Rural areas share problems with urban areas, consolidation could help both
The Charlotte area has changed a lot since he was a boy, Lowe says. He thinks that Charlotte voters need to recognize this change has taken place, and that rural areas have the same problems, such as crowding and crime, that cities have. Grasping this concept might lead to more support for consolidation, because consolidation will make available the kinds of resources rural areas increasingly need, Lowe believes.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Charles M. Lowe, March 20, 1975. Interview B-0069. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- LOWE:
-
in a persons mind. I get right amused, and I watch it myself. I watch
this program, "The Waltons". Well, everybody likes to
watch the Waltons because this was a simple time, problems were
relatively simple, and solutions were relatively simple. This is a
beautiful theory. We can all go back and live in the country. We can all
live well and be one big happy family, and so forth. But, if you go out
in the country today and live, for the most part, around Charlotte,
there's not any country anymore. You run into exactly the
same problems that you run into in the city of Charlotte. I tried it. I
went out sixteen miles from Charlotte and lived. I found the trucks kept
me awake all night worse than anything in the city of Charlotte. I found
people came out there and stole just like they did in the city. I found
just as many problems or more than I did in the city of Charlotte. So, I
moved back to the city of Charlotte. I think this is a dream
that's in everybody's mind. When you actually get
there, I don't you find this to be a fact. I think people
realize this. You've just simply got a new day and age. I
remember when I was a boy, they used to shut up all the small towns, and
everybody would go to the baseball games. Well, that was great, and you
went to the movie, and you went swimming, and that was about it. Well,
golly Moses, you've got your pick of many things today, and
things are faster. You don't get as much time to sit down and
visit and see your friends. There's no question about it.
There's a much faster pace. It doesn't make any
difference where you live, a little town, the country, a fringe area, or
in the city proper, you've still got exactly the same
problems. I get right amused. These mayors come in from the small towns,
and the first thing they want to talk about is federal grants and police
protection and how do we get more water and sewer and we need more
revenue. They've got exactly the same problems that the big
cities have. You can't go anywhere in
the Unites States…