends of Downtown Hickory" 3) Continue funding of litter pick-up (currently 250 to 300 bags per month). 4) Graffiti Removal Matching Program. 5) Arbor Day Tree Celebration 6) Funding for Litter Education 7) Beautification (The Hound is just wondering why the Community Appearance Commission only has interests in Downtown. Here we go again. This community has more areas that need their appearance developed other than Downtown Hickory. By Gosh here we go with this graffiti issue through the back door. This area talks trash about the bad karma coming from Raleigh and Washington constantly, yet here they go doing the same exact thing. I can tell you that the Hound represents this community as a whole and I think that it is time that others start doing the same, instead of looking out towards their little niche, clique interests).

4. Community Relations Council Ms. Lisa Miller - Overall plan costs $17,000. Hallmark Grant Program. Connect, Improve, and Encourage community relations. Multi- Cultural Human Relations Events.
(The Hound believes in Community Relations, but this presentation left a lot to be desired. We need some specifics in a tight budget era. What do you do?)

5. Hickory Regional Planning Commission Mr. Brian Frazier - Revision of Hickory by Choice and the Land-Use Development plan.

6. Hickory Youth Council Mr. Alec Patterson - Promote community and general public knowledge in the hearts and minds of our youth. Requesting $3,600 for general uses, programs, and a possible Summer retreat. (The Hound Knows this is a good Investment, because we need kids to be more civic minded.)

7. Historic Preservation Commission Ms. Clem Geitner - No presentation

8. International Council Mr. Hani Nassar - Spoke about Springfest, Second language in schools. Having a hard time with financial goals due to the economy. Developing a guide for newcomers. Want to work with the public appearance commisiion to create some international signs in other parts of the city besides downtown. The Council proposes events such as movies at the Carolina Thetre featuring special Foreign Films. Want to work on a Speakers Bureau, a new brochure, and a website with a newcomer's guide.

9. Library Advisory Board Ms. Judy Ivester -Asked for no money. The Library is a focal point of the community. Technology plays a big role in and outside of the library. Last year their were 145,000 computer patrons. The computers allow for the use of a virtual library. Offers real time records. Last year the library counted on average 37,000 patrons per month and this year the number has risen to 39,000. This summer the library expects 41,000 people per month. Last summer it was not unusual to have 300 children show up for a children's program. The library is looking to increase and improve technology, customer service, and programming. Mrs. Ivester further discussed "The Big Read." (The Hound believes. Mrs. Ivester had the best presentation of the evening and she was spot on in her assessment. The Library is going to be more critical as a center of knowledge as we move forward.)

10. Parks and Recreation Commission Mr. Gary Stafford - Mr. Stafford went over the list of goals in the order of importance as 1) Support completion of phase 2 of the Ridgeview Recreation Project. 2) Development of the Clonionger Mill Park plan 3) Support 2005 Green Ways and Trails Master plan. The last significant investment in the Green Way plan was from 15 years ago. 4) Create a Dog Park 5) Develop a Community Garden 6) Create a City Endowment to support Parks 7) Create a Henry Fork Ampitheater 8) Create a Sandy Pine's Park from capital obtained by selling residential property at the Cloninger Mill Park site 9) Create a Park Ranger Program for the Hickory Park System. (The Hound liked this presentation also. It was brief and to the point, but I support everything they said and I liked the priority assessment.)

11. Public Art Commission Mr. Phil Barringer - Mr. Barringer showed the Art on the Bench project and how it was implemented. He addressed the focal project for the upcoming year, which will be a permanent fire sculpture created by an esyablished artist, local potter, and local citizens. It should be completed in the 2010-2011 timeframe.

12. Recycling Advisory Board Mr. Jeffrey Wright - Chuck Hansen presentation. Campaign to reach the Hickory City School System. All schools will participate in recycling. 600 Businesses participate. Looking to expand convenience centers to other areas. Currently just in NE and SW Hickory. Address and evaluate the recycling commodity issue. Looking towards recycling pallets, oil filters, flourescent lamps, and ballasts. Recyclables are down 14% since 2005, but this isn't necessarily bad -- due to improved recycling.

Consent Agenda:
Social Interest -- Call for Special Joint Meeting With Hickory City Council and the Parks and Recreation Commission to be Held at the Highland Recreation Center’s Community Room on Tuesday 3/10/2009 at 11:30 a.m. to discuss Park Cloninger Mill Property Site Development.

Authorize Public Hearing about Curb & Gutter along a Portion of 2nd St Pl SE for March 17, 2009

Request From the Hickory Downtown Development Association for the Use of Union Square for the Hickory Alive Event to be Held on June 5, 12, 19, 26 and July 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31, 2009 from 3:30pm–12am

Request From the Hickory Downtown Development Association for use of Union Square for the Swingin’ Under the Stars Event to be Held on 5/24/2009 From 4pm–12am.

Approval to Discard Surplus Library Children’s Materials to the Salvation Army for Distribution to the Family Shelter and Boys and Girls Club - 60 picture books

Transfer of Cemetery Lot in Oakwood Cemetery From Estate of Louise Rowe Starnes to Anna Wallace. Transfer of Cemetery Lot in Oakwood Cemetery From Estate of Louise Rowe Starnes to Susan S. Steiger. Transfer of Cemetery Lot in Oakwood Cemetery From Estate of Louise Rowe Starnes to Joyce Sheffield. Transfer of Cemetery Lot in Oakwood Cemetery From Estate of Louise Rowe Starnes to Iva Rhyne.

Business -- Approval to Purchase 5 Specialized Police Package Emergency Vehicles From Armstrong Ford in the Amount of $110,420.00

Approve Change Order With Ronny Turner Construction Co., Inc. for Additional Work on the Clement Boulevard Connector Water Line Modifications Project in the Amount of $8,700.00

Budget Ordinance Amendments -- Budget a $1,400 donation from Klingspor Abrasives for the International Springfest event. Budget $1,200 of State Revenue from the North Carolina Humanities Council for the Big Read 2009 program. Budget a $10,000 donation from Catawba Valley Community College for the Big Read 2009 program. Budget a $50 Library donation from Ms. Hacker for an honor book. Transfer $5,400 of General Fund to the transportation capital bus shelter project for the purchase of 5 additional bus shelters as part of the West Hickory and Ridgeview Redevelopment plans. The total cost of the project is $27,000 which FTA is funding at 80% ($21,600) with a local match of 20% ($5,400).

New Business - Departmental Reports:
1) Hickory City Council to Elect a Temporary Chairman to Preside Over the 3/17/2009 City Council Meeting Due to the Absence of Both the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tempore - Mayor Wright, Alderlady Hoyle, and Alderman Meisner will be out of town, so Alderlady Fox will preside over the 3/17/2009 meeting. Council Agreed Unanimously.

2. Consideration to Participate in the Duke Energy Carolinas Underground Utilities Conversion Pilot Program - The North Carolina Utilities Commission has approved a pilot program for three North Carolina municipalities to convert overhead power lines to underground. The program is a 50/50 match of up to 0.5% of Duke Energy’s gross receipts in the City, which translates into approximately $301,000.00 per year for a total of approximately $903,000.00. The City and Duke Energy would each contribute approximately $900,000.00 during the 3-year program for a total of $1.8 million.

The program funds can be used for planning, designing and construction of power lines from overhead to underground, but will not cover for the conversion of phone, cable or other overhead wires. The cost of conversion can range from $350,000.00 to $3,000,000.00 per mile based on the type of facility and whether it is urban, suburban, or rural. It is difficult to determine exactly how many miles of power lines will be buried should the City choose to participate in the program. This project is consistent with the Hickory by Choice Future Land Use and Transportation Plan. In order to be considered as part of the program, the City must respond to Duke Energy by March 31, 2009. If selected, Council would need to increase property tax by .75 cents on July 1, 2009, to fund its share of this project.

Discussion - The Council discussed the aspect of the costs involved versus the aesthetics. City manager Berry pointed out that the areas where you see a lot of lines is where it is going to cost more money. Mr. Berry said that Duke has to follow the rules of the utility Commission (so their hands are tied in their choices to a certain extent). The Mayor says that there will be other options besides tax funding. Manager Berry says that the Budget is a serious concern on this issue. They are worried about balancing the budget. Basically the options are General Fund or raise taxes. The Mayor said that he was sure that their would be some sort of courtship process before we got to the stage of needing to accept or reject the program. Ms. Hoyle seemed to believe that this isn't feasible under current economic circumstances. The Council voted to take the next step in the exploration process, but not commit to the project as this time.

Bob Vollinger requested to be heard on this issue. He is in favor of burying and consolidating overhead lines. He believes it is in the public's best interest. It helps reduce costs, increases reliability, and increases safety.

The Hound would love for all of these lines to go underground but that is unfortunately not feasible. I think participating in this program is a good idea. The city is interested in aesthetics, while Duke Power is interested in reliability. I am sure that there will be negotiations before any of this goes forward. Mayor Wright asked about power line mileage and the number brought up was 300 miles -- Chuck Hansen said, "At Least." Folks that would mean that it would cost at least $105 million to put these wires in the ground by my calculation and it will cost more than that due to some of the more complex areas. It is going to take a long time to get these wires in the ground. Maybe that is where we should focus our energy when asking for Federal Block Grant monies going into the future. (I changed the cost number once, because I doubted my calculation. I couldn't believe that it would cost $105 million to bury these lines, but after rechecking that number, I have found that that is the correct number.)
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The Mayor announced that a Document was signed today creating the Appalachian State University regional partnership Greater Hickory Metro. It will increase the opportunities for higher education in this community. This will unify the branding and marketing of the Higher Education center. We are now in a position to have a better educated population. The employees of the Higher Education Center will now be employees of Appalachian State.

The Mayor hopes the Vision will be realized for Lenoir-Rhyne University. We will support L-R in accomplishing their lofty agenda. The Mayor believes that in the next 8 years that we will have a lot of opportunities in both public and private education in this area. Charlotte Observer Article about this.

State of North Carolina playing with Revenues again

In case you don't think the State of North Carolina will raid monies not intended for use in the general fund, then please read this article from the Saturday Charlotte Observer entitled Perdue may use lottey funds to cut shortfall.

Bev Perdue has no excuse. She cast the tie breaking vote for the NC "Education" lottery. She knew what this money was supposed to be intended for and now she is going to play the shell game and push it over to the general fund. Shame on you Mrs. Governor.

The Governor's spokesperson says "....the governor had little choice. Already $2 billion in the red, the state faces a $3 billion shortfall next fiscal year." I respectfully disagree. Y'all are the ones that ran up spending when times were good; so y'all are the ones that need to ramp down spending in these bad times. Playing these little "Rob Peter to pay Paul" games are not going to solve the problem. We have to make structural changes to the State budget. That is what you do when you have an obvious systemic problem.

The article states "Perdue has said she may transfer $300 million from several special accounts into the depleted general fund. That includes nearly $38 million in scheduled lottery allocations to counties and $50 million from the lottery reserve fund." Here they go again taking from the funds that are directly intended for other levels of government. That means that Catawba County Schools (as well as others) will be forced to readdress their local budget, in order to account for this shortfall in the state budget. In other words, the State of North Carolina wants others to feel the pain of what they have caused. This will only exacerbate local problems since those agencies are already suffering from the shrinking economy.

The worst part is that they are once again breaking a pledge and a promise. You cannot trust these people to do what they say that they are going to do. That is the main problem that people have with government and further contributes to the cynicism that is rampant in society today. I was apprehensive about the lottery to begin with, because it is generally a regressive revenue raiser. Now, after seeing this, I think that I am totally against this lottery and would like to see a bill moved forward to abolish it, if they aren't going to lock that money away in a true trust.

It is time for our state to get its act together. Everyone is being forced to cut back at unprecedented levels. Why do Raleigh and Washington not understand that it is there obligation to do the same?

Z. Anne Hoyle about National League of Cities Meeting

My last letter about the City Council meeting of February 17, 2009 was so long that I left out Ms. Hoyle's important comments at the end of that meeting. Ms. Hoyle is a North Carolina representative for the National League of Cities. She is on the Public Safety and Crime Prevention Steering Committee for the NLC.

Ms. Hoyle went to Capitol Hill to talk about Hickory's plight, in terms of money, that needs to be addressed with our infrastructure. The committee worked for two evenings and as a result she feels that they came up with a pretty good plan. She was involved directly with infrastructure plans. She wants money from the federal government to be sent directly to the cities, instead of coming to the state and then being filtered down to the cities. In the past there have been issues when the State of North Carolina has had a shortfall, they end up confiscating money that was intended for the cities.

The Hound is happy to hear about Ms. Hoyle taking a stand on this issue. What good does it do, when this City runs a tight fiscal ship and Raleigh continues to constantly kick sand in our face. This State has been no friend to Hickory. We have constantly been short shrifted by the good ole boy network in Raleigh.

The worst part is that we have received little representation by local leaders when it comes to our issues with Raleigh. State Senator Austin (Who?) Allran is worried about unenforceable text messaging legislation, when he needs to get on the ball and propose legislation that keeps the State Government from being able to confiscate County and Municipal funds, the way they have in the past.

Ms. Hoyle should not have to stand alone. We need to join together with other local governmental entities, like we have with the Catawba River Project, to grab the bully pulpit and tell Raleigh that their out of control budget process is unacceptable and they better not steal any more local funds, like they did with the half-cent sales tax a few years ago.

It is time for Raleigh to get its house in order.

Hickory must redefine concept of downtown - HDR Editorial

My editorial published in the Hickory Daily Record on 2/26/2009

A New Vision for Downtown

In a Your Voice contribution on February 25, Andrea Klena sums up her post about Downtown by stating, ” I enjoy my grown-up excursions downtown and hope that it doesn't become more family-friendly if it means sacrificing quality for quantity.”

I agree with what she states, but Downtown must become a more economically viable asset for this community. Our city has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars there and we deserve a return on that investment. Downtown must become an area that all of our citizens can enjoy.

We definitely don’t need a Wal-Mart downtown. It would be an infrastructure nightmare trying to adapt the roads leading to downtown to fit a megastore. But, we definitely need a variety merchandise retailer there as a draw and other businesses besides bars, restaurants, and boutiques.

The main issue I see is that we are going to have to expand our vision of “what construes Downtown?” Downtown has to be more than just Union Square. That was acceptable when only 10,000 people lived in Hickory, but now there are over 80,000 people living within 5 miles of Hickory's Epicenter.

It is time to quit addressing the same ole issues involving Union Square. The Downtown vision has to be expanded to include Ridgeview, Green Park, Kenworth, Frye Regional, The SALT block, and eventually Lenoir-Rhyne. In order for our Downtown to be economically viable, we must develop and enhance other areas near the core of this city.

8 Suggestions for the Road Ahead -- Self Preservation

I do not propose to be some sort of expert on survival, but we can all see that these are not normal times and it is time to prepare for the worst of times and pray that we never reach that destination. I have compiled some information about personal finance and personal responsibility. You can move as close to these targets as possible or you may ignore the advice. I only give you this advice, because my soul moves me to. In the end you are responsible for your own countenance.

1) Get out of short term debt - You should be in no more short term debt (credit cards) than what you can pay off immediately. I believe that 5% of your take home pay would be about the Maximum amount of debt you should be carrying in this recession. If you get laid off, then you can easily pay that off.

As inflation rises, the adjustable interest rates on short term debt will also rise. You could very well see 20%+ interest rates on credit cards (if not way higher than that). How would you ever pay these debts off, if that were to happen?

2) Keep cash on hand and tuck it away somewhere that no one can find it. I am not saying that banks will go bust like they were in the 1930s, but on March 5, 1933 Franklin Roosevelt (the day after being sworn into office) called a 4-day bank holiday. The banks were closed and people could not withdraw cash from their accounts. Some people say that this same scenario nearly played out last September. What would you do if the bank was closed for a week or two? Remember the gas shortage last September and how everyone panicked?

3) Put some of your money in precious metals. Most of us can't afford $1,000 an ounce gold, but we can afford $14.50 an ounce Silver or even cheaper Copper. These metals will hold there value during inflationary times. In 1980, during the last inflationary period in the U.S., the price of gold spiked to $850 an ounce in 1980 (an equivalent of $2,178.05 in today's dollars). The same year Silver spiked to $48.70 (an equivalent of $124.79 in today's dollars). U.S. Inflation Calculator Link

I am not saying that we will see those levels in the coming year, but unless our government gets its spending under control, I believe we will burst through those levels by the end of Obama's first term. At the end of the year 2000, the Dow Jones Industrial average was trading at 39.5 times the price of Gold and 2,345 times the price of silver. Today the DJIA is 7.17 times the price of Gold and 494 times the price of Silver. This has all been brought about by the tanking of the U.S. Dollar. Until our government starts reigning in the ridiculous spending and comes back towards fiscal sanity, it is time to get out of our currency and into something real.

4) Be Thrifty and quit wasting your money - Don't throw things away unless they have no value. Eat at home, use coupons, share meals with your friends and neighbors, look for cheap entertainment, turn that heat down, use the fan (instead of the AC), and consolidate you trips when driving. This is not the time to throw money around. It is time to spend wisely.

A good investment would be to buy dry and canned goods in bulk. Remember the price increases last year during the fuel run up? Buy these goods and store them for the rainy day. If that day never comes, then you can use them; but if a truly inflationary period does hit, then you will have bought yourself some valuable time.

5) Grow a garden. The only thing that this will cost is the money for a few tools, the cost of some seeds, and some labor. You will be handsomely rewarded. You'll have something to eat to get through the summer months and you can can, freeze, or dry this stuff to get through the winter. This will help you get outdoors and get some exercise. You can be basic or elaborate. That is up to you. The deal is that this will save you money, when your budget gets tight, and that is money that may be needed elsewhere. You can also barter these vegetables for other food or maybe to get something else. Growing a garden creates value.

6) Secure your house. Crime is naturally going to increase. You need to get deadbolt locks for the doors and hide your valuables in safe, secure places. Don't flaunt what you have. You need to be humble and thrifty. Be aware.

7) Get to know your neighbors and look out for one another's well-being. This goes hand-in-hand with number 6 and maybe even number 5. One thing that we have lost in the age of gluttony is that sense of community. Neighborhood Watch will be very important if times get tougher and we will need to look out for the elderly, who will become very vulnerable as their fixed incomes are attacked by inflationary dollars.

8) Pay attention to what the Government is doing - It is time that people figure out that the condition our economy is in today is a direct reflection on the economic choices that have been made by our leaders and the bureaucracy over the last 40 years. No one expects perfection, but we also should not expect utter incompetence and/or corruption either. It is time for accountability.