Not everything is a point of pride
My column today:
I want to impress a friend who's visiting High Point for the first time.
Our tour starts ...
... downtown, in the furniture market district.
"We've got 12 million square feet of showroom space," I boast. "Some of the buildings are just fabulous."
We drive slowly up Elm Street, past the sleek Natuzzi building, shaped like a ship rising out of the water. We swing by Market Square and Market Square Tower. We check out the dazzling Showplace.
I point out the restored Depot on Main Street. "We have Amtrak service and someday high-speed rail," I tell my guest.
We turn down Montlieu Avenue and head toward High Point University.
"You'll be hearing a lot about this place," I say. "The new president, Nido Qubein -- he's a High Pointer -- is leading a major transformation. He's raised more than $40 million this year, buildings are going up left and right, everybody's excited about the possibilities."
We drive onto campus, stopping to admire the Hayworth Fine Arts Center and the flag-bedecked International Promenade.
Next stop is City Lake Park, with its Olympic-quality pool -- still in top shape at 70 years old -- leafy picnic places, fishing and boating area and children's train. On the other side of the lake is the Piedmont Environmental Center, a sprawling preserve where you can hike for miles along tranquil shorelines and through pine thickets or hardwood stands.
From there, we lace up our running shoes and jog along the Bicentennial Greenway all the way out to Piedmont Centre, the Triad's most successful business park and High Point’s top jobs magnet, hosting everything from biotech to banking services to pharmaceuticals.
Back in the car after our 10-mile jaunt -- man, we're tired -- we visit Oak Hollow Golf Course, one of the finest public layouts in the state, as well as nearby Oak Hollow Marina and Campground. The campground is popular during furniture market with folks who rent their homes and stay in the RV, I say.
Our tour also includes High Point's beautiful churches and its finest residential neighborhoods. It stops at the Larry Gatlin School of Entertainment Technology on GTCC's High Point campus. And, I certainly don't want my friend to miss the new Thomas Built Buses plant, with its acres of yellow school buses waiting to be delivered all across the country.
"We really fought hard to keep that company here," I tell him.
Along the way, I mention other important companies, explain what the furniture market is all about, note how fortunate High Point has been that many of its leading industrial families -- like the Millises and Hayworths -- have been extraordinarily generous to the community.
"You sound like you're really proud of High Point," he says.
"Why, yes, I am," I answer.
"OK. Now, show me what you're not so proud of."
That takes the smile right off my face.
The fact is, there are things about High Point that don't instill pride. Quite the opposite, actually.
We don't like to talk about them. We get angry, defensive, when people mention them. But they're there all the same.
Our furniture market is in trouble, in part because we took it for granted, didn't make enough improvements until a dangerous competitor shook us out of complacency. And now it might be too late to avert a disaster.
In contrast to our lovely neighborhoods, we have deplorable housing in some parts of the city. We have neighborhoods wracked by poverty, crime, drug abuse and AIDS. We have homelessness and degradation.
We have schools full of children who perform far below grade level. We have kids dropping out without the education or skills they need to fill jobs in the new economy. They can't work in biotech, banking, pharmaceuticals or even bus manufacturing because they can't read well enough to learn how to perform complex work.
These problems aren't unique to High Point; they're common to many American cities. But in High Point, our problems belong to us. We have to work on solving them.
We have many organizations, public and private, trying to do just that. Some are making progress, some are struggling. All could use a lot more help.
As much as I'd like High Point to resemble the tour of highlights I'd offer a first-time visitor, the real-life picture shows much more than that. There's a shabby side to High Point and always has been.
It has its church socials and its violent crimes. Its manicured golf greens and its overgrown abandoned lots. Its college students and its high school dropouts who've lost hope before they turn 20. Its million-dollar homes and its rundown neighborhoods that seem to breed despair.
It's possible to live in one High Point and ignore the other. It's not possible, if you're honest, to be proud of that.
Comments (19)
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So Dougie-Do-Right posts threads at 0300. It must be that illegal High School Plan that keeps you awake too, huh?
Some important things that you omitted from your tour of the Fair City are:
Andrews High Auditorium--the now "famous" gym
Simeon Stadium-Future million dollar parking lot for Market.
Montlieu Elementary--the school that failed Fantasia.
EmoryWood--THE neighborhood that prompted the resurrection of illegal busing.
Dot Kearns' house--The oldest living Socialist in the county.
Southwest High School--The ONLY school in all of Guilford County that requires the highest scrutiny, the "right" lotto ticket and /or a highly coveted "ARTS Certificate" to gain entrance.
You might as well swing by Central High School too, just for old time sake. The kids that go there aren't from the "shabby" part of town anymore, you can explain how they're shipped in.
Oh, and explain about the lack of squirrels, too. Just say they are being used for the greater good, that's the easiest way to explain the whole abduction thing.
(And you know you want to add a Strip Club and a Tatoo Parlor in the tour but your boys read your blog and you don't want them to know your hypocritical nature.)
Now that would make the tour complete. (To make it even sweeter, stop by Krispy Kreme.)
Posted on October 12, 2005 9:30 AM
Just take your friend to the 500 block of Flint Avenue. That should do it for the shabby side of town.
Posted on October 12, 2005 10:40 AM
Thanks, JayCee. What time of the day or night do you recommend in order to observe the distinctive activities of that part of High Point?
No, I'm not blogging at 3 a.m. Entries can be set in advance to appear at any time desired.
Posted on October 12, 2005 12:46 PM
Hey Sights to see,
You forgot to include Susieeeeee's house. Visitors must stop by Susieeeeee's house! A tour would not be complete without it!!!!
Posted on October 12, 2005 1:29 PM
Blinded,
If you're talking about Susieeeeeeee Mendenhall, well, I purposely didn't include her because she has absolutely NOTHING to offer the citizens of High Point, much less visitors.
Posted on October 12, 2005 1:57 PM
Why my liquor cabinet is always open. What the $*@#*$#*$# do you mean I have nothing to offer to High Point?
At the moment my bloodshot eyes are trying to make out this report about enrollment going up at private schools in town. I want the whitest & the brightest, you can't get around me like this.
Posted on October 12, 2005 4:20 PM
Come on now, STS, isn't Susieeeee responsibile for the shape of our schools in High Point.
Let's give credit where credit is due!!!!
Posted on October 12, 2005 4:39 PM
Doug,
I found this article interesting when I read it in the newspaper. I get the point you are trying to make but you have missed some of the main points. Some you just won't (or can't) open your eyes to see as you are from HP.
Most people, no matter where they come from and are raised find something to be proud about in their home town. That is YOUR reference point; that is your roots, your hometown "memories"; that is what YOU want to preserve.
For a city/town to work and thrive, especially a city/town like many others in this country and is subject to urgan blight, you have to have something unique to offer. You have to have a "draw", a "hook".
To be honest, when someone has guests come to town, they don't care about seeing empty furniture showrooms; they don't care about driving through suburban office parks; they certainly don't care about Thomas bus plant. Women, in particular, want to shop and eat lunch; people want a place to go at night to a nice restaurant and then walk to the theater. You might take them to Kepley's for some local flair and good BQ and Bruester's for an ice cream, then what?
HP has parks; so do other towns. It has a golf course; so do other towns. It has office parks; so do other towns. It does have some great medical facilities and doctors; so do other towns.
Other cities also have major league (or at least minor league) sports; they might have water as a focal point.
For example see what the developer Rouse did for the dying downtown Baltimore area - Harbor Place and for downtown Norfolk (which used to have a lot of seedy bars/massage parlors) - he focused on the water and developed Harbor Place.
HP doesn't have this advantage. I have suggested to the mayor and some council members that something is needed to attract people downtown if they want it to be successful. They have started with the train depot, then what next? Putting up a few plagues of the furniture market founders isn't going to cut it to attract outsiders here. I was told, the situation is unique; the rent too high; buildings are used for furniture market. Now as many feel, the City has put "all their eggs in one basket". What will they do as the market keeps declining.
I admire Mayor Holiday for taking a recent tour of Greenville, SC, to "copy" that town. That is one of the coolest downtown areas. I heard that at one time, they had problems attracting people there. Now there is a major hotel and restaurants and shops that you can actually walk to; outdoor cafes. People stroll the city on Sunday afternoons.
Downtown High Point is dead, except for market. When we moved here in 96 and stayed at the Holiday Inn while searching for housing, there was no place to walk to grap a bite to eat. There was Jimmy's and there was Chik-filet (that closed). I have never, ever been in a town like that before and we have traveled often.
Back to "roots" and being from here. You ended your article by saying "its not possible to live in one High Point and ignore the other." Most people who live in the suburbs of HP have moved here from outside the area; their roots and memories are not here. They chose to move to North High Point or other surrounding communities; they did not choose to live close to downtown; they have made social ties with other transplants for which they have things in common. Their reasons for choosing where they live are irrelevant. But the fact is they DO NOT identify with downtown or Emorywood. HP is two different towns under one government. But by FORCING people's children across town on a bus to schools they did not choose only intensifies the problems for a struggling town. There are people now that actually boycott going downtown for whatever reason. There are people who have moved far away from High Point and have taken their tax dollars and volunteer hours with them. Does this help High Point? No. But what is is what currently is.
Do you know I actually had a letter in my hand the other day while I was in Downtown HP to visit my allergist; the postal worker at the HP p.o. was rude. So I thought, forget this, I am going to mail my letter when I get back to "down home" Jamestown and I did. People are angry about all the forced school mess. It has become that ingrained in our psyches. We go into HP periodically for the doctors we see there, and that's about it.
Forcing families to go against what they choose, will never ever work.
(Note I am using my real name.) The intention is not to start another school IT Plan conversation here. It is just to maybe, just maybe help you understand how the transplants feel.
Posted on October 13, 2005 9:42 AM
I guess my main point is sometimes people are so close to a situation and have lived it for so long, they are not willing to listen to an "outsiders" opinion.
Many people have lived in other places than High Point or at least visited other successful towns/cities. When new people have tried to make suggestions to help the actual area considered as downtown High Point, the people originally from here do not want to hear it. They are closed to new ideas; they get defensive. It is always and only about market and then market and then again, market.
But when that goes or at least dwindles, then what?
Posted on October 13, 2005 10:10 AM
Thanks, Barbara Ann.
I respect your views and appreciate your honesty.
I credit your opinions with much more validity than those of many others on these blogs who simply attack and hide behind silly names. Many some of them are middle schoolers, I don't know.
You're raised a serious issue. I understand that people in north HP are upset about both FedEx and the schools. Some of them show a great deal of animosity toward the city as a result. Some even say they hope the furniture market here collapses.
On the other hand, there are many people there, like yourself, who work constructively for improvements.
I have been impressed with Ward 6 City Council candidate Lisa Stahlman. If she's elected, she will provide strong representation at city hall for north HP concerns.
Posted on October 13, 2005 10:16 AM
You are right about the animosity and the anger. It is definitely there. People deal with it the best way they can. And no one can understand the hurt this has caused many families, unless you can walk in those shoes.
Also many were so happy with what Fantasia said in her book because it forced the powers-that-be to open their eyes to some truths; to acknowledge we have kids who can't read and are socially passed (granted Fantasia said she wasn't interested in education); to acknowledge there are kids in HP who are invisible; to acknowledge many residents feel there is nothing to do; to say that all people just don't fit in at the country club, nor want to. It forced the traditional High Point leaders and our school leaders to take a good, hard look at themselves and how they are failing our children. This was indeed just one person's prospective, but a highly visible person's propsective. Being in the news business for years, you know how PR works. It can be good or bad. This was not good for HP; nor was what reportedly she had to say in People's Magazine.
I don't know about Lisa Stahlman. From what I have heard, I tend to disagree.
Her initial reaction to questions about school issues was it was not the city's problem. People have heard that before and don't want to hear it. She didn't even know the school board member's names. She called Dot, "Dorothy". She did not see the relevance there of how the two are indeed related. Recently, I heard she has come around some on that issue, but only after the fact. I respect people who from the beginning tell you how they stand on the issues and do not waiver.
I have met and heard many great things about Tim Brown. He did come out right from the get-go against the forced busing aspect of the "Choice" Plan. He wants to hear the concerns of his constituents and is willing to listen how schools/city are related.
If I could vote in HP (I am actually in the county; no city), at this point, I would be voting for Tim Brown.
I can't vote but I certainly have a lot of friends/acquaintances who can.
No matter who wins in the end, I hope they will truly be involved in education issues and see how this does affect HP. I would like to see all the High Point leaders get involved in educational concerns and not just when it is the "cool" thing to do and start a task force to study a long standing problem. A little too little too late.
Posted on October 13, 2005 10:46 AM
Well, Dot Kearns' name is Dorothy, so I'm not sure what the problem there is.
You are right that Mr. Brown is a strong opponent of the choice plan and favors neighborhood schools. He also indicated in an interview that he would like High Point to once again have its own school system. In the meantime, he said he supports the city putting more resources into the schools.
Mrs. Stahlmann also said she favors neighborhood schools.
Posted on October 13, 2005 1:09 PM
Doug,
When can we expect to see the N&R recommendations for the High Point City Council?
Posted on October 13, 2005 1:56 PM
Beginning Oct. 24
Posted on October 13, 2005 1:59 PM
You are right, Doug. Her name is Dorothy, but those who are aware and have followed school issues all call her "Dot" or "Ms. Kearns", I have never heard anyone call her "Dorothy" who is in the political arena and aware of educational issues. I don't think her election flyers said "Dorothy" but I don't remember. This was just a subtle little test Lisa failed; like a "first impressions" test. Not a big deal probrem, just a little indication of her "school knowledge".
I can't see High Point ever becoming their own school system again. Those days are long gone and it would be hard to do. Could the city afford to support the schools? Taxpayers and industry is leaving HP - not coming in. But I do like the idea of High Point putting more resources into the school; so should Greensboro. So should the county - but to use the money for resources in the classroom and not waste money on unproven plans and unnecessary fuel costs.
I am glad to hear that Lisa supports neighborhood schools. This is a postive thing.
On another note, I read a post by "quest" whoever that is on your other strand. It sounds like a legitimate request. I heard too of a school that is out of paper; a school I love dearly. So I am requesting the same request. Here's my real name too.
Barbara Ann
Posted on October 13, 2005 6:19 PM
Doug,
Thanks for the tip on the Ward 6 candidates. I'm not surprised at all to hear that the one that "impresses" you is the one that's the least vocal about the school mess in High Point.
I'll be sure to vote for Mr. Brown.
Posted on October 13, 2005 8:25 PM
Doug, any time after the 9AM opening of the liquor stores will work..,up until about 4-5AM.
When I worked in High Point and somebody showed up for work hungover and looking like they'd been dragged behind a Mack truck we used to quip, "Son, you look like the 500 block of Flint Street."
Posted on October 14, 2005 12:34 AM
Doug,
I can only recommend you tell him, that the best thing that ever came out of High Point was an empty Greyhound bus.
My family and I, when we must, drives through HP as if it were a blighted town. Doors locked and constantly beseeching the baby Jesus to protect us.
Posted on October 14, 2005 12:50 PM
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