By Mark Wineka
Salisbury Post
Salisbury City Council started its two-day retreat Thursday with a history lesson.
Dr. Gary Freeze, chairman of the history department at Catawba College, captivated the council with an hourlong discussion of the periods in Salisbury history and the various “lightning strikes” that signaled change.
By design, Salisbury was established as the center of western North Carolina ó a governmental center, a cultural center and the real estate development office for the Back Country.
It was where you went to buy land from Lord Granville.
“We had a purpose from day one,” Freeze said.
It could be said that Salisbury was the most isolated significant town in early American history, and Freeze described a community, named for the oldest city in England, that always seems to have confronted change while dragging a heavy wagon of history behind it.
The prospect of change seemed to hang heavy over the council’s retreat.
“There is a feeling we’re at one of those points” that Freeze called a lightning strike, Mayor Susan Kluttz said, though she and others had a difficult time describing what it is.
Asked by facilitator Warren Miller what he had learned from Freeze’s history lesson, Councilman Mark Lewis said it was the importance of seeing Salisbury as a center for things.
Kluttz added it confirmed for her that Salisbury, as a center, connects to everything and everyone.
Councilman Bill Burgin said he learned that “we have to live together, and that takes effort.” It also helped him realize, Burgin said, how a city is affected by events that happen outside its city limits.
Councilman William “Pete” Kennedy said the history lesson showed that much of Salisbury’s roots revolved around class ó the haves and the have-nots, and the city has to remember to help the have-nots.
During the rest of the retreat, council members asked themselves repeatedly how Salisbury would fit in with the growth of the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis and how it should position itself to attract the new people who will be working there.
How will the city finance its future infrastructure needs in the downtown and elsewhere? How does it provide positive, productive activities for children and aging Baby Boomers? What role can it play in improving schools and financing the arts? How does Salisbury keep or attract young professionals?
And exactly what changes are coming?
Jeff Michael, director of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Urban Institute, provided some insights to the last question by sharing information on Rowan County gleaned from the recent Regional Indicators Project.
The study showed some of the dynamics facing communities in a 14-county region, including Rowan County.
Some of the information was not surprising. It showed Cabarrus and Iredell counties passing Rowan in population and economic activity. The Rowan County median household income was $38,598, compared to $48,446 in Cabarrus and $44,111 in Iredell.
Michael suggested that numbers Rowan County and Salisbury should be concerned about relate to education and poverty.
The regional study showed 16.8 percent of the population in Rowan County having attained four-year college degrees. That compares to the Charlotte region’s 27.1 percent level of attainment and the state’s 25.1 percent.
Even as more people become affluent in Rowan County, the poverty level is rising, Michael said. In Rowan, 12.7 percent of the families are living below the poverty line. Also, 17.8 percent of Rowan’s children live in poverty, compared to 14.4 percent in Cabarrus and 12.7 percent in Iredell.
Michael also showed the rapid rate of urbanization in the Charlotte region since 1976, and judged that Rowan County would be 33 percent fully developed by 2030.
The county’s population is projected to increase by 43,000 people by 2030, but Michael said he thought that estimate was conservative.
Michael said the Urban Institute has yet to measure things such as recreation, arts funding, land conservation, greenways and tax credits taken for historic preservation.
“Salisbury would do well in those areas,” he said, and he praised what the city has done through the years in investing in infrastructure, quality of life and its people.
Michael described Salisbury as one of the more progressive cities in the region and predicted that building a quality of life will position the city well in the region.
After its Thursday lunch with Michael, council split into smaller groups with invited business and civic leaders, board members and staff to reflect on what Salisbury has done right in the past and what its future opportunities are within seven “Smart Community” categories.
The future opportunities the luncheon group identified included the city’s going into the fiber cable business, replacement of the Yadkin River Bridge, tying into the N.C. Research Campus, developing a Rail Walk in a new arts district, developing the Empire Hotel property, improving city-county cooperation, revitalization of vacant properties, including all people and involving more citizens in decision-making, providing more places for people to live downtown and practicing smart growth through annexation.
There also was a general emphasis on economic development, education, involving youth and quality of life.
“I hear a community’s vision, not one person’s vision,” Lewis said afterwards.
Robert Van Geons, executive director of the Salisbury-Rowan Economic Development Commission, said he saw a passion and belief in the room that the community could overcome any challenges to come.
Here were some general goals set by council after the two-day retreat:
– Keep customer service as a top priority.
– Improve commercial and residential property maintenance.
– Set up a fiber cable utility to provide telephone, cable television and Internet service.
– Encourage arts in the public schools.
– Complete a comprehensive bicycle plan.
– Address infrastructure needs in the downtown, including any parking and sidewalks that might be connected to a redevelopment of the Empire Hotel.
– Address employee retention and diversity recruitment of employees.
On Lincoln Park Pool, Kennedy and Mayor Pro Tem Paul Woodson will serve as a council committee and possibly set up a design workshop, a community meeting and a new needs assessment for the pool.
Meanwhile, staff also can determine costs connected to any final plan.
“I think this is the right action,” City Manager David Treme said.
Woodson also pushed for some kind of supervised, 6- to 8-week program this summer at the Salisbury Community Park on Hurley School Road.
The city could provide transportation to the park for low-income youth and also provide youth employment in connection with a program, Woodson said.
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Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263 or mwineka@salisburypost.com.