In the bleak mid-winter, with snow all around, there is no better time to be looking forward to a brighter tomorrow.
When we consider how to have a brighter tomorrow, we need to know where we are starting from. As Pattie Lee Coghill used to tell me, “I can get most anywhere if I know where I am to begin with!”
Here are some bleak mid-winter statistics that come from The Center for a Better South that tell us where round one of the fight begins — that is, the starting place:
North Carolina has a higher percentage of people without health insurance than the national average and more than five other southern states.
North Carolina has the 16th-highest rate of poverty, but only two southern states have less poverty than us.
North Carolina has the 8th highest unemployment rate in the country, and the third worse in the south.
North Carolina has the 17th highest state and local tax burden in the country.
Obviously, we live in the south, and in North Carolina, and we can narrow down this fight even more by acknowledging that we live in Vance County. Where do you suppose that puts us in this bleak picture? It looks like the only way to go is up. But that is going to take some fighting, and fighting is what economic development is all about.
Before the bell rings for round one of the economic development fight, we must realize that manufacturing jobs are a thing of the past. Having one large industry come to this area to solve all our job problems is a pipe dream. But as we seek jobs from the outside, we should focus equally on growing the businesses we already have here and on utilizing the resources we already have.
We can begin small. M.R. Williams, which has a substantial number of employees, has done an overhaul at the corner of Raleigh Road and Chavasse Avenue with a fence and landscaping. The least the city could do is to have the trash and litter that accumulates along their fence removed occasionally. This would be a small token to show appreciation for keeping and improving their operation in Henderson. If a litter crew can work along Beckford Drive, then this service could be provided in other areas of the city.
We can also insist that businesses respect other businesses and keep all properties, dumpsters, and grounds decent. And we should not ignore the businesses in north and south Henderson. From Henderson Fruit & Produce to Sanford Milling, we should extend the same services.
Businesses along Norlina Road provide another example. Why did our local government not step up, find, and fund a remedy for the sewage problems long before now? Norlina Road is a wide, curbed, five-lane highway that lacks sewage. Think about all the good growth that we may have lost out on because we did not take this initiative. Running a line to the school that did not allow taps was not a good plan for economic development. We can learn from this mistake. Round two of the fight should tell us that we don’t prosper by keeping others down.
Economic development should build on the best we have to offer. We have water, and plenty of it. But we do not have an economically and environmentally-friendly way to treat waste water. Having water is not enough. At the very, very least we should have a plan for upgrading our waste water treatment plant in the very near future and a plan for paying for this and other infrastructure necessities.
Another thing we have to offer is Kerr Lake, a fabulous natural resource and a great tourism draw. But, unfortunately, we have blight and decay along many routes that lead to Kerr Lake, so visitors are discouraged from coming into town and spending their money. Ride down Andrews Avenue from US 1 on a Friday afternoon and really look at this entranceway into Henderson. Would you come back and shop here?
Finally, we have High Speed Rail, but as yet we do not have a designated station. For years it was promoted that the building which is now Garnett Street Station at Mitchell Street would be the station. This is only conjecture. The city should take the initiative and designate a building to serve as the HSR station. My vote goes to the First National Bank Building. Without a station, the train will not stop in Henderson. We have known this for years, yet nothing but lip service has been paid. Our elected officials must act before it is too late.
Before this bleak mid-winter turns into spring, much can be accomplished. We can take the whole fight in round three. We can all win.
We will revisit this on April Fool’s Day and see how our elected officials have done in the ring.