Community Pride Starts With Citizens

I have many people visit my office with some really great ideas. Ideas that could truly improve our community, make it more pleasant to live in, and make it more attractive to visitors. The reality is, city government staff are very busy simply maintaining and operating the city as it exists and often do not have the time to dedicate to the implementation of a great, new idea. Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly not that we don’t want to or that we think the idea is bad, but rather that we currently do not have the time available to dedicate to such an idea or project. Believe it or not, but our local city government is extremely lean when it comes to human capital. This is where you come in.

Many cities all over the country are made better and improved not by its local government, but by the involvement and participation of its local citizens. Locally, the Blue Plum Festival and the new Little Chicago Festival are operated by the Johnson City Development Authority and the Downtown Business Association, respectively, not the city. Yes, the city supports it, but they do not find the sponsors, recruit the bands, and plan the event.

Here in Elizabethton, the Downtown Business Association (DBA) is wanting to improve the walkways in downtown. They have approved a plan, received the blessing of the City Council to improve the city property, and are working to raise the funds necessary for the project. While the city is supportive, it is the DBA who is moving the project forward. The same is true with the banners and planters in downtown; the DBA maintains and improves them because they see a need and have a desire to improve the downtown.

The Women’s Civic Club is another example. They saw and need and a way they could help the community so they installed a fountain in Covered Bridge Park and maintain the fountain annually. They also wanted to help improve the looks of the entrance into the city and worked with city staff to purchase and install new entrance signage at the Golf Course. Again, the city supported the effort, but it was local citizens who saw a need and took it upon themselves to come to the city and say, “Here’s what we want to do.”

The Bonnie Kate theater and Carter County Proud are other examples of local citizens taking it upon themselves with the blessing of the city to help improve our community.

About two months ago I was approached by a lady who stopped in my office to check if there were any underground lines between the road and the sidewalk in front of her house. When I questioned more about her inquiry, she told me, “I feel like we need more trees along this street like some of the other neighborhoods in Elizabethton do, so I’m going to plant some trees in front of my house.” She went to Lowe’s, bought a few trees, and helped do her part to make the change she wanted to see in her neighborhood and in Elizabethton.

If you have an idea or something you would like to see in Elizabethton, do it! Come talk with our City Manager, another city staff person, or come before City Council with your idea, get the blessing of the city to move forward, get a group together, and make the change you want to see in Elizabethton. It can be something as small as planting a few trees in your front yard or a park or as big as a new festival for our city. It takes citizens like you to shape and mold our community into what it is today, not solely city government. Ask yourself, what do I want my city to be, then take the first step and do it. Let’s talk about it!

The Status of Affordable Housing in Elizabethton

Housing is something everyone needs. Rich or poor, employed or unemployed, single or married, we all need some type of housing. In Elizabethton, housing takes two main forms – apartments and detached single-family homes. One is renter-occupied and the other is commonly owner-occupied. Either of these types can be analyzed to determine if they are affordable for the people who live in Elizabethton or not.

To determine whether the housing is affordable or not, we use the 30 percent rule. This rule states that no more than 30 percent of your income should be dedicated towards your housing expenses. This rule is typically used in personal finance budgeting. It is also defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Because the U.S. Census Bureau tracks aggregated household income as well as housing expenses (mortgage and rents), planners can use this data to determine the approximate affordability of housing in a community.

Let’s start by looking at owner-occupied units in Elizabethton. Approximately 53 percent of all of the people who own their home have a mortgage while 47 percent own their home without a mortgage. Because a mortgage can have such a large impact on a family budget I want to look at these groups separately. When it comes to affordability of homes without a mortgage, we are doing pretty good. Just over 91 percent of these households can easily afford their own home. This story changes, however, when we look at those with mortgages. Just over 1/3rd or 33 percent of the households do not live in a home where their home expenses are less than 30 percent of their household income.

Looking at renter-occupied units this number gets a little worse. 43 percent (almost half) of all renter-occupied units, including apartments, condos, and single-family homes, pay more than 30 percent of their household income in rental expenditures. This is quite alarming! This data then begs the question, what do we do about it or, maybe, should we do anything about it?

Elizabethton, in the history of the city Planning Department, has never had any types of regulations on providing housing for a specific type of family or income level. The free-market has been allowed to work in Elizabethton – if there was demand, the apartments or housing subdivisions were built. So when almost half of the renters in the city and over 1/3rd of the homeowners with a mortgage live in housing that is not affordable, is it time for the city to step in? Some cities have done this and require certain numbers of affordable units in each development. Others have not and claim they will never interfere with the local housing market. What do you think? Which side of the table should Elizabethton land on this topic? Let’s talk about it!