Wilson wins fight for future

After years of litigation, accusations, secretive meetings and angry exchanges, the end seemed anti-climactic. Sanderson Farms quietly announced that it would not build a huge chicken plant in southern Nash County. 

The announcement comes as a relief to Wilson city officials, who had fought the chicken plant in court over a three-year period, spending somewhere around a million dollars to stop the slaughterhouse from threatening the city's water supply with its effluent. Also relieved were Nash County landowners along the N.C. 97 corridor, including a number of homeowners on the peaceful Tar River Reservoir. They saw the chicken plant as a threat to their homes' value. Opponents also saw the huge plant's voracious appetite for thousands of chickens an hour as another threat — farms to grow all those chickens would create their own odor and pollution.

The fight was over a chicken plant's potential pollution, but it was about more than that. It was about the future of this region. Wilson County has worked assiduously for years to develop an industrial base that will provide high-paying, reliable jobs for a growing population. Pharmaceutical companies fit that bill, and beginning with Merck in the early 1980s, Wilson has courted drug makers and other high-tech firms.

Adjacent Nash County's courtship with a chicken slaughterhouse threatened the clean water the pharmaceuticals coveted, but it also threatened a trend toward better jobs and more cultural amenities. The low-paid workers in the chicken plant would not support the local restaurants, the Theater of the American South, the Arts Council, art studios, Barton College and other attractions that depend on the support of local residents.

The folks in Nash County touted the 1,000 jobs Sanderson promised, but those jobs might drive away tomorrow's pharmaceutical companies and high-tech companies that expect cultural amenities. Would 1,000 jobs at $20,000 a year make up for the loss of 500 jobs at $50,000 a year? Nash County's leaders were setting their sights low and betting on an economic development model that might have worked in the 1950s but won't work today. I wrote about this jobs-at-any-cost mentality in August.

Wilson officials were condemned in some corners for sending $1 million to oppose a neighbor's vision of economic development, but they were on the right side of the wave of the future. Their investment succeeded in stopping an industry that would have changed this area — both Wilson and Nash — for the worse: Low-paying jobs, increasingly immigrant labor force, rapid turnover and minimal investment in the community. The future will see the fight against Sanderson as money well spent and a war worth fighting.

Toppled trees should be replaced

You would think that, after the devastating hurricanes of 1996 and 1999, Wilson would have few trees left for high winds to topple. But everywhere I go now, I see trees down and damage to homes that stood in the falling trees' paths.

I spent the day that Hurricane Irene struck and several days thereafter in Rocky Mount and did not get to see much of Wilson's damage. In terms of damage to the electrical grid, Rocky Mount clearly had it worse. There were still hundreds of Rocky Mount customers without power days after Wilson Energy announced its lines were fully restored. But that doesn't mean that there weren't many, many trees down on Wilson houses or across Wilson streets. Stately old willow oaks were twisted and wrenched from their trunks in many Wilson yards. Or big trees were ripped from the ground, their monstrous root ball exposed to the air. Some pines were snapped off high above the ground. In my yard, we had limbs and branches down, but the trees somehow managed to withstand the wind. We are worried about one sassafras, however. Its roots were lifted and partly exposed, and we could not pull the tree back to a fully upright position. I used an electric chain saw to trim back the tree and bring it more upright. We're hoping it will survive.

We want these trees to survive because they provide shade and charm to a neighborhood. That's why older neighborhoods, with stately trees and canopied streets look so much more appealing than stark new streets without a tree in sight. But there are dangers. Trees have a life span, and they incur diseases that leave them hollow and brittle. Add a little wind, and you can have a 70-foot obstruction in the street or a cleaver that chops off a roof gable. Still, if you look at Wilson from the seventh-floor board room of the BB&T Towers, you see green trees stretching to the horizon with a steeple or roofline here and there. The carpet of treetops seems as impenetrable as a shield. Those trees of our urban forest are our best antidote to the pollution created by our cars, trucks, power plants and furnaces. Without them, our streets would be barren, our yards inhospitably hotter and our air dirtier.

That's why I hope all of the trees lost to Hurricane Irene, as well as those toppled by Floyd and Fran, will be replaced with healthy, long-living and beautiful trees so that our landscape will always be charming and inviting.

Loss of trees affects entire neighborhood

For all of the 30 years I've lived in Wilson, I have passed by the quiet glade of trees that flanked the site of Farmington Heights Church of God, seldom paying much attention to the mature pines and hardwoods that framed my drive along Raleigh Road Parkway. In the past few weeks, however, those trees have been cut, the entire tract of land scalped of trees and all vegetation, leaving nothing but dirt, mud and silt fences erected by the grading contractors.

The view above is not nearly as pleasant for passing motorists as the trees that had stood there for decades, but the people who are really hurt, and I suspect heartbroken, by this construction are those who live behind the lot on Buxton Drive. Their back yards, once concealed by the thick stand of trees, are now exposed to Raleigh Road traffic. Their privacy has been violated.

Perhaps it's unrealistic to think those trees could stand up to development pressure on the heavily traveled street, but developing a lot or building a house or other structure does not require the destruction of every living tree on the lot. The city of Wilson, which touts its "City of Trees" image and has a tree on its official flag, needs a tree ordinance that prohibits unnecessary destruction of mature trees. Trees or other barriers are required as buffers between different development zones, but regulations need to protect other trees, too. The folks on Buxton Drive know the impact of tree-cutting on adjacent lots — their privacy and their backyard environment are forever changed because the trees that hid and shaded their yards are gone. It will take another 20 years to grow replacements for those mature trees. Developers could leave trees along property lines that give shade and protection to neighboring properties. Property owners could be required to go through a review process before cutting down mature trees that add shade and charm to entire neighborhoods. Wanton cutting of trees affects every property owner in the neighborhood, so protecting trees is a collective, neighborhood interest.

Many years ago, residents of Cavalier Circle objected to the development of commercial properties on Ward Boulevard. The cutting of a small forest there for construction of offices threatened the value of their homes. That development left more trees and more privacy than the site above, however.

City officials, standing behind Wilson's Tree City USA image, have failed to address the protection of trees and, with it, the protection of residents' property values, privacy and neighborhood charm. Either give up the tree imagery or get serious about it.

Chicken plant controversy divides neighbors

The News & Observer has finally weighed in on the controversy over Sanderson Farms' plans to place a chicken processing plant in Nash County near the Wilson County line. The Raleigh paper takes an in-depth look at the Nash vs. Wilson issue in a long Sunday article.

I've found the issue intriguing for several reasons. My father worked for many years in a chicken plant, known in our household and in the community as "the turkey plant." The plant in Marshville was originally locally owned but later went through a series of corporate ownerships. He was a production worker, standing in waterproof boots to shovel ice onto freshly killed chicken carcasses. It was hard work and was seasonal at first as turkey demand peaked before Thanksgiving but declined through much of the year. It was hard, dirty, physical labor for low wages.

In the 1960s, a number of farmers in the area, including some of our neighbors, got into the chicken business. They built the long, straight, shiny-roofed chicken houses and raised tens of thousands of birds at the time. The wood shavings that covered the ground inside the floorless houses became quickly drenched in chicken poop, and the farmers would clean out the old shavings and replace them with fresh shavings after a few generations of chickens had been raised. The excrement-filled shavings would be spread on farm fields as fertilizer, which was apparently pretty effective at boosting crops. The chicken houses also came with a repugnant odor. For a long time, my parents couldn't sit outdoors when the breeze brought the smell from neighbors' chicken houses. About 20 years ago, when I took a ride on a country road in my native county with the top off my car, I nearly gagged on the odor from chicken houses. A friend I met later in the day defended the farmers: "That's the smell of money," she said. People in this area who have dealt with the odor from hog farms know what it's like.

So it should be no surprise that Wilson officials are objecting to the Sanderson Farms plan to spray chicken waste on fields in Wilson's watershed. The plan calls for a pipeline to pump the effluent from Rocky Mount's watershed to Wilson's — a decision particularly galling to Wilson officials, who had supported supplying water to Rocky Mount when the latter city's reservoir ran low during a drought. The city has joined a lawsuit brought by some residents. Some Wilson officials are incensed by the proposal, seeing the plan as a bad economic decision that could harm all of eastern North Carolina and keep this area shackled to factory-scale agriculture and low-wage jobs that could permanently hinder industrial recruitment. Sanderson will need scores of chicken farms to feed its processing plant, and that will mean pungent odors will hamper development and progress in much the same way that the state's hands-off attitude toward hog farms a decade ago left eastern North Carolina freckled with hog waste lagoons.

Some Nash County residents seem just as angry about Wilson's "interference" in the county's effort to provide 1,100 jobs. The acrimony took me by surprise recently when I was in Rocky Mount. Caught in the middle are residents along N.C. 97 and N.C. 58 near the Rocky Mount-Wilson Airport and the Tar River Reservoir. Owners of palatial homes on the reservoir worry about their homes' value and the potential for water pollution and odor. "Stop the chicken plant" signs abound there.

Survey asks what's good about Wilson

I received an e-mailed survey this week that asked me for some comments about my adopted hometown. The survey is being conducted by a coalition including the Wilson Visitors Bureau, Wilson County Economic Development, the Wilson Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Development. Although I often turn down survey requests (especially those on the telephone, which, I'm promised, will "only take a few minutes"), I agreed to respond to this one.

The survey sets up a scenario: You're on an elevator, and someone asks you to describe Wilson. In elevator-ride brevity, what do you say? Or you're asked, on that same brief elevator ride, why you'd want to live in Wilson, to open a business here, to retire here or to visit. Let me preface my comments by saying that I came to Wilson in 1980 having never visited the place and having never lived in eastern North Carolina. This region is quite different from the Piedmont or the mountains, and the difference goes beyond topography. It took some time to adjust to this different culture. But we've adjusted, raised our children here and have no intention of leaving.

How would I describe Wilson?

Wilson combines the best elements of a small town with those of a small city. It’s a place where you stop and chat in the supermarket or table-hop at a restaurant, and where you know the neighbors’ children. It’s also a place with a vigorous arts community, a private, liberal arts college that is active in the larger community, several excellent, local restaurants, strong, biracial nonprofit groups, a solid manufacturing base, and a rich agricultural heritage.

Why should a business come here?

Wilson’s city government prides itself on being business-friendly. City staff willingly works with businesses to accommodate their needs wherever possible. Wilson’s median income is sufficient to support retail and service businesses. Long-range thinking has provided Wilson with adequate water, sewer, natural gas and electrical capacity.

Why would someone want to live here?

Wilson is a pleasant place to live with many comfortable, walkable neighborhoods and a wide variety of housing types and styles. Public schools are good, and there are also a private school, a charter school and Christian schools. Long-time residents agree that it’s a good place to raise children, and it has a sense of civic purpose and pride with hundreds of volunteers supporting a variety of civic groups and nonprofits.

Why would someone want to retire here?

Housing costs and taxes are low compared to larger cities. The police force is excellent and helpful. Local arts and theater groups and an excellent public library provide entertainment and enrichment, and Raleigh is less than an hour away with even more entertainment and nightlife. Beaches are only about two hours away, and four golf courses are available year-round. The city’s reservoirs allow boating and fishing.

Why would someone want to visit?

Wilson has a grand collection of late-Victorian and early-20^th century houses that can be viewed on a walking tour. The Wilson Arts Center exhibits area artists, and Studio One is a working studio and gallery for local artists. The annual Whirligig Festival celebrates whimsical windmill sculptures with live music, entertainment and food. The North Carolina Baseball Museum is adjacent to Fleming Stadium, one of the few remaining 1930s minor-league baseball stadiums, where the Wilson Tobs play each summer. Imagination Station expands children’s imagination, and the Round House Museum celebrates African-American history. The Edna Boykin Cultural Center, a 1919 vaudeville theater, stages comedies, dramas or musical shows most weekends. Also in the area are a Tobacco Farm Life Museum and a Country Doctor Museum.

At least that's the way I see it. I offer these opinions fully cognizant of the anonymous person or persons who like to comment on this blog and other sites deriding Wilson as a cesspool too horrid to be endured (so why doesn't he just leave?). But most people I know, across racial and economic strata, like living here and take pride in their community. In nearly 30 years of writing newspaper editorials from here, I found plenty to criticize about Wilson and Wilson County. No place is perfect, but this place has a lot going for it and some untapped potential waiting to be discovered.

Tour validates Wilson's artsy reputation

One transplanted Wilsonian proclaimed last Saturday's first Visual Arts Studio Tour "as good as anything we ever saw in New York." The day-long open house at the studios of dozens of artists was proclaimed a success, one that is likely to become an annual event.

This success enhances Wilson's status as an oasis for artists and bolsters Lindsey de Guehery's suggestion that Wilson promote itself as the "City of the Arts." If Durham can transform its image from rough-and-tumble Tobacco Town to City of Medicine, Wilson can effect a similar transition.

Saturday's tour truly did validate the art proponents' claim that Wilson is an art-friendly and art-supportive community. From Studio One, an artists cooperative in the Walston Center, to world-renown photographer Burk Uzzle's studio home on Vance Street to celebrated whirligig artist Vollis Simpson's whimsical creations near Lucama and in downtown Wilson and to the numerous other painting, sculpture, pottery, woodworking and fabric artists around town, local artists give Wilson a distinctive patina. One of the delights of last weekend's tour was that most studios were not crowded, giving patrons an opportunity to talk to the artists about their art. The Wilson Arts Council's holiday art reception is often so jam-packed that it's difficult to see all the art on display and for sale.

Wilson can leverage this acknowledgment among the arts community of the town's receptiveness toward artists by continuing to support the Arts Council (an object of frequent criticism among the angry philistines) and by promoting art on the city's, county's and Tourism Authority's Web sites.

Next month, the Theater of the American South makes its third run in Wilson, bringing top-rated professional theater, along with cooking demonstrations and lectures on Southern culture and literature, to Wilson. By the fall, Barton College should be ready to dedicate its Lauren Kennedy and Alan Campbell Theatre, giving a decisive boost to the college's drama program.

Promoting Wilson's artistic potential could pay big dividends for the city, but that promotion has been largely limited to local artists, such as Uzzle, who have been acclaiming this community to artist friends in places such as New York. Local organizations, such as the Arts Council, Downtown Development Corporation and the city need to take up the banner. The local Tourism Authority would ordinarily be a key promoter, but the tax-supported agency is ridiculously ensconced in a nondescript storefront next to a tobacco retailer off Interstate 95, miles from the artists who give Wilson a distinctive persona.

Residents envision Wilson in 2030

More than 50 people who gathered last night at the City Operations Center for what the city Planning Department called the 2030 Comprehensive Plan Neighborhoods, Gateways and Corridors Design Charrette. The residents representing various neighborhoods and interest groups in the city divided into groups and brainstormed about what they thought the city's gateways, neighborhoods (Old Wilson and Five Points) and corridors (U.S. 301) should look like 20 years from now.

The proposals for U.S. 301, which the city has been wrestling with for years, were the most elaborate and expensive. The busy corridor with its mix of small, aged housing and old eyesores of industrial and commercial properties is a particularly vexing problem. Solutions will be expensive, and changes will disrupt businesses and residents (mostly renters along 301 itself, but many established homeowners in the neighborhoods nearby). Like other pods, my group suggested  major changes in terms of landscaping, trees, parks, sidewalks and/or bike trails and demolition of the most outdated structures. We suggested new commercial properties along the four-lane with a buffer between those properties and existing housing beyond them. All the groups wanted to revamp and rehabilitate Fikewood Shopping Center, which has deteriorated badly since its opening in the 1980s. Major private investment will be needed to bring this area a solid retail center, and that might be the most difficult step in all these proposals.

Gateway improvements garnered perhaps the most creative thinking of the evening. One thing all the participants learned is that Wilson has many gateways. It's not just U.S. 264 from Raleigh, but also U.S. 301 North and South, N.C. 42 East and West, N.C. 58 East and West, Downing Street, etc. Well-landscaped, welcoming markers with greenery and flowers were universally proposed at as many as a dozen locations. My group suggested public art, such as Vollis Simpson whirligigs, at each entrance. Another group proposed a stone marker as a gateway motif. Another suggested a small wall or pillar of Silas Lucas brick. All suggested an identifying marker that would announce one's entrance into Wilson.

These proposals will be merged and presented to the public Thursday night at 7 at the Del Mastro Auditorium at Wilson Community College. It will provide a peek at what Wilson could look like in another 20 years if city officials take the comprehensive plan, which is still another year in the making, and run with it.

Wilson is ahead of Raleigh once again

Once again, the city of Wilson is ahead of Raleigh. Last year, The Independent Weekly ran a laudatory article about Wilson's high-speed Internet service, trademarked as GreenLight. The Raleigh News & Observer is reporting today that Raleigh's plans for a 50-block downtown Wi-Fi service faces some opposition. Some critics are complaining that the $180,000 construction plus $15,000 in annual maintenance the Raleigh network would cost could be better spent.

Wilson has offered free downtown Wi-Fi for a couple of years. Amtrak passengers have been able to check their e-mail and conduct Internet business while waiting for their connections. A number of restaurants and other businesses offer free Wi-Fi within their buildings. I'm using my own home Wi-Fi connection to write this column, and my computer shows four other Wi-Fi networks (my neighbors') within range of my home.

Wilson's low-key and low-cost Wi-Fi network sailed through with little criticism. Many of the local critics confused the Wi-Fi network with the city's fiber-optic network (GreenLight), whose $28 million cost is expected to be paid by Internet, phone and cable TV customers. If the fiber system works according to the business plan, it will be turning a profit in just a few years. The Wi-Fi network, meanwhile, provides a simple but much-appreciated enhancement for downtown workers and visitors at relatively little cost for the city.

Its up-and-running Wi-Fi network puts Wilson ahead of Raleigh and on pace with more progressive (and costly) cities such as Chapel Hill.

Wilson gets double dose from Our State

Wilson gets a double dose in the March issue of Our State magazine. Two articles in this outstanding magazine feature Wilson prominently. Wilson is one of the "11 Perfect Weekends" featured on the cover, and a culinary feature on barbecue entrepreneur Ed Mitchell cites his Wilson roots.

The weekend getaway to Wilson is a baseball weekend, featuring the city's historic Fleming Stadium and its adjacent North Carolina Baseball Museum. It's a nice portrait of the city's love of baseball, beginning with sports advocate and hot dog king Lee Gliarmis. Writer Chris Gigley of Greensboro suggests a hot dog at Dick's Hot Dog Stand, owned by Gliarmis, both for the cuisine and for the photographs that cover the landmark restaurant's walls, then a trip to circa 1938 Fleming Stadium. The stadium, as Wilson residents know, was refurbished by the city in the 1990s to provide a home for a college summer league team, the Wilson Tobs, but it still retains the charm and close-up seating of old ballparks. The Baseball Museum gets a few paragraphs, but no mention of plans to expand the museum and no photos of the museum or its exhibits.

While you're in Wilson, the writer suggests, take a side trip to Kinston or Zebulon for more baseball. The Kinston Indians play in the 1949 Grainger Stadium, and the Carolina Mudcats play in modern, new, downright extravagant Five County Stadium. The near-major-league-quality Five County Stadium features a white-linen restaurant, Cattails, on its top deck.

The infobox with the story suggests staying at the Whitehead Inn, the city's only B&B — a natural choice for a travel magazine that garners lots of B&B ads. It also suggests checking out the cuisine at Parker's Barbecue (naturally) and Bill's World Famous Barbecue and Chicken. I thought the old Bill's Barbecue was now named Bill Ellis Barbecue. Maybe I'm behind. But the writer is definitely behind in recommending Inner Banks Market, which has been closed for about a year or more.

If you're going to suggest Wilson restaurants, you shouldn't overlook JAC's Grill, Fifty-Fifty Lounge or Quince for fine food, or Sylvia's for traditional down-home cooking. Or Griff's, Beefmastor or Rocky's for traditional steakhouses. Or Silver Lake or Worrell's for seafood.

And speaking of food, the other Wilson story is about Ed Mitchell's ascent as a barbecue chef. Bob Garner, who did a series with WUNC-TV on North Carolina barbecue and wrote a book on the subject, tells Mitchell's story of being "discovered" by the New York Times' Calvin Trillin and of his setbacks as he expanded his family's former neighborhood store into a big restaurant on U.S. 301. Mitchell is now expanding his legend in Raleigh, where he operates The Pit at 201 E. Davie St. (919-821-3098).

I ate at Mitchell's Wilson restaurant several times before it closed in a financial and legal mess a few years ago, but I haven't been to his Raleigh restaurant. Mitchell is an engaging, friendly guy who is as good at public relations and promotion as he is at barbecuing. His current fame and success are based on more than the taste of his barbecue. In his overalls and cap, he also looks and acts the part of the good ol' hometown boy who's just a natural-born pork cooker.

I miss Mitchell's restaurant in Wilson, but I wish him well in the big city.

City says farewell with the right fanfare

The city of Wilson and her co-workers gave Alice Freeman, assistant city manager, a grand send-off Thursday. A reception at the City Operations Center gave everyone a chance to say goodbye to Alice, who started her city career in 1978. It also featured a fat book full of accolades for Alice from co-workers, public officials (including Gov. Mike Easley and former Gov. Jim Hunt). A video presentation featured photographs of Alice's city career and her earlier years.

Alice is one of the most upbeat, cheerful and welcoming people I've ever met. She wasn't above cracking a joke or calling to tease me about something going on at the Daily Times when I was managing editor, editor or opinion editor there. She also let me know when she disliked something I had done or that the newspaper had done. And on occasion she would call out of the blue to ask for my advice on finding the right word or punctuating a sentence in the right way. With Alice, it was always a pleasant conversation, regardless of whether she called to praise, to joke or to complain.

She served the city well over a lot of years, and the city said goodbye to her Thursday in a way befitting her dedication and her impact.

It's unfortunate that many other loyal, dedicated employees, especially in this awful economic downturn, are not being given the farewell their work and their years warrant.

City planners focus on conserving neighborhoods

Wednesday night's public symposium on the city of Wilson's comprehensive plan brought out a large and diverse crowd to Wilson Community College. That should bode well for the plan that is now in its initial stages.

Perhaps the most interesting insight from a panel of four "experts" dealt with neighborhood conservation, a concept that has been used in Chapel Hill, Raleigh and other cities. It's obvious that Wilson is behind the curve on this concept. Why conserve a neighborhood when you can simply create a whole new one out of outlying farmland? That's been the deal the city has made with developers and home builders in years past. But the use of neighborhood conservation overlay districts in other cities has shown that saving neighborhoods is good for the residents, property owners and the city itself.

Too often in Wilson, neighborhoods have been considered expendable. Once-grand neighborhoods have been transformed into unattractive, low-income, dilapidated streetscapes. Enforcing historic preservation and neighborhood conservation appearance standards can forestall neighborhood deterioration. Limiting the extension of city services, including water and sewer lines, roads and electrical power to outlying undeveloped land would restrict the overbuilding of housing stock, which reduces the value of existing (i.e. older) homes. Creative ways of encouraging home ownership, such as property tax reductions for owners willing to restore dilapidated or abandoned housing, would further boost existing neighborhoods and clean up some of the city's residential eyesores.

Wilson's comprehensive plan will be a long time in the making, but a focus on neighborhoods looks like a good place to start.