This past week we welcomed the Carter County Youth Leadership to
City Hall. We always try to make the experience fun and interactive for
the students. After all, there’s no better way to learn than by actually
doing! During their visit, the students elected a City Council, elected
a mayor, and appointed a City Manager in the same process our real City
Council follows.
The controversial topic for this Council to
decide was whether or not to expand our Historic District into the rest
of downtown. Students were assigned to one side of the issue or the
other and were given an opportunity to be heard during the public
hearing. As always, the students presented some interesting perspectives
and new ideas to each side of the argument. Many of them got up to
speak and let their representatives know how they felt about this
particular issue.
After the public hearing, it was
interesting to see the seven mock-council members debate the issue. Some
on the councilpersons where legitimately for the expansion, other
legitimately against, and for the majority this was the first time
they’ve heard about it. Ironically, there was some of the same angst and
back-and-forth discussion that we see play out with our real councilmen
on real issues.
In the end, the mock-Council voted in favor
of expanding the Historic District to bring in the remainder of
downtown. I hope the students (especially the mock-Councilpersons)
walked away with a better understanding that each decision is complex
and no decision is easy.
Just like the mock-Council, the our
City Councilmen are your representatives and need to know how their
constituents feel about a certain issues. Let them know by attending a
City Council meeting and making a comment during Citizen’s Comments or
during a public hearing whether for or against the issue as our students
did.
Just like our mock-Council, our City Councilmen are
faced with complex issues that rarely come down to being either for or
against the issue. The mock-Council asked many questions about the
impact on business, on tourism, on city finances, on future generations,
and on the larger community. All of these have different answers each
with their own shade of gray rather than being black and white.
What can each of us do to better understand the issues before our
elected body and what can we do to better communicate how we feel these
issues should be resolved to our elected officials? Let’s talk about it!
Monday, November 17, 2014
Monday, November 10, 2014
Elizabethton Employment Portfolio
A few weeks ago we talked about where people who live and work in
Elizabethton come from and go to daily. Today, I want to take a look at
what business sectors those who work in Elizabethton work in. While the
data we have available cannot tell us how many people in each sector
commute to Elizabethton, we can tell how many of the 9,356 jobs works in
each sector. Much like an investment or retirement portfolio, a city
must have a diverse employment portfolio in order to ensure that if one
industry type decreases the city will not die or become stagnant.
The largest employment sector for Elizabethton is the educational services sector (21.5%). This would include anyone who works for a K-12 school system or a place of higher education, such as Milligan College, Northeast State at Elizabethton, and Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology at Elizabethton. Milligan College is the highest, non-public employer of jobs in this sector in Elizabethton.
Out second largest category is the retail trade sector (20.2%). The largest individual employer in this category is Walmart who employs around 400 people.
Health care and social assistance is the third largest category, employing 16 percent of the people who work in Elizabethton. Sycamore Shoals Hospital is by far the largest employer in this category employing approximately 400 people. Life Care Center of Elizabethton, however, is another top employer with around 160 employees.
Next, is the accommodation and food services category with 10.8 percent of the people who work in Elizabethton. While we do not have data on any particular employer, this category does include the likes of Applebee’s, Fatz, Beef O’Brady’s, Jiggy Ray’s, Dino’s, McDonalds, and Bojangles, etc.
Lastly, manufacturing is the fifth largest employment sector (8%). The largest employer in Elizabethton in this sector is Snap-On Tools Inc. employing over 330 employees.
Going into the future we see the greatest growth locally in the health care and social assistance sector, educational services sector, and retail sector. And as we can see, many of our top ten employers can be found in these categories. What other business sectors do we want to bring into Elizabethton in the future? What top business sectors do we already have that we want to see grow? Let’s talk about it!
The largest employment sector for Elizabethton is the educational services sector (21.5%). This would include anyone who works for a K-12 school system or a place of higher education, such as Milligan College, Northeast State at Elizabethton, and Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology at Elizabethton. Milligan College is the highest, non-public employer of jobs in this sector in Elizabethton.
Out second largest category is the retail trade sector (20.2%). The largest individual employer in this category is Walmart who employs around 400 people.
Health care and social assistance is the third largest category, employing 16 percent of the people who work in Elizabethton. Sycamore Shoals Hospital is by far the largest employer in this category employing approximately 400 people. Life Care Center of Elizabethton, however, is another top employer with around 160 employees.
Next, is the accommodation and food services category with 10.8 percent of the people who work in Elizabethton. While we do not have data on any particular employer, this category does include the likes of Applebee’s, Fatz, Beef O’Brady’s, Jiggy Ray’s, Dino’s, McDonalds, and Bojangles, etc.
Lastly, manufacturing is the fifth largest employment sector (8%). The largest employer in Elizabethton in this sector is Snap-On Tools Inc. employing over 330 employees.
Going into the future we see the greatest growth locally in the health care and social assistance sector, educational services sector, and retail sector. And as we can see, many of our top ten employers can be found in these categories. What other business sectors do we want to bring into Elizabethton in the future? What top business sectors do we already have that we want to see grow? Let’s talk about it!
Monday, November 3, 2014
Elizabethton – A Retirement Community…or Is It?
During my time in Elizabethton I’ve often heard many people say,
“There are not enough young people here” or “Elizabethton is just a
retirement community.” As a planner, my ears perked up when I hear this!
I wanted to explore this topic more to find out if Elizabethton does have a higher concentration of older citizens. I started on the Census Bureau’s website to start by gathering information on age in Elizabethton and Carter County.
I used a formula called a Location Quotient to analyze the information. This analysis is often used in Economic Development to determine if there is a concentration of businesses in a city, but can be used to determine concentrations in other areas.
The analysis returned the concentrated age groups in Elizabethton and Carter County with very little surprise. In Elizabethton, there is a higher concentration of citizens 70 years and older than in the rest of the southeastern United States. An oddity occurred in Carter County’s analysis in that the higher concentration of citizens occurred from ages 55 to 84 rather than continuing after 84. This would suggest that as citizens aged in the county, they were likely to move to the city. This could be because of the concentration of nursing home facilities or older people may desire to downsize and be closer to amenities such as doctors, grocery stores, and shopping areas.
Interestingly, another group also appeared concentrated in Elizabethton. This is the 18 to 24 year old age group – college age young adults. This speaks to the impact that our local colleges and higher education institutions have on Elizabethton. Northeast State at Elizabethton, Milligan College, Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology, and Emmanuel School of Religion all are within the Elizabethton city limits and the data suggests that these students also choose to live within the city limits. There is also a likelihood that the city sees some “spillover” residents of East Tennessee State University.
The last statistic that I discovered during this analysis is that out of 5 randomly selected citizens in Elizabethton, 1 will be under 18 years old, 1 will be over 65 years old, and the other 3 will be between 18 and 65. While Elizabethton may have a higher concentration of older folks, I think it is safe to say Elizabethton is far from being a retirement community.
Now that we know who lives in Elizabethton, what can we do to encourage new age groups to move here while continuing to engage our existing residence? Let’s talk about it!
I wanted to explore this topic more to find out if Elizabethton does have a higher concentration of older citizens. I started on the Census Bureau’s website to start by gathering information on age in Elizabethton and Carter County.
I used a formula called a Location Quotient to analyze the information. This analysis is often used in Economic Development to determine if there is a concentration of businesses in a city, but can be used to determine concentrations in other areas.
The analysis returned the concentrated age groups in Elizabethton and Carter County with very little surprise. In Elizabethton, there is a higher concentration of citizens 70 years and older than in the rest of the southeastern United States. An oddity occurred in Carter County’s analysis in that the higher concentration of citizens occurred from ages 55 to 84 rather than continuing after 84. This would suggest that as citizens aged in the county, they were likely to move to the city. This could be because of the concentration of nursing home facilities or older people may desire to downsize and be closer to amenities such as doctors, grocery stores, and shopping areas.
Interestingly, another group also appeared concentrated in Elizabethton. This is the 18 to 24 year old age group – college age young adults. This speaks to the impact that our local colleges and higher education institutions have on Elizabethton. Northeast State at Elizabethton, Milligan College, Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology, and Emmanuel School of Religion all are within the Elizabethton city limits and the data suggests that these students also choose to live within the city limits. There is also a likelihood that the city sees some “spillover” residents of East Tennessee State University.
The last statistic that I discovered during this analysis is that out of 5 randomly selected citizens in Elizabethton, 1 will be under 18 years old, 1 will be over 65 years old, and the other 3 will be between 18 and 65. While Elizabethton may have a higher concentration of older folks, I think it is safe to say Elizabethton is far from being a retirement community.
Now that we know who lives in Elizabethton, what can we do to encourage new age groups to move here while continuing to engage our existing residence? Let’s talk about it!
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