Griffith Street Hotel...Who will stand for the children?

Tuesday night's Board work session saw another lengthy discussion about the proposed hotel next to the Community School of Davidson on Griffith Street, and to be blunt, for those opposing the hotel for any reason the discussion was not good.

The Board discussed parking, and once again the Planning Staff and the Developer told them it won't be a big deal even though the plan is significantly short of Davidson's standards.  The Board discussed at length the tree buffer between the hotel and the West Side paid for by the developer while not mentioning the $20,000 taxpayer gift they passed at the last meeting towards the complementary effort behind Woodies.  The Commissioners spent an extensive amount of time picking apart every aspect of the Planning Board's unanimous decision against the project - clearly trying to diminish the Planning Board's effort and provide themselves some political cover if they vote for it.

What didn't make the cut to even be discussed?  Any aspect of safety due to the location near schools, that's what.  After all that has happened with this project it is clear the issue of safety is not even on their radar.  It doesn't fit their narrative to even address it, and therefore, it won't be addressed.

So, while there is always hope that these officials will do the decent thing, it is getting more difficult to expect.  Regardless, hope does not solve problems, people do.

To solve this problem will likely require changing the people who are making these decisions in the future.  aShortChronicle reached out to two of the new candidates for Commissioner in the upcoming election, Ryan Fay and Sam Weaver.  Both of these candidates are on record as opposing the placement of this hotel.  They were asked, in the event this project is pushed through by this current Board, would they support the Town helping fund a School Resource Officer for the impacted schools.  Huntersville helps support an SRO for Lake Norman Charter, so a similar arrangement seems appropriate here.  That's particularly true if the Town takes actions that bring more traffic, congestion, and transient visitors to the doorsteps of multiple schools.

Here are their responses, first from Ryan Fay...

"I certainly hope it doesn’t come to this, but we obviously must prepare for every possible outcome.

This is a multi-layered question with so many variables, so let me answer as follows. I would absolutely be in support of exploring a resource office to be at CSD and/or Davidson Day. However, to fully support moving forward, we would require a great deal more information.

As is my understanding of the current set up with Lake Norman Charter, the resource office is an additional member of the police force who is funded by a combination of Lake Norman Charter funds, a grant from the NC Department of Instruction and the town. It is my understanding that the grants were full but one opened which allowed Huntersville to take advantage of it. This is the kind of outside the current budget thinking that will allow us to stretch our dollars. We would need to determine the availability of the same grant for CSD/Davidson Day. We would also need to determine the funds that would be provided by the school(s).  This will help to determine the difference the town would be responsible for.  It appears that Huntersville is responsible for roughly $30,000 while the grant ($37,500) and funds from LNC add an additional $40,000. I like the idea of the resource officer (I had one at my public high school and thought he was a solid role model and mentor), and I am support to exploring it further. However, I do not think it is something the town can subsidize completely.

I look forward to the Meeting in November and hope this is a bridge we do not need to cross."

Next is the response from Sam Weaver...

"If elected or not, I would support and lead that effort to fund a SRO for CSD K-7, Davidson Day, and CSD High School. We could have the officer patrol between the different schools and if needed the patrol officer could respond quickly between the campuses. Additionally, there is an opportunity for the schools to receive federal grants to fund a SRO, but ultimately the Town of Davidson should assist CSD and Davidson Day to help fund the resource."

So there you have it.  Two newcomer candidates for the upcoming election willing to actually do something to ensure the safety of children as a result of Town decisions.  Since the current Board will hardly even talk about safety concerns for this project, these two candidates would certainly be an improvement if the need arises again in the future.