Laurels to the arrival of spring ó and what better way to welcome it than with a visit to Hurley Park? While the trees, shrubs and flowers are reason enough for a walk along the quiet paths or a restful stop on a park bench, the park’s spring celebration will offer music, other entertainment and refreshments this Sunday from 2-4 p.m. This is an ideal occasion to discover ó or revisit ó one of Salisbury’s gems, tucked away near Rowan Regional Medical Center. It’s a great location for a family outing, with room for the kids to roam along the creek or fish in the lake while mom and dad relax and enjoy the vibrant spring scenery.
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Dart to February’s bleak unemployment figures of 12 percent for Rowan County and 8.5 percent for the nation as a whole. While the worsening numbers weren’t unexpected, the rapidity of the rise trumps recent glimmers of positive economic news, including higher housing sales nationwide and a slight increase in factory orders. As economists have pointed out, the jobless figures themselves are a poor measure of our current position in the economic cycle. Unemployment tends to peak deep into recessions and remain high even after recovery is well under way. But in real terms, unemployment is the economic barometer that people most closely watch. Even after the recession officially ends, companies will not immediately begin refilling their ranks. Millions of Americans will still be unemployed, and their personal recovery won’t begin until they find work.
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A dartand a laurel to the results of this year’s annual count of the homeless in Rowan and four adjacent counties. A laurel because the number of homeless counted in Rowan County on a particular day dropped to 93 ó the lowest count in the past four years. A dart because the number went up in the four other counties ó Cabarrus, Davidson, Stanly and Union. Unfortunately, it’s the increasing numbers that reflect what’s actually happening with the homeless as job losses and foreclosures strike more people. A recent story in the New York Times noted the phenomenon of new “tent cities” arising in urban areas across the country, and they’re not limited to places like New York or Los Angeles, which are used to seeing large homeless populations. Instead, these new tent cities are showing up in cities such as Nashville and St. Petersburg, Fla. In looking at the Rowan figures, it’s important to recognize that the count is a snapshot of what survey workers found in one single day among those served at local shelters. The actual number of homeless people fluctuates , and is almost certainly higher than what the count shows, here and elsewhere. The need for services to help the homeless (and those in danger of becoming so) is rising, not falling.