What do the the new jail in Downtown Concord, the Old Tribune building, the expanding role of government, majority apathy, minority activism, and the inevitable re-election of Coy Privette next year have to do with each other? Well, let me show you.
To Establish Justice and Insure The Domestic Tranquility
To really understand this story, you have to go back to the Book of Genesis. Specifically, the story of Cain and Abel. People have always had a tendency to steal, kill, assault, rape, and commit other acts against their neighbors. For this reason, we have set up laws and various methods to enforce those laws. The one of the modern benchmarks of a civilized society is rule by law. A major purpose of government at all levels is to create, enforce, and interpret laws to provide safety for its citizens and justice in the community of the same.
One of the primary ways we provide safety is to lock up those in violation of the law in jails and prisons. Ergo, a fundamental task of government is to provide adequate jail facilities. Also, local jails are where people who have been arrested - but not yet convicted - are kept until trial in many cases. So, even the “Tough On Crime” crowd (of which I’m a member) must agree to humane conditions in jail facilities.
You may wonder why I’m taking such a didactic approach to the subject. It’s important before I go much further into this that it’s understood that jail construction is one of the most important functions of our local government. Therefore, it should take priority over many of the other tasks and projects on the to-do list.
A Brief History of The Future Jail
Now, to focus on the issue at hand, I’m going to move from Cain and Abel (about 6,000 years ago) to 1999, and from Eden to Union and Corban Street. The Cabarrus Neighbors wrote up a handy timeline that goes through the jail project from initial concept to political fiasco over the past 6 1/2 years.
Here are the highlights. In 1999, then Cabarrus County Sheriff Canaday cites the need for more jail space. How did this need come about? My guess would be the rapid growth of the county over the 1990s. You get the good with the bad, and we ran out of storage capacity for bad. So, our County Commission wasted no time addressing this request from the Chief Law Enforcement Officer; because your safety is a priority to them. A mere two years and four dozen meetings later, the Cabarrus Board Of Commissioners took the bold step of funding a $70,000 study to look at the needs over the next 15 years for jail space.
As the construction of the new jail looked inevitable, in 2003, the officials with City of Concord made clear that they wanted the “Justice Center” (Courthouse, Jail, etc.) to stay in Downtown Concord. Why? Well, walk around downtown and you’ll find a lot of Bail Bondsmen and Lawyers. It’s pretty obvious that the County Courthouse and its accoutrements is to Downtown Concord what Pillowtex was to Kannapolis.
Also, in 2003, a number of state agencies put the County on notice that the jail situation is inadequate. Putting the County under an administrative and legal obligation to address the jail capacity situation. Sheriff Riley reports that the average inmate population is at 145% of capacity - on average. The County secures Ware Bonsall Architects to design the facility.
In 2004, the BOC looks at sites, and considers a variety of ideas…among those being expanded house arrest, converting the old Pillowtex plants into a jail facility, and converting the Arena into a temporary jail site.
In 2005, after they decided not to have a temporary jail near the fairgrounds - a decision is made to phase in an annex to the current jail to bring urgently needed capacity to the site, the land acquisition process is started, and the contractor selection and exterior design process begins. Oh, and those of us who frequent GoHaroldSmith.com were treated to his “benighted fulminations” on the matter. And this brings us to the Old Tribune building.
How To Disarm a Bulldozer
Before the fate of the Tribune Building is debated, let’s take another look at the timeline. Since Robert Canaday’s first admonition about jail space to now, six years have passed. The Board of Commissioners have met dozens, if not hundreds of times. Every county and city elected official has had their name on a ballot at least once during that time. So, there has been ample opportunity for people to speak out about the jail and how and where it’ll get built. And this is the source of my incredulity at the “Save The Tribune Building” campaign.
The old Tribune Building is located just south of the intersection of Corban and Union at 125 South Union Street. The Cabarrus County GIS states that it is owned by John and Judy McCrimmon, has a tax value of $465,000, an indeterminate zoning, and no sale date was given. According to the most recent “Concord Standard and Mount Pleasant Times” the sale to McCrimmon was for $380,000 in 1999 from Media General (publisher of the Independent Tribune) and, this year, the County paid McCrimmon…make sure you’re sitting down…$1.65 million for it.
However, you’ll notice that crazy red sign on the door. Here’s a closeup:
What that means is that this structure is in such bad shape that fire fighters won’t go in; because it’s certain to collapse. Yes, any restoration of this building could be the sequel to “The Money Pit”
So, a fundamental governmental need is being thwarted because of a sentimental attachment to a historic building that “just needs a little TLC”. That’s what I thought, until I read “The Concord Standard” from a few weeks ago. There was an article from a downtown resident that took issue with the size of the jail. Also, it’s hard to read an editorial page without coming across a letter to the editor about the proposed jail.
Here’s the thing. The folks who live Downtown don’t care so much about Tribune building as they do in stopping the final jail from being built. The Annex is just enough for them, thank you.
It’s really a political masterwork. Without the County Justice Complex and the surrounding businesses, the commercial part of the Concord Historical District would be history. So, if the County Commissioners were looking to expand to a larger jail, they would probably spring for a larger Justice Complex, and possibly relocate somewhere else in the county. Naturally, Concord officials and the power brokers in the downtown community let it be known that they were going to cooperate with the construction of the new jail. However, they only want as little jail to get built as possible - keeping the Justice Complex downtown without disrupting things too much.
So, this Old Tribune Building puts up yet another obstacle to construction. In their need to get this thing done, the Board of Commissioners is starting to throw money and effort at this building; and they are considering redesigning the jail to save this “landmark”. Reopening the design process at a structural level gives the Downtown residents an “in” to complain about the size of the jail. I loved the letter to the editor written my Susan Miller “Do not leave this mostrosity as our legacy to our children”. No, instead, let’s let them not have enough room to put the miscreants of their generation and leave a legacy of poor planning and short-sightedness. Which brings us to the ancillary effects of all of this.
Voters Get The Government They Deserve
Oddly enough, what got me thinking about this Old Tribune debacle was another building…the old Bethel School site. It is another County-owned black hole with some sentimental value to the local residents. In both cases, the local community wants the County to fix the situation - lock, stock, and barrel - without any contribution from the community. Why should they contribute? In all honesty, if you get a dozen people to show up in a foul mood to a couple of Board of Commissioners meetings - you can get a lot. The Odell Community got the BOC to risk a lawsuit and back away from an arrangement they had with Kannapolis because they showed up and had someone yell that they would see the Commissioners in court. This is because a few people can get a Commissioner elected or ousted.
The Board of Commissioners is effectively decided during the Republican Primary in May. The General Election has been a formality for the past decade or so. Since about 10% of the registered voters actually show up to the primaries, it doesn’t take much to have a “mandate”. So, given that you have to be elected to govern, each Commissioner much balance doing what is right with doing what is popular. Strike the right balance, and you’re a leader. Strike the wrong balance, and you’re a runner-up.
And this is how the jail project has become a community preservation project. The only visible things that have gotten done are two houses that were considered historic were moved, at taxpayers’ expense, from the proposed jailsite. These houses were important enough to be moved on the public’s nickel; but not so important as to have a champion, like…oh…a homeowner to finance the move.
Meanwhile, no real progress in this sixth year of the jail project.
Four More Years
Now, I’m sure you’re wondering what Coy Privette has to do with all of this. Quite a bit as a matter of fact. Coy is in the minority; and can say whatever he wants in the Board of Commissioners meeting without having to be accountable for the decisions made. Also, he can go on record as opposing any decision that was made…without offering any alternative. Or alternatives that are completely unworkable.
If a resoultion or decision comes up that could slow the project down - Coy votes on it. If there’s a vote to move the jail project forward - count on Coy to apply Robert’s rules to insure it takes a more circuitious path.
This gets to be interesting. Take the Odell matter, for instance. When he was in the majority, their actions set the legal precedents which allowed for the annexation of Western Cabarrus County by Kannapolis and the developments in that area. However, now that he has no accountability for the decisions made by the BOC, he can fashion himself as the champion of the Odell effort against the evil outside developers.
Nevermind that when he was in the majority not one development was rejected on the basis of school adequacy, infrastructure, or even common sense. He only agreed to an impact fee when faced with a lawsuit from the School Board. His Kerryesque flip-floppery didn’t completely end there. In a recent editorial, he criticized the new BOC majority for settling a lawsuit with the City Of Concord. The lawsuit dealt with the relatively slack development rules of the County in areas to be annexed by the City. The County capitulated by tightening up the rules, and the suit from the City was dropped. Now, here’s where it’s interesting…Coy managed to get the Odell crowd who hated the County rules to think he was on their side while maintaining that the County should have fought on in the lawsuit to keep the rule slack. I can’t think of any way to write that so it isn’t confusing. Coy Privette is such a masterful politician that he doesn’t need to flip-flop…he can be on both sides of an issue at the same time; AND make you think he’s on YOUR side.
He’s doing the same with the jail.
The Vision Thing
The title of this post came from a quote attributed to Sir Winston Churchill about Democracy being “the worst from of government except for all of the others that have been tried”. Want proof? The jail project will be a fiasco…count on it.
Until the BOC buckles down and decides to do first what is right instead of what is popular, our jail situation won’t get any better and the new jail will get more expensive. And the sooner that the majority realize that the rhetoric from Coy has less to do with a vision or an informed opinion, and more to do with currying favor with groups of voters that will actually bother to show up to the primaries in May.
If we, as an electorate, could pick leaders with a vision for the future of this community…leaders who could look past their own reelection ambition - we’d have a more secure future.
Immediately following the Constitutional Convention, Ben Franklin was stopped by a lady who asked “What type of government do we have?”, and Franklin responded “A republic - if you can keep it!” While we all have our own grips about the government, it is our job as citizens to see beyond ourselves and our present needs, consider others, and do what’s right for the community. Like Ben tried to tell that lady, our future is too important to be left to the politicians alone.
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