The Laughing Wolf

The Major Problem With The Huntsville Area

I tend to stay away from local stuff, but in this case I am going to make an exception. Earlier this week, I attended a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce where we got a briefing from the Chamber president. The briefing was quite good, but we got sidetracked into an interesting and important area.

The fact is, no matter that I occasionally poke fun at it, this is a good area. You have a well educated population; mountain and river recreation; ballet, symphony, and an art museum; there are historic and science museums; there is the Space and Rocket Center (commonly known as the Sprocket); and, a surprising diversity in food that ranges from fine dining to Chinese to Japanese to Korean to German to Southern/Country. There is a good bit of industry and a lot of high tech here, along with several colleges and universities. The local airport is a true international airport, and has runways capable of handling a loaded Super Guppy. Trust me, if it can handle that, it can handle about any plane and any load, and frequently does so. We have an international trade zone, an intermodal terminal, and access to rail, highway, and river transportation. When people bother to rate us, they rate us a good place to live and do business, and an even better place to retire.

In other words, there is a lot of good stuff here. One problem facing the area is that a lot of people don’t know it. One of the people at the meeting talked about the Today Show coming down to do an interview, and asking if Huntsville had an airport and if there were any hotels here, or did they need to look to Birmingham or Nashville. Other stories abound, and I will admit that I did have to bite my tongue from making comments about the mental abilities of the Today Show and members of the Old Media.

The problem that concerned us, however, was a bit different. It is related, but complex and difficult to fix. The problem, you see, is that we have a shortage of young professionals in the 25- to 35-year old range. There are not a lot of jobs for them here, but that is changing. Yet, these people – even when they graduate from local colleges – look elsewhere to live. The whys and wherefores of that were discussed in as much detail as time allowed, but I want to put my two cents worth in on the subject.

This is not a single-friendly city
This area is, in fact, a lousy place for a single person. It is incredibly hard to meet people, and while tradition is great, it can also bite you upon the rear quite firmly. To whit, a situation that happened to me a few months ago. In dealing with a semi-prominent member of the community, they came to find out that I had previously joined a dating service. Their take on it was why would I want to date anyone who had to advertise, with a strong implication that any woman who did so was obviously a whore and a loser. That any man who did so was a loser. That I should join a church and go hunting there, like all right thinking people. This is, alas, not an uncommon attitude and can be far more strongly expressed than it was with me.

The commitment to the arts is not that deep
The Germans did the area a huge favor with all they started here, from the symphony to the theatre. The problem is, a lot of people here are not comfortable with what having a vigorous art community truly means. It means pushing things, it is not politically correct, and it can be uncomfortable. There is no alternative music here, not on the air and not really live either. There is little alternative anything, as it is strongly if unofficially discouraged.

There is no nightlife
There is very little in the way of nightlife, and almost nothing at all for the younger generation or those young at heart. The local governments appear to be very anti-nightlife, and in the process make it very difficult for even restaurants to survive. This is not a situation that is getting better. Add to that some very interesting blue laws and a bad situation gets worse. This area/region still sees the bootleggers and the ministers joining together to fight changing these laws.

Church and State
This is a touchy one, and I am not sure how much is real and how much is perception. What I do know is that I have witnessed local leaders in the Federal Government start meetings with prayers, hold blessings, and do other things against policy. Local is reported to do it as well. Note here, I am not talking big events but more common and routine meetings within various branches of the government. There are rumors that some of these leaders have caused to leave/be fired those who objected or held different beliefs. Because this is Alabama, there is a real fear of persecution or cooption with a lot of people.

There is a strong perception problem
While Huntsville is diverse and progressive, especially compared to the rest of the state, it is still nothing compared to other areas. Worse yet, it has to deal with the baggage of the rest of the state. It does not help that one community in this area is, courtesy of the internet, known world-wide as a speed trap and for alleged abuse of police power. It does not help that another community got world-wide publicity for allegedly retaliating against a child who exposed a molester on the force, and again allegedly raising the blue wall of silence around the admitted offender. There is more, but you get the idea. Some of it is real, but some of it is pure perception. When this gets filtered through the bias and bigotry of some who still see the state in 1960s glasses, it gets even rougher.

So, you want to get or keep that key demographic component? Keep expanding the retail base, for you have done a great job on that. Take on the "You ain't from around here boy, are you" perception/reality, and dash it to pieces. Be prepared for the retirees to get uncomfortable, however, because you have to make some changes. This area needs some nightlife and it needs better cab or other service so that people can get safely to and from it. It needs the alternative items, from music to art, and it needs desperately to become single friendly. To be honest, as a single male, I have been and am considering moving elsewhere simply because I have a better shot at dating elsewhere – despite the fact that I love the quality of life here. Think how it is for younger people, who need nightlife and other activities and/or places to meet. Get more jobs in here for the age group, give them as good a quality of life as is being offered to others, make it clear that there will not be retribution for being of different faith and beliefs or different in even small ways, and deal with any discomfort that all of this may cause.

The alternative is to keep loosing this component. There is a finite limit on how many over 35 that can be brought in, and a limit to the number of retirees. Most especially, there is a limit to the economics of the older sets. Just as most economic growth is in small to mid-size businesses, it also rests in that key 25-35 demographic. We need them to grow within the community, so that the community and its economic development grows along with them. Otherwise, what we will have is a bubble that will burst. The choice on this is up to you.

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