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Bleak:

1. Too much dependence on retail sales jobs. You will not get ahead in life working at Wal Mart, Sams, the mall, burger-fast food joints, etc.

2. Not enough industry. More is reported to be coming in, but not enough.

3. Illegal aliens. They need a permanent, one-way ticket back to Mexico or whereever they come from.

4. The "retirement community" mentality pushed upon the area by the leaders who are in their 50-70's. That will not attract new people, and push away the young people.

5. Fat cats in the area pushing for ill-fated ideas such as Bass Pro Shop, subsidized in a way the community will loose $20 million dollars. See the 2005 TUNA study that was rejected by the powers that be.

For more, see the Times Daily "Brain Drain" series published in late 2004. I participated in the study.
Ooohh, excellent observation!

You know what could be done to truly help those families?

Allow them to buy and teach them how to care for their own houses!

Seriously, a partnership with Habitat for Humanity, in conjunction with the City of Sheffield's Housing Department and a partnership with UNA/Shoals Community College and the USDA County Extension Agent's office could truly help those folks.

As it is now, Section 8 housing money comes from the federal government and is awarded to the city to disburse as they see fit, using certain qualifying guidelines. And in many cases, the residents pay something to live there. The subsidy money is, for all practical purposes, income to the residents. Also, the costs of upkeep could be decreased, since they would be borne by the resident. Residents not able to provide their own upkeep could use the same subsidy as part of the deal. In other words, figuring the total cost of ownership (as is already done) and

Habitat and Sheffield could allow folks to buy their own houses (eliminating slum tenements)
using the concept of "sweat equity" that is a hallmark of Habitat Houses. Habitat houses are not "given away," but are sold to the residents with interest-free mortgages according to guidelines in Exodus 22:25.

Habitat families must attend classes and workshops to help prepare them for the challenges of homeownership, have the ability to afford and responsibility to pay the mortgage, and pay $1,000.00 for closing cost on their home. A credit report on the prospective families to assure they are paying their bills as part of the nearly year-long process of qualifying for a Habitat house.

Sheffield could invest in those people's future and the city's future by allowing public housing residents the opportunity to develop pride through ownership.

The UNA/SCC & Extension Agent's office could assist in teaching budgeting and home owner skills.

All it takes is some imaginativity, creativity and desire to seriously change things!
I wish we would play to our strengths and quit trying to copy other cities, such as the simplicity in idea of a strip mall beside the Marriott. Good lord, we have so much heritage, culture, creativity, talent, etc. in this area to work with. Why not create things that are thematic to this area rather than BORING? That is the very core of a tourist attraction. When people are searching for a vacation or a weekend getaway, they're looking for unique!

Let's say you created an area that was thematic (such as the Renaissance period, the Blues or just music in general, Native American Indian, History of the Tennessee River, Veterans - maybe period housing representative of each war, etc.). Then you could take businesses that have a proven success record in this area and ask them to open a second store in the thematic area. Instead of bringing in the same old stores to compete with Shoals area businesses, give businesses with proven success records the incentive money with the stipulation that the outside of their buildings represent the theme and are approved as such.
This area is in need of high paying jobs to support the college. We are losing highly skilled workers because of the lack of quality jobs. To combat this problem I think that the city should offer incentives of a different type to attract new businesses. We should offer free college education to those children of the workers in the Shoals area if they choose to attend UNA or Northwest-Shoals. This incentive would pay itself off by starting a cycle of economic and educational improvement in the area.
Can't add a thing: well you know the DOG don't stay muzzeled so will add MY point of view. SCRAP ALL THE IDEAS ON THE TABLE. THEY HAVEN'T WORKED! Disband SEDA fire Forrest Wright, Elect an entirely new (with the exception of Scott Carrier, of course) and honor ONLY the preexisting agreement that HAVE to by law be adherred to by RSA and Bronner. START OVER and take seriously the recommendations of the professionals who do studys at the LOCAL UNIVERSITY!
Shoals Lover:

Trying to help Section 8 people learn to buy houses, is, to put it mildly, 9/10 a waste of money. My former next door neighbor used to be a Section 8 housing manager. He has horror stories about it.

Section 8 housing is for folks who used their "check" that was earmarked to pay the bills instead to do other things not along the guidelines of what to spend it on. My wife personally rented a townhouse in Savannah, GA to a former Section 8 tenant (we found this out after we evicted her, my wife at the time fiance, unfortuneately didn't do a thorough enough background check...we also discovered that this tenant is a felon and had over 28 misdemeanor convictions). That tenant was later evicted after she claimed her 'check' was stolen. Nope, used it to buy marijuana and the like. We found out later she was evicted again, 30 days later. She was then and is now pure trash. And a racist (yep, blacks can be racist, and they love to play the race card. Thank God for us the deputy sheriff who answered our call and took a statement from us was black, and he 100% agreed with us).
The entire gist of the idea is responsibility.

With responsibility comes accountability. The reforms that have been wrought in the Food Stamp programs could be simiarly implemented in the Section 8 program.

As it is now, there have already been TREMENDOUS reforms in the historical social benefit programs that permanently denies benefits to anyone EVER convicted of drug-related offenses.

So, those "bad old days" are OVER!

The Habitat program helps those whom can and are helping themselves. The clientele are definitely NOT bums, druggies or other abusers.

quote:
"Habitat families:
• Must attend classes and workshops to help prepare them for the challenges of homeownership,
• Have the ability to afford and responsibility to pay the mortgage, and
• Pay $1,000.00 for closing cost on their home.
• A credit report on the prospective families to assure they are paying their bills is part of the nearly year-long process of qualifying for a Habitat house.
"
Have to agree with Brentenmen on the Section 8. Shoals, Habitat for Humanity is an entirely different program which is laudable. BUT, Section 8 is simply another plan by the Republicans to make slumlords rich. There are examples ALL over town, painfully so in and around the "historical" district. These slumlords buy older homes once occupied by elderly, get Section 8 status, and charge the govt. anywhere from 2 to 5 times the standard rental rate. They don't care who they rent to, the HUD agency does no overseeing of the care and maintenance of the property and in the meantime the surrounding homeowners who actually bought their houses to live in are forced to live amongst criminals and deteriorating property all the while watching the homes they have worked hard to pay for lose value. Subsidized housing should be limited to subsidized projects under supervision. No, this is a government rip off by not only the landlords but the tenants and it is growing. One older subdivision that comes to mind is Windsor Heights in N. Florence. Once a nice middle class neighborhood, as the population grows older and dies, with children who live far away, or have to go into assisted living, are selling their houses to these slumlords who are snapping them up. That would make a GREAT investigative story for the TD. What Section 8 is doing to property values of homeowners in the areas they have invaded. (Of course, it won't get reported and they won't send me a check! LOL)

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