Arch Wrap Up, Mayor Jon Reep? and 92Chicken

[00:00:00] Welcome to StreetCircleDrive here on the MESH Podcast Network. StreetCircleDrive is your

[00:00:18] Hickory North Carolina Centric podcast. For people who love Hickory North Carolina, you

[00:00:23] Hickory nuts. Here we are back again today. I am your host Andrew Moose. Today with me,

[00:00:28] I have three co-hosts sitting directly across from me is Mr. Mark Seaman. How you doing Mark?

[00:00:34] Wonderful Moose. How about yourself? Doing perfect. Sitting to Mark's left, Mr. Richard Doughty. How

[00:00:38] you doing? Good morning afternoon or wherever you guys are listening. Good morning afternoon and

[00:00:42] good night. Good morning afternoon and evening. Right. And sitting to Richard's left we have

[00:00:47] this police plan. Good afternoon. I almost said good morning. Almost got her. Almost got her.

[00:00:53] It all depends on when they listen. Yeah, you're going to get somebody. Right. We released these

[00:00:58] at midnight generally speaking so you never know when you're going to catch them. I actually

[00:01:01] listened to the last episode about 2 a.m. So thank you for the number. So is that more,

[00:01:07] that's technically morning but really 2 a.m. nights. That is still a work hour for me.

[00:01:12] That's still a work day for me. Right. So, you know, we couldn't do this podcast without

[00:01:17] you and we do sincerely appreciate you tuning in. Once you've listened to this podcast,

[00:01:21] we'd love it if you'd head over to themesh.tv and subscribe to this show and all the other ones

[00:01:25] so you receive new streets, circle drive podcasts as soon as they drop each and every other Tuesday.

[00:01:30] I believe is the clip we're on right now. Every other Tuesday. We'll go with that. Yeah.

[00:01:34] Well, this sounds good. It's what we're doing. Yeah, so on the Mesnetwork we've got all kinds

[00:01:37] of shows, countries with John Reed, Kathleen Madigan's podcast, big fan, Chick Chat, Altrupa

[00:01:42] More Exchange, I'm with the man, Footcamp Films podcast and more and more and more and

[00:01:46] more every day. So we appreciate you tuning in and all that good stuff.

[00:01:50] After the last installment of Street Circle Drive, let me tell you, we've had some people

[00:01:56] respond to our podcast and it was great. All positive feedback too, which was different

[00:02:03] and we actually had some of those quote unquote detractors that I was so eloquently speaking

[00:02:07] about. Actually reach out and say, you know what? I think you're right. I think that we,

[00:02:15] I'm just kidding. Nobody did. Oh, look, hey, with the arches falling, I found the toxic side of it.

[00:02:24] Wow. Where have you guys been? I thought we were making a dent into that. Man, the impact.

[00:02:31] We had impact. We had 10s of confidence. So yeah, if you guys haven't listened to that podcast,

[00:02:40] you can find it on wherever you do find your podcast. Mark, you and I were speaking offline

[00:02:46] today at lunch about the what's next for the arches, what's going on? I think I just saw

[00:02:54] that the Hickory Daily Record just reported that City of Hickory will not be conducting an

[00:03:00] investigation for the arches per their insurance platform. Is that correct? That is correct. So the

[00:03:05] arches actually, the arches, the walkway and the bridge itself, none of that is actually owned

[00:03:17] by the city. What? Oh, so they had not taken the bridge itself as a DOT road. Correct. So

[00:03:24] that's not owned by the city. And then the arches and the bridge over had not been assumed,

[00:03:30] the city had not assumed responsibility yet for those pieces. So the contractor sub,

[00:03:38] and I might get something wrong, but contractor subcontractor, the folks that built the arches

[00:03:43] as well as the engineers are the ones that still are kind of involved with that. And then

[00:03:48] they'll have their insurance companies will then do investigations and determine basically how

[00:03:53] it's going to be handled moving forward. So it doesn't make sense. The city obviously has skin in

[00:03:59] the game, but they don't own it. So this if the city does an independent insurance investigation,

[00:04:05] and then they say maybe something that's different or something that is,

[00:04:11] it could screw the pooch in the long run. Really good because it doesn't really affect,

[00:04:14] I mean, it does affect the city. You gotta be careful to use the words, but

[00:04:18] their responsibility right now to figure out what happened and then make the city hold

[00:04:22] for that. So that's kind of where you're at at this point. And then there's also been some

[00:04:26] questions about will the any reports be released? And that is also not within the city's control

[00:04:33] because the city is not doing the reports. Right. It just seems like every, it's just

[00:04:38] indemnifying responsibility at every turn for everyone. Who can we get to, and this is not

[00:04:46] on the city per se, but there's a whole lot of buck passing going on right now. And it gets

[00:04:51] to the point to where you have to wait through the weeds and the semantics to figure out as a

[00:04:57] citizenry, like who's responsible and who's like how are we going to fix this? And it just seems

[00:05:02] like, like as of right now, the responsibility is not on the city. Correct. Correct. Because

[00:05:09] that's not the city's property. It seems weird to say that, but technically the city,

[00:05:14] not technically the city has not received those items. They did not take responsibility for those

[00:05:20] items. So it is not the city's property. So Mark, are you saying that city hickory might have

[00:05:25] skated one here? There would, you can take your city hickory hat. That I don't really know for

[00:05:31] sure. I mean, obviously timing, if you take responsibility, but there still would have

[00:05:34] been insurance in place and they're still, which I'm not pertinent to this information,

[00:05:37] but they're still, I'm sure was a warranty in place. So yes, if this would have happened

[00:05:41] 30 years from now, then it might have been left in the city's lab. Right. Even

[00:05:45] if it happened in the near future, I would think there would be mechanisms in place

[00:05:49] to protect the city. Certainly, certainly. So as it sits right now today is March the

[00:05:55] second, I believe, and we're broadcasting around lunchtime.

[00:06:00] What's left of our arches in hickory are still on the bridge and will be on there for the

[00:06:07] foreseeable future. Until the whoever's doing the investigation releases until whoever,

[00:06:12] who all those insurance companies are says, Hey, okay, it's good. We got all the

[00:06:16] information we need. Go ahead and clean it up. It's like an active scene.

[00:06:20] Yeah. Don't touch the scene. That's right. It is. That's why it's blocked off.

[00:06:25] That's why you get up there. There is 24 hour security up there.

[00:06:29] Hey, give the Internet a couple of minutes. It'll be a chalked out.

[00:06:33] That's exactly right. Right. So who knows how long that's all going to take.

[00:06:38] That's really kind of again out of the city's hands. And then you're going to have that

[00:06:42] like when this will all be cleared up will probably be well if anybody's ever had a car accident

[00:06:47] and it takes a while to go through the process of insurance, whether it's your fault or somebody

[00:06:52] else's fault takes a little while for all that to go through. We imagine that's your car. This is

[00:06:57] three quarters of a million dollars. Right. So it'll take a little while for this whole

[00:07:00] people aren't going to get answers as quick as they would like. Yeah. No, no, no. Well,

[00:07:03] I got to tell you, it just makes me so sad when I drive under there and then also cautious

[00:07:09] because they're still there. And then I'm thinking, okay, well who's going to remove

[00:07:15] them? But it looks like it's going to take a while. So I guess I'll just continue to drive

[00:07:20] under them. They could be removed in a little while. I mean, the removal piece might be sooner.

[00:07:25] I mean, you can only investigate so much. You say insurance companies, they could file

[00:07:31] with us. It could be removed here before too long. But it might be a while before there's

[00:07:37] any actual resolution on what's going to happen moving forward. Right. So in other

[00:07:42] words, we as a citizen of Hickory or just need to be patient because we're anything. We are patient

[00:07:50] in this down. Yeah. Just got to let it play itself out. So on the last podcast we talked about,

[00:07:59] well I mentioned that I have not driven under that bridge yet. Today going to lunch

[00:08:05] was the first time that I drove under that and I gave it a little pray, pray,

[00:08:10] praise Jesus. I'm like pumping, raising the roof a little bit as I was driving underneath it.

[00:08:15] You're trying to raise the bridge? Just trying to just, you know, putting all the juju out there

[00:08:19] in the universe. I was right behind him. So I saw that I'm thinking, I'm thinking, is he trying

[00:08:24] to also drive and make sure like. So you think he's going to catch it with their hand?

[00:08:29] Right. I was putting all the polyanna, the goodness out there and trying to raise

[00:08:34] that roof just a little bit. I'll be honest with you until I listened to the last podcast,

[00:08:39] I wasn't really concerned about it. I mean, I drove under it and maybe like two weeks ago

[00:08:43] I saw that area where the arch fell and broke off a piece of the sidebar of the bridge,

[00:08:47] but I hadn't thought anything of it. And then I mean, I drive there two or three times a day

[00:08:52] going and picking up the boys. And then you guys mentioned them like, okay, yeah, that's possible.

[00:08:56] But then Mike had a really good point. It was how many of these bridges are already

[00:09:01] like deteriorated and stuff like that. So yeah, like so I'm like, it's a lot.

[00:09:07] Yeah. It's actually rubble falling. Right. I think there's been, there's a lot of,

[00:09:10] there's been a lot of studies out there that have determined that a lot of Brent,

[00:09:16] a lot of infrastructure in the United States is and not only just in Hickory is

[00:09:21] across the board dilapidated, you know, and maybe that bridge now that a 40 ton structure

[00:09:26] is falling on might get a bump in the line to get up there for repairs. But we digress, right?

[00:09:33] So I don't know about y'all, but I'm kind of tired of talking about the archers already.

[00:09:38] I'm ready to move on. Yeah, me too. Me too. I'm ready.

[00:09:42] So we're gonna, we're going to bury it right there until the next podcast probably when we

[00:09:46] can give some updates. But until then let's talk about John Reep from running for mayor.

[00:09:51] Okay. I'm so glad we're on this subject. Right. So this week,

[00:09:57] friend of the podcast, Mr. John Reep has went to the board of elections and attempted

[00:10:05] to file to run for mayor. And you know, we are a very neutral place here in

[00:10:12] street circle driving. We will not throw our support behind any candidate,

[00:10:17] but it looks like John might be out this year.

[00:10:20] He had to get moved into Hickory by Friday. His mom stays in my neighborhood.

[00:10:24] Right. Right. Exactly. And he does too. Like, yeah, he's there. He's there with him. So,

[00:10:29] I've seen him walking around. Yeah. Right. So, you know, which kind of brings me to the point,

[00:10:35] you know, we see the most, I would say popular politician right now in the whole world who was

[00:10:44] a comedian, President Zelensky from Ukraine. He was a former standup comedian. So it's not

[00:10:50] out of the realm of possibility for someone who is outside of the political spectrum to be able

[00:10:57] to jump into this arena. And, you know, maybe Reep will squeeze it in. I don't know. I mean,

[00:11:03] he's got a lot of irons in the fire, but did something. What do you think about this?

[00:11:08] I saw that and I thought, oh my goodness, like, this could really probably shake up the next

[00:11:16] city of Hickory's election. I mean, I'm like a political wonk, so I'd love to hear stories like

[00:11:24] this, you know? But I just think, you know, just to probably throw something into the fire. Yeah,

[00:11:33] why not? Why not? Yeah, sort of mix it up a little bit. Mix it up a bit, you know? I mean,

[00:11:41] why not? I feel like this, if you have it in you and you think you're qualified, then go ahead.

[00:11:47] Well, I mean, and I feel like we've seen it across the United States.

[00:11:51] Arnold, Governor of California, Trump. I mean, these are guys that-

[00:11:54] Ronald Reagan? Right, one of the originals. But I mean, it's not above somebody to be

[00:11:59] able to transition into that. And kind of to the point that you guys were making last

[00:12:03] podcast and you were kind of saying when we started off, there sometimes is a lack of

[00:12:08] figurehead or someone out there to be in front of the public and take those

[00:12:13] hard type questions and stuff like that. He has experience being on stage, probably being

[00:12:17] heckled and stuff. 100%? So I mean, he may also bring a presence that some people may welcome.

[00:12:25] So I mean, if he's qualified to do it, I support him. If not, he'll hear it from

[00:12:32] everybody else before me, but I'm not going to knock him just because of what his profession

[00:12:36] was. So I'm for anybody throwing their hat in the ring. Right. Anybody that wants to, if you,

[00:12:43] he, she thinks they're qualified and my only thing would be just make sure you realize what

[00:12:48] you're getting yourself into. Exactly. There's a lot more that goes into it. It depends on the

[00:12:55] city, it depends on the size of the town. How was fun? Exactly. But you know, you're

[00:13:00] talking about citizens calling you. And it's one of those jobs that I don't care who you

[00:13:06] are. You're not going to make everybody happy. No. Just by nature, you are at least going to,

[00:13:11] if you're lucky, you're going to get 50. And that might be lucky. Yeah, that's lucky.

[00:13:16] And local and being in local government, sometimes you can win over the detractors. I see

[00:13:21] you use the word detractors a lot. That's the word of the firecracker. They do,

[00:13:26] I think local politicians are easier to cross party lines than it would be on an actual scale,

[00:13:31] because it's just so you're in much closer quarters and the issues are so, I don't want to say simpler,

[00:13:39] but, but. You get more information. They're not as, it's not as complex as like national issues.

[00:13:45] Now, but you also got to realize your neighbor who in your district is going to call you because

[00:13:50] their neighbor's dog is going to the bathroom in their yard and they think you should do

[00:13:53] something about it. Right. So you get serious, yeah, you get serious comments,

[00:13:57] but you also get a lot of stuff that people want you to act on that may be beyond your realm

[00:14:04] of what your responsibility is. Right. And you have to have a thick skin too. Absolutely.

[00:14:09] Absolutely. And I'm all for somebody taking, you know, bringing some levity to some of these

[00:14:14] situations, but it is a serious job and I'm not speaking necessarily for John's

[00:14:19] because he might be 100% serious about it, which is awesome. He had a jacket on. I saw

[00:14:24] the jacket when he was dressed. I mean, I'm giving the benefit of the benefit. I'm giving

[00:14:30] him the benefit. No, the question was one of the buttons button. If it was button that was serious.

[00:14:33] If it was open, we had to do the right button. You gotta go second button.

[00:14:39] I didn't know you could button both buttons. I didn't know that. That's right.

[00:14:42] Everybody's gotten fashion. This is fashion. So we cover it all. We're

[00:14:47] getting we'll cover the whole gamut man. That's right. But now I'm with you guys, man.

[00:14:50] Look, again, it's just, um, it would be something different, something new. And if he's going to

[00:14:54] take it seriously, then I'm gonna say everybody throw that. And I will say this. I'm all for

[00:14:58] people getting more involved. Everybody. Now I would recommend that if you're gonna run for

[00:15:05] whatever, whether it's mayor city council, go to some city council meetings. Exactly.

[00:15:09] Beforehand. So you kind of know what at least you don't get all the behind the scenes

[00:15:13] stuff. Go to a Ridgeview community meeting. Go to a Ridgeview concerned citizen meeting.

[00:15:17] There's also there's Kenworth has a meeting. There's, there's a bunch of neighborhood

[00:15:20] meetings. Go to some of those things and see what actually is going on.

[00:15:25] Even city council just this could be eye opening sometimes, especially if you go

[00:15:30] at a particular time, there's actually very heavily debated topic in Hickory right now

[00:15:37] about housing slash condos. Right outside Morse very right off 127. And it is very,

[00:15:45] there's some some lines have been drawn on whether people want that or don't want that.

[00:15:49] Right. And that gives and so that is going to go to city council for approval. And you've got

[00:15:55] people on both sides of that with obviously very strong opinions, right, that you're gonna have

[00:16:00] to answer to. Well, and that's what I was gonna say earlier before we say we were gonna stop

[00:16:03] talking about the arches is when you look online and you hear all of the opinions that

[00:16:07] people had around them, it's like, well, they met about this. We have like you said,

[00:16:10] we have council meetings and stuff like that. If you're interested or you want to know,

[00:16:14] like you have to go to these things. And if you want to be a quote unquote detractor,

[00:16:18] like you said, that's your opportunity to get that out there. And again,

[00:16:22] kind of negotiated, not negotiated, but to get your point of view out there. So

[00:16:26] don't after the fact then go and be like, well, we shouldn't have been using it for this,

[00:16:29] shouldn't have been used for that. Did you go to any of the meetings?

[00:16:30] Right. And full disclosure, I did serve on the bond on the Riverwalk Committee. So,

[00:16:37] you know, I totally understand the meetings and plus the meetings were free, open to the

[00:16:42] public. Very open. Yep. And also too, just to circle back around about people serving,

[00:16:48] people can also serve on boards and commissions, which there is such an immediate need to those.

[00:16:55] And just if you're going to start out in the political world, that would be the first thing

[00:17:00] I would do is start out with boards and commissions and then work your way up or

[00:17:04] you could get lucky and you could become mayor or president.

[00:17:10] That's a great suggestion, please. To serve on one of those.

[00:17:15] You see so much that's going on in the community, this outside of your immediate point of view.

[00:17:21] I just, I like to see John's community involvement, full disclosure, John's a friend of mine.

[00:17:26] He's, you know, he produces podcasts right here where we're sitting at the match. And,

[00:17:31] you know, when the subject was breached and I think John has,

[00:17:39] and he's got, talk about thick skin, man's got thick skin. But there are those folks that think

[00:17:46] that when John in his act talks about Hickory that he's making fun of Hickory, which is the furthest

[00:17:54] point from where he is as an actual human being. That man loves this town.

[00:17:58] And I think he would be a 100% great if the cards would fall right and he was able to run.

[00:18:05] And these are all just what, if it's for fists we'd all be drunk, right? So, you know, if

[00:18:10] if he's able to run for mayor, if he wins, if he beats whomever that's running Hank and

[00:18:15] the other other fellows that are running, I think it's both fellows, if I'm not mistaken.

[00:18:20] But if the point did get to the fact where it was a serious, this is Mayor John Reep of

[00:18:25] Hickory, North Carolina. I think he would be a cheerleader and I think he would take it serious

[00:18:30] and don't discount the fact that people might just vote for him as a goof.

[00:18:36] That's both name recognition.

[00:18:38] And that's, and not to say that I don't think he's qualified because

[00:18:45] I think that he might be qualified but we'll see. Time will tell.

[00:18:50] Absolutely. I think we don't know if he is or isn't.

[00:18:52] No, I think it's still in limbo. I mean, we're sitting here on Wednesday, March 2nd

[00:18:56] and he has until Friday to find residents in Hickory and it's permanent residents.

[00:19:00] And you can get into the wonkiness as Clee said about, you know, law and everything else about,

[00:19:05] you know, what type or how long he needs to stay there and, you know, is this a real residence,

[00:19:11] you know, whatever. But yeah, we'll see what happens. The only time will tell, like I said.

[00:19:15] So Friday's the deadline, right?

[00:19:17] Right. Friday is the deadline. So good luck to Mr. Reep and Mayor Gess and all

[00:19:22] of the folks that are thinking about throwing their hat into the ring. But I will update that

[00:19:26] and touch on it next podcast out because we'll know who all is running by then.

[00:19:30] We certainly will. And we welcome everyone who is running for mayor onto this podcast to talk about

[00:19:35] that. Their candidacy, we've had mayor or candidates on here before talking about their

[00:19:41] candidacy as well as we've had a mayor guest on our podcast and he is a friend of the

[00:19:46] podcast too. So anyone in that political realm who'd like to come and talk about that,

[00:19:53] we are available. You can send us an email info at themesh.tv and we'll be happy to work that out.

[00:19:58] This podcast is sponsored by Jackson Creative, a custom communication agency located in downtown

[00:20:04] Hickory, North Carolina specializing in online content creation. To learn more,

[00:20:10] visit thejaxoncreative.com. Jackson Creative, we tell your story.

[00:20:16] Maybe even stick around for a forum or a debate because we've still dated before and that might be

[00:20:23] in line too. But I will say this, I thought for the longest time that the mayor's job

[00:20:31] was pretty cake until I went to a Ridgeview community service. What's the word exactly?

[00:20:37] I don't want to push that. Concerned citizens of Ridgeview, correct? Is that right?

[00:20:41] Ridgeview Concerned Citizens. Right. So I'll pop my head into one of those meetings a couple months ago

[00:20:49] and they made their voices heard that's put that way to Hank. And it's a contentious position to

[00:20:59] be in as a mayor and you really have to think twice about if you want to do that or not because

[00:21:08] he left and he didn't have a good night. So just anybody out there who's thinking about

[00:21:13] running for mayor or any political office, make sure that you're ready to catch it because you will.

[00:21:19] So just for the recap of people who don't live in Ridgeview or may not be as attuned to what's

[00:21:30] going on in Ridgeview, what were the main issues from that meeting? Okay. So just the one main point

[00:21:38] was and this was before full disclosure, this was before the library had reopened and been remodeled.

[00:21:47] They were concerned that a lot of their recreational space has been used for a library and that the

[00:21:53] length of time that it was taking to revamp the library as well as the Ridgeview pool. That's

[00:21:59] always gets brought up. And so yeah, there was some like the name says, concerned citizens in that

[00:22:06] community and but I will say this, I was impressed with how engaged that community was and the

[00:22:14] amount of people that actually showed up to that meeting because I've never been to my community.

[00:22:21] I mean, Mark you live in my neighborhood. Do we have a do we have a we don't have a community?

[00:22:26] I nominate you for president of our new neighborhood committee.

[00:22:30] I'll check my calendar. I think I'm a little booked with committee committee commitments right now.

[00:22:36] So claiming not it for that. But there is a bombing, like I mentioned Kenworth has one.

[00:22:42] I'm trying to think off the top of my head. West Hickory has one.

[00:22:47] I think there's another one off Springs Road. I'm trying to there's five or six different

[00:22:52] neighborhood groups that do meet on a pretty irregular basis. Right. Right.

[00:22:56] So we touched on a little bit before we were kind of jumping back and forth. So I apologize to

[00:23:01] our listeners. There is a point of contention that is hitting a lot of folks in Hickory. And that is

[00:23:10] the proposed space right outside Morse Ferry that they're planning on building

[00:23:17] rental properties of some form of fashion. And folks are happy about it, especially in

[00:23:23] that neighborhood. I'm not exactly sure what that is, but I think we can or what the plans are for

[00:23:30] that. I should know, you know, hosting a Hickory centered project and all, but I do not know.

[00:23:36] But there are some people that are that are upset with the way that was handled.

[00:23:40] And I know that the Latt-Perser group out of Charlotte was

[00:23:44] or the developer in that project. I think they're more concerned about the traffic.

[00:23:50] And there's some other comments that remain, I'm sure. But I think the main point of

[00:23:56] contention was traffic. There's two real points. There's some, there's going to be housing.

[00:24:01] There's also going to be some it is mixed use. And so the traffic was a concern and obviously

[00:24:08] Morse Ferry's my understanding is I think all of it or most of it is owned. Is there some

[00:24:14] runners in there? I would imagine it's probably like 95% but I think some of them they were

[00:24:19] concerned about maybe some of the rental pieces as well as what some of the articles said in the paper.

[00:24:24] So the traffic and then the rental and just the number of and I forget the number of

[00:24:28] units that they've talked about that are supposed to go in there. It's quite a few.

[00:24:31] Right. Has this considered affordable housing or is it condos like you said?

[00:24:35] Well, I think it's just all rental. Well, it's not all rental.

[00:24:40] Oh, it's not. No, no, there'll be house. There'll be like you said, a mixed,

[00:24:43] there'll be houses for sale and there'll be rental. No, it's not affordable housing.

[00:24:47] Like they were talking about the rental units going anywhere from a thousand to $2,000 a month.

[00:24:51] Okay. So definitely not affordable housing. No, it's not affordable housing.

[00:24:55] Okay. But when I was mentioned mixed use, there's also going to be commercial properties

[00:25:00] are also going to be in that space as well. Correct. Not sure about that.

[00:25:05] Okay. Do I just make that up? Maybe. Okay.

[00:25:10] But it's possible. And if we're going to talk about that, we're going to just talk

[00:25:14] about this other spot too. The former Hampton Heights golf course is also being developed into

[00:25:20] residential, a residential community there and I'm not sure how many houses are going to

[00:25:25] about 300, I believe 300. Okay. So if anybody is concerned about

[00:25:29] traffic, it should be the people that live over there.

[00:25:31] Yeah. LR that, uh, that little cut through there. I mean, I missed the golf course already, man.

[00:25:36] Like, yeah, I wish I had enough money to buy it, but

[00:25:39] that was, I cut my teeth at that place. You know, I've got so many, so many fond memories

[00:25:49] of playing golf at Hampton Heights. I learned how to play golf there.

[00:25:54] Yeah. I hate that it's gone. I do. And it's, I would say that it was a

[00:26:00] great place. It's a great to have a public course in the city of Hickory.

[00:26:04] Exactly. It was affordable. You could take anybody out there. It's a great place to teach kids.

[00:26:09] Exactly. I think the problem was it was a horrible place to try to run a business.

[00:26:14] And I just think it was for what they were charging and what they could charge,

[00:26:17] I think it was hard to make the numbers make sense. 100%. So I, to be honest with you,

[00:26:22] I'm surprised. I got squeezed out. Exactly. I think eventually that land was just too valuable

[00:26:28] as a golf course. Well, I really thought that LR would jump on that because of the proximity

[00:26:35] to the school. And I thought, oh, well maybe that would be perfect, but I guess we're going to

[00:26:40] have to just deal with condos or apartments or what have you. I can't believe the city of Hickory

[00:26:46] Recreation apartment didn't buy it. I thought about it. I was in the city course.

[00:26:51] I can't believe the parks department didn't turn into a muni.

[00:26:56] Man, I'm a guy with dreadlocks. Should have went to a city council meeting and mentioned that or

[00:26:59] something. He shut up. But jumping into that space, golf is a tough business. It was booming

[00:27:08] during COVID though. I mean, let's be honest, that was one of the industries that did do really,

[00:27:13] really well through the pandemic because it was an outside activity. You were able to spread

[00:27:18] out. I know a lot of golf courses were super accommodating with single rider golf carts and

[00:27:24] things like that, so you really were able to do that. Now, Hampton Heights did present

[00:27:30] now, granted, this is me completely riffing off the cuff, but Mark made a great point.

[00:27:35] You can only bring the standard up to a golf course up to a level to where people will

[00:27:41] actually pay the amount of money it takes to be able to keep it at a certain standard.

[00:27:45] And it's just this weird sliding scale. And Hampton Heights just didn't have the infrastructure to do it.

[00:27:50] Or the space, the acreage. I mean, it was, it was, it was tiny. Some of those holes were

[00:27:55] kind of funky. It was dangerous at some point. Well, especially if you were on the other side

[00:27:59] of when I was swinging because I'm going to hook it or shanky. There were parallel holes there

[00:28:04] that were, I mean, you were visiting your neighbor holes a lot. That's right. But yeah,

[00:28:12] you know, RIP Hampton Heights Golf Club, I think that was a great place for a long time.

[00:28:16] And we're sorry it's gone, but you know, so as far as housing, do we have that big of a housing

[00:28:22] shortage as far as? I think we do. There's like the rental market. Top. Well, everything that I hear

[00:28:27] from people that are renting is like that the prices is outrageous. And like you see it on our,

[00:28:30] like our Facebook groups, like people were like a two bedroom, one bath, $1,500. I'm like,

[00:28:35] wow, like, get more. I think that's because there's not that much property. Because the

[00:28:41] demand is so if we're going to be bringing housing in and it's affordable, what's that

[00:28:46] going to do for everybody? Well, I think as you have more housing units, that'll settle the pricing

[00:28:52] a little bit because you have more inventory. Okay. So people have to come down a bit on their

[00:28:56] pricing. Correct. I mean, that's just my opinion. I'm only speaking for those that like I said,

[00:29:01] that are at a point where right, okay, I'm not going out to pick a place just because I

[00:29:06] like downtown. I like that. I can't afford that. So just like we have, I think we have a group of

[00:29:11] our citizens that are going to be like, okay, well, that's not even in my price range anyway.

[00:29:15] Well, they answer that question, you know, the place just opened right not too far from where

[00:29:19] we're taping this, which is affordable apartments. Okay. The one right here by across from safe

[00:29:24] harbor. Correct. Okay. It's 1515 over 50 and over. It is 50 and over, but it's also

[00:29:31] it's also assisted housing too. Okay. So depending the thing, the article I read,

[00:29:35] it ranges for them as low as like maybe $300 a month that you would have to pay up to about 900

[00:29:42] depending on your economic situation. Okay. See, no, it didn't look like it was.

[00:29:46] Because there was an article in the paper actually about that place that a gentleman

[00:29:49] was living in his car for the last three years and was and when that opened, he was able

[00:29:53] to move into a place. Well, I can tell you when we first moved here like 10, 11 years ago,

[00:30:00] we had two dogs and it was hard to rent in Hickory because we, well, the houses that we were

[00:30:08] looking at to rent did not have a fence or maybe they did not rent to you because you had dogs.

[00:30:14] So I know now the price, if you have pets and you need somewhere to go and you don't want to

[00:30:21] give up the pet, you probably will have to pay a premium for that. Unfortunately,

[00:30:27] as an ex property manager, I can understand though, because some people will just let their dogs

[00:30:32] ransack, right? Tinkle all over the place, bite things up and then like you go back in and it's

[00:30:38] like your security deposit won't cover this one room. Like so yeah. So but it's a, I could,

[00:30:44] I could bet that's probably hard, especially with two dogs. Yeah. Yeah. And they were

[00:30:48] like small dogs. That's what about a thousand bucks in a pet deposit. Yeah. And our dogs

[00:30:53] weren't the brightest.

[00:30:57] Are you making a case for the other side now?

[00:31:01] Let me turn this back around.

[00:31:02] She's saying no way. That pet deposit.

[00:31:04] Why are you talking about that? This and Darryl were great little dogs.

[00:31:07] And I do want to mention that I am impressed.

[00:31:09] You had to talk Darryl.

[00:31:11] Darryl and Dion.

[00:31:14] The real name.

[00:31:16] I am impressed that Richard was able to work in Tinkle in today's podcast.

[00:31:20] I had to think about how to say that. I was like, okay, my son is right behind me.

[00:31:24] That's impressive that we're able to slide that word into it.

[00:31:27] Oh, people with young kids.

[00:31:29] Thank you, Darryl.

[00:31:30] You're right.

[00:31:30] All right.

[00:31:31] I don't need them here and daddy on the internet saying inappropriate terms.

[00:31:34] Maybe for the future we can have like a magic word of the podcast.

[00:31:38] Oh, you gotta work it in.

[00:31:39] See if we can work it in.

[00:31:40] Well, the track nurse has been it for the day.

[00:31:42] Maybe people could email in if they can guess what the magic word is.

[00:31:45] Maybe they win a prize.

[00:31:47] But they seem to respond to retractors.

[00:31:48] A month free at the rec center or something.

[00:31:49] Wait, hold on a second.

[00:31:52] Month free.

[00:31:53] A month free at the rec center if they pick out the magic word.

[00:31:56] Okay, at the rec center.

[00:31:57] Hold on don't bring that to rep into the web.

[00:32:01] You get a free month by saying tinkle.

[00:32:05] You have to say the password is tinkle.

[00:32:07] That sounds like a radio show type game show or something like that.

[00:32:12] Can you guess what the magic word was for the podcast?

[00:32:14] Yes.

[00:32:14] That's right.

[00:32:16] So this is the point of the podcast where I put in an ad spot.

[00:32:20] So if you're someone who is interested in advertising on this podcast on The Mesh Network

[00:32:24] or any other podcast here on our network, head over to TheMesh.tv.

[00:32:28] Check out those shows and send me an email at infoatthemesh.tv.

[00:32:32] I would be very happy to talk to you about how you can get involved with our network.

[00:32:38] A carpet cleaning place would have been perfect in that spot right there.

[00:32:42] It was.

[00:32:42] It would have been a great gym clean.

[00:32:44] I was gonna say call us next time.

[00:32:46] We'll work that in.

[00:32:47] Work that.

[00:32:47] That's right.

[00:32:48] That's right.

[00:32:49] I like Charles Reed out of Conover.

[00:32:51] That's what I use.

[00:32:52] Nice.

[00:32:53] I imagine you had a carpet cleaner on demand like you could just pull one up like that.

[00:32:55] I know, that was quick.

[00:32:57] Yeah, well I also have those dogs that tinkle all over my eyes.

[00:33:01] I have them on speed.

[00:33:02] You got a monthly plan of subscription.

[00:33:03] Oh me too.

[00:33:06] It's a thing.

[00:33:06] It's a thing.

[00:33:07] I have Coco Chanel and Gigi.

[00:33:11] What?

[00:33:12] Yes.

[00:33:13] She is not, she's very bad but she's very cute.

[00:33:16] That's right.

[00:33:17] That's right.

[00:33:18] You called her Coco Chanel so she was destined to be.

[00:33:21] She was destined.

[00:33:22] She was definitely destined to tinkle wherever she went.

[00:33:24] She was like no.

[00:33:26] Yeah.

[00:33:27] But you know, Rip, Dion and Daryl.

[00:33:30] Right.

[00:33:30] So we, you know, some things that we do like to talk about on this podcast are some

[00:33:33] great events that are coming up.

[00:33:35] Does anyone have anything that they would like to bring up about

[00:33:38] events that you know that are coming into town or

[00:33:43] or events that you guys are involved with?

[00:33:46] We're starting a mountain bike series five week on Sundays.

[00:33:50] It's going to be out at Hickory City Park,

[00:33:53] Gatner Park at the mountain bike trails out there.

[00:33:55] It starts this coming Sunday for five weeks.

[00:33:58] So that should be pretty neat.

[00:33:59] Oh that's cool.

[00:34:00] That's what I'm kind of new with.

[00:34:01] Okay.

[00:34:01] Yes.

[00:34:01] I like that.

[00:34:02] Absolutely.

[00:34:02] And Google is your friend too because I just plugged in Hickory North Carolina

[00:34:06] events this month and there are so many great things that are happening in our

[00:34:10] town within the next month or so.

[00:34:12] So I would encourage you guys to go and check that out on the interwebs.

[00:34:17] We also do a food segment.

[00:34:18] I'm just blazing past these Hickory events because we kind of are running

[00:34:21] short on time, but we were able to go eat at the new Korean style chicken

[00:34:27] place called 92 Chicken.

[00:34:29] It's located at 310 US Highway 70 Southwest in Hickory.

[00:34:33] It is located right before you get to McDonald's there on 70, right there at the

[00:34:40] Paramount Kia.

[00:34:42] Formerly the hot potato restaurants.

[00:34:44] Yeah, across from the U-Haul, across from Resource Warehouse.

[00:34:48] That's it.

[00:34:48] That's correct.

[00:34:49] So that's to do the Old Village Inn on 70.

[00:34:51] Look, that's all plugs.

[00:34:52] The Old German restaurant.

[00:34:52] All the plugs.

[00:34:53] The Old German restaurant.

[00:34:56] I never went there.

[00:34:57] I wanted to try that.

[00:34:58] The first move to Hickory.

[00:34:59] It's your fault because they closed down.

[00:35:01] It was good.

[00:35:02] It was me.

[00:35:02] It was me.

[00:35:03] That one Bride word said that did not come good.

[00:35:05] It was heaven.

[00:35:06] Right.

[00:35:07] Well, that's what I was hoping for.

[00:35:08] Like Bride words is all meat.

[00:35:09] It's all meat dishes.

[00:35:11] So 92 Chicken, I believe we don't usually do chains, but I think they are a very small chain

[00:35:16] here somewhere.

[00:35:18] I did not know that.

[00:35:19] Well, I looked it up on the way here and there was a couple other locations.

[00:35:23] But the only one close to Hickory that I know of,

[00:35:27] you know, I thought the food was fantastic.

[00:35:29] I had the lunch special five drumsticks.

[00:35:33] Or, no, I'm sorry, it came three drumsticks and french fries.

[00:35:36] And it was in some sort of like kind of hot, spicy, sweet sauce.

[00:35:41] It was good, man.

[00:35:43] I thought the fries were good.

[00:35:46] Mark, what would you have?

[00:35:46] What would you eat?

[00:35:47] I had five tenders.

[00:35:48] I had a red hot pepper sauce.

[00:35:50] How are you feeling right now?

[00:35:53] Get you.

[00:35:55] You are coming for me right after we eat.

[00:35:56] I feel bad because I used all their napkins blowing my nose because it was making my nose

[00:36:02] run.

[00:36:02] But it was really good.

[00:36:03] I like it.

[00:36:04] This place had plastic gloves on the table.

[00:36:06] Yeah, that's how you know it's legit.

[00:36:09] So those are real peppers.

[00:36:10] That pepper means yeah.

[00:36:11] Don't put these own open cuts on your hand.

[00:36:14] I'm guessing.

[00:36:15] It was hot.

[00:36:15] I've never seen that before.

[00:36:16] Could you have actually eaten one of those and rubbed your eye or something?

[00:36:19] Mark and I made a mess of that table because I also too was grabbing the napkins

[00:36:25] because I tried to eat the chicken with the fork and you can't do that.

[00:36:29] No, I got to get in there.

[00:36:30] Yeah, and I did.

[00:36:31] You had drumsticks too.

[00:36:32] That was...

[00:36:33] Oh yeah.

[00:36:34] I didn't care if the people were right beside us.

[00:36:36] I had to dig in there and the chicken and then did the chicken in the curry sauce.

[00:36:40] Oh my goodness.

[00:36:42] It was excellent.

[00:36:43] It was the fries were good.

[00:36:45] I like crispy fries.

[00:36:46] That's my preference.

[00:36:48] And the fries were crispy and there was some sort of a coleslaw.

[00:36:52] It wasn't really traditional coleslaw but it was some sort of coleslaw and I thought it was very good as well.

[00:36:58] I thought you got a good size portion.

[00:37:00] It came with the lunch special that Moose mentioned came with a drink as well.

[00:37:04] So I thought it was well worth.

[00:37:07] I thought you got your money's worth.

[00:37:08] I thought the food was excellent.

[00:37:10] The service was good.

[00:37:12] They were very nice.

[00:37:13] We got it in a...

[00:37:14] And I thought it was a timely manner.

[00:37:16] Exactly.

[00:37:16] I would recommend it.

[00:37:17] I'd give it a thumbs up.

[00:37:18] I would too.

[00:37:19] What would you rate it?

[00:37:21] Oh wow.

[00:37:22] What's our scale?

[00:37:23] Oh you know me?

[00:37:25] You know me?

[00:37:25] I'll have a different scale every week.

[00:37:28] It's 1 to 12.

[00:37:31] I personally get a 1 out of 7 but...

[00:37:34] I do.

[00:37:34] That's the board knows.

[00:37:36] Well one out of 6 and a half.

[00:37:38] Out of 7?

[00:37:40] No, I would say it was...

[00:37:42] I don't really know anything wrong with it.

[00:37:43] Right.

[00:37:43] It was a 7.

[00:37:44] I agree.

[00:37:46] The chicken was so crispy to where I came in there

[00:37:50] in the restaurant with a clean shirt on and then I left.

[00:37:55] Yeah, I'm gonna have to get like the stain remover

[00:37:58] because I just...

[00:37:59] I didn't care about the sauce dripping or whatever.

[00:38:01] It was just...

[00:38:02] It was that good to where I was proud of my shirt when I left out there.

[00:38:06] That is a mark of a good me over right there.

[00:38:09] Yeah, it was good.

[00:38:10] I don't have any complaints whatsoever about it.

[00:38:13] I have a big complaint.

[00:38:14] I didn't get in anytime.

[00:38:15] I love it.

[00:38:16] I came to the door as you guys were walking out

[00:38:18] and so I left with disappointment.

[00:38:19] None for you, Ranger.

[00:38:20] I opened the door and it was like the smell hit me.

[00:38:22] I was like...

[00:38:22] Oh yeah.

[00:38:23] Oh, I was like, you know what?

[00:38:24] Let's turn back around.

[00:38:25] Let's get back in there.

[00:38:26] But for sure.

[00:38:27] I will be going to try.

[00:38:28] It wasn't Richard's fault because we tried

[00:38:30] two different places for lunch today.

[00:38:32] We tried to go to the new fresh chef here in town

[00:38:34] and it was just packed.

[00:38:37] It was slam.

[00:38:38] So congratulations to those folks too.

[00:38:39] And the elderly people weren't playing around

[00:38:41] with the park and spaces.

[00:38:43] They know.

[00:38:44] That parking looks crazy, man.

[00:38:45] Yeah, there was 75 people there and 75 cars.

[00:38:48] Yeah.

[00:38:49] Everybody drove around.

[00:38:50] Well, parking spots.

[00:38:51] Yeah.

[00:38:51] They're going to have to fix that.

[00:38:52] I will say that.

[00:38:53] Yeah.

[00:38:53] Not that I want to be back in two

[00:38:55] because it sounds like they're killing it.

[00:38:56] Yeah, that looks...

[00:38:57] But they got a parking issue.

[00:38:58] Oh, by the way, that's only half the building too.

[00:39:00] The other half is still...

[00:39:01] Oh my goodness.

[00:39:01] I see it's still being renovated.

[00:39:02] I saw them putting that HVAC system in

[00:39:04] or something like this morning.

[00:39:05] But I mean it is launched.

[00:39:06] So a lot of people meet as Moose said.

[00:39:08] So there's a lot of single drivers.

[00:39:10] You know, it may not be as bad in the evening

[00:39:12] where people are...

[00:39:13] But you have to have a strategy

[00:39:14] with the parking lot because I said,

[00:39:16] I was watching the people that were coming in there.

[00:39:19] I said, they did that with a car.

[00:39:22] I said, how can I do that?

[00:39:24] They actually did that.

[00:39:25] You made that happen with a car.

[00:39:26] Yeah.

[00:39:27] Please, what would you rank that place

[00:39:28] if you're just doling out rankings?

[00:39:31] Well, you know, I have to keep it easy.

[00:39:33] One to ten.

[00:39:34] So I'm going to do...

[00:39:35] Well, I can't give it everybody a ten.

[00:39:38] So I had to do like 9.5.

[00:39:42] Right. It's good.

[00:39:42] It means a good project.

[00:39:43] You got to earn.

[00:39:44] You got to earn and last...

[00:39:45] I had to go back.

[00:39:46] I will say, I mean, it's basic.

[00:39:47] I mean, you're not going to Cafe Rule or the vintage house.

[00:39:51] So you don't have to get dressed up.

[00:39:52] You've got to understand what you're going for.

[00:39:54] And so I think that's what they promise

[00:39:57] is what they deliver to you.

[00:39:58] Wear an old shirt.

[00:39:59] Yeah.

[00:40:00] She said keep a shirt in the car.

[00:40:02] Yeah.

[00:40:02] That's right.

[00:40:03] And to all the other restaurants out there,

[00:40:04] like if you would like us to feature you,

[00:40:06] Fresh Chef, we couldn't get in there today.

[00:40:08] Maybe make a little bit of time

[00:40:09] for us to come in and...

[00:40:10] That's right.

[00:40:10] Right before the podcast.

[00:40:11] There you go.

[00:40:12] On the Andrew Moose Street Circle Drive,

[00:40:13] food rankings, I give it a 5.7 out of 7.

[00:40:16] Oh, man.

[00:40:17] Which they are probably 81%.

[00:40:18] So we were really happy with...

[00:40:19] Do you have people doing math?

[00:40:21] Absolutely.

[00:40:21] We were really happy with Night 2 Chicken, Korean style chicken.

[00:40:25] Smell delicious.

[00:40:26] Yeah.

[00:40:26] Absolutely.

[00:40:28] Richard's nose really appreciate it.

[00:40:31] Yeah.

[00:40:31] My nostril say it was about 8.5.

[00:40:34] Okay.

[00:40:35] So here we are now to run out of time today.

[00:40:38] We appreciate you guys listening and tuning in

[00:40:40] and all that good stuff.

[00:40:41] Again, please go and subscribe to this podcast

[00:40:44] and all the ones on the Mesh TV.

[00:40:46] My name is Andrew Moose.

[00:40:47] My name is Cleese.

[00:40:49] Richard Dowdy.

[00:40:50] Mark Seaman.

[00:40:51] We are 6 of a God.

[00:40:52] Take it easy, hit your nuts.

[00:40:53] We're out.

[00:40:53] All right.

[00:41:03] You've been listening to the Mesh,

[00:41:05] an online media network of shows and programs

[00:41:07] ranging from business to arts,

[00:41:09] sports to entertainment, music to community.

[00:41:13] All programs are available on the website

[00:41:15] as well as through iTunes and YouTube.

[00:41:18] Check us out online at themesh.tv.

[00:41:22] Discover other network shows

[00:41:23] and give us feedback on what you just heard.