Gaston Gazette

Let’s see, at every property revaluation, let’s lower the tax rate by 3 or 4 cents, and tap into the reserve funds to balance the county budget.

Then, we can justify fee-for-service where only those who use the service have to pay the fee.

It is simple, democratic, and fair for all who would be using the service, right?

Well in this case the newly instituted parking fees for “close in” parking near the courthouse in Gastonia have a few detractors who don’t like the idea of walking or being inconvenienced by a few extra feet.

In the case of attorneys who frequent the courthouse, we are sure that they have already figured a way to incorporate their “inconvenience” into their fee structures. So, who really loses and who really wins in this instance?

Did the county consider the parking “spread” in their plans when the new courthouse was built? They considered future use of the courthouse — by building an additional floor for future use. But where to put all the cars that people drive to get to the shiny edifice? Well, let’s plan for a parking deck — and figure out how to pay for it sometime later.

As our attention turns from municipal elections to county-related issues this might be one question to ask candidates and incumbents for any office. As with all OPM (other people’s money) questions, what are your plans to manage future costs and maintenance?

We feel that the $80-100,000 per year fee generation is a bit overly optimistic on county staffers budget estimates, and who is to say that this particular designation for offsets will hold past any election rhetoric?

As for us poor people who occasionally need to go to the court house, the one-block walk or the cross-over from the Main Avenue free parking side of town is not that big of a deal, even for the in-and-out errands.

Maybe the Gazette does like Belmont just a tad.

Front page above the fold article in Monday Gazette (10/29/07) briefly discusses what makes up a walkable community and which towns in Gaston are the best.

(Mike Hendsill – Gazette Photo)

Unfortunately, the Gazette writers chose the Hawthorne (Imperial Mill Village) neighborhood as an “established” neighborhood. It is in reality, a new community (built-out over the last 4 years) constructed over what was once an historic textile mill village.

And that is just part of the overall landscape.

Imperial Hawthorne (the forward slash deliberately left off), or now commonly referred to as the Great Wall of Keener, is indeed a very walkable community — for those who could afford to live there.

The more established, and mature neighborhoods, such as Reid, Davis Park,  Mt. Pleasant, Cottonwood, and Adams Bluff, are even better suited for the tag as walkable communities within Belmont. Adams Bluff, however, being the only neighborhood with intersecting sidewalks.

Each are within the mile and a half of shopping and library. Each have low traffic flow which allows for some roadway walking, and the neighborhoods also have distinctive cultural diversity not generally found in the chosen neighborhood. Each are safe in relative terms.

We hope that the new in-town communities of Belmont Reserve (Belmont Hosiery), Eagle Park (Eagle Mill and Village), can and will be rated, because each of these will have internal sidewalks that interconnect with the existing city sidewalks and other neighborhoods.  

Under the Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) concept, and within the Neighborhood Preservation vision as outlined in the recent Comprehensive Land Use Plan, we encourage more developers and in-fill projects to highlight their plan for keeping Belmont a “Walkable Community” 

Congratulations to Elyse Will and her South Point Cross Country teammates !

Ms. Will won first place in the competition at Ashbrook in a season best time of 20:48.1. East Gaston won the team competition by 6 points over 2nd place South Point.

What is interesting is that in both the boys and girls competitions, multiple soccer players appeared among the all-conference (top 15) award winners.

Listing of the results courtesy of the Gastonia Gazette:

GIRLS
Individual results
(Top 15 named all-conference)
1, Elyse Will, South Point, 20:48.1; 2, Hayley Black, East Gaston, 22:47.2; 3, Tameron Sealey, East Gaston, 23:11.2; 4, Emily McEwan, South Point, 23:31.4; 5, Cameron Sealey, East Gaston, 23:45.9; 6, Damita Ford, Hunter Huss, 23:52.4; 7, Abby Propst, North Gaston, 23:56.2; 8, Lauren Parker, South Point, 24:05.6; 9, Allison Rodriguez, Forestview, 24:13.2; 10, Kylie Payne, East Gaston, 24:15.2; 11, Anna Vermeulen, Forestview, 24:16.9; 12, Kelsey Davis, South Point, 24:31.2; 13, Janet Smith, East Gaston, 24:37.0; 14, Emily Costner, Ashbrook, 24:43.4; 15, Amanda Spence, South Point, 24:45.0; 16, Foo Matthews, Forestview, 24:53.6; 17, Becca Coley, East Gaston, 25:02.5; 18, Caroline Boyce, South Point, 25:04.7; 19, Mary Leslie Miller, Forestview, 25:06.5; 20, Courtney Huggins, Ashbrook, 25:12.5; 21, Emily Rhodes, Ashbrook, 25:13.7; 22, Hayley Connor, Ashbrook, 25:21.5; 23, Mara Teague, East Gaston, 25:22.3; 24, Erin Cockfield, Ashbrook, 25:37.6; 25, Courtney Cooper, Ashbrook, 25:40.1.
At large all-conference selection — Chance Walker, Ashbrook

Team scores
1, East Gaston, 31; 2, South Point, 37, 3, Forestview, 78; 4, Ashbrook, 96; 5, Hunter Huss, 143; 6, Crest, 157; North Gaston, no score.

BOYS
Individual results
(Top 15 named all-conference)
1, Zack Queen, Forestview, 17:42.8; 2, Jacob Englert, Forestview, 17:58.7; 3, Michael Rogers, Ashbrook, 18:26.2; 4, William Carstarphen, South Point, 18:33.0; 5, Allen Salazar, Forestview, 18;36.7; 6, Will Carter, Forestview, 18:39.8; 7, Miles Lynn, Hunter Huss, 18:46.4; 8, Logan Helsel, East Gaston, 18:52.2; 9, Brandon Rouse, Forestview, 18:57.7; 10, Jimmy Heracklis, Forestview, 19:07.6; 11, Terry Peters, Ashbrook, 19:18.3; 12, Josh McKinney, Crest, 19:22.8; 13, Jarrett Willis, Crest, 19:41.0; 14, Matthew Knight, Forestview, 19:44.6; 15, Chandler Caldwell, Forestview, 19:45.9; 16, Matthew Katsuleris, East Gaston, 19:51.9; 17, Kyle Bradley, Forestview, 19:52.9; 18, Patrick Rhyne, East Gaston, 19:54.6; 19, Alan Nolting, South Point, 19:59.5; 20, Patrick Stillwell, South Point, 20:00.2; 21, Kyle Nelson, Forestview, 20:01.6; 22, Charlie Sinclair, East Gaston, 20:03.9; 23, Jonathan Robinson, Ashbrook, 20:13.4; 24, Eric Quinn, Ashbrook, 20:14.4; 25, Nathaniel Nieminen, Ashbrook, 20:17.8.

Team scores
1, Forestview, 23; 2, Ashbrook, 77; 3, East Gaston, 87; 4, South Point, 100; 5, Crest, 104; 6, Hunter Huss, 160; North Gaston, no score.