Imagine this:
It’s a blistering hot day in the middle of summer, and your kids want to go swimming. There aren’t any public pools in Hickory, and I doubt there will be without a 100% turnover in city leadership, so you can either pay to go to a pool, or you can go to Lake Hickory, touted as one of the best things about Hickory. Except, of course, you can’t swim there. Not unless you own property or you own a boat and you take the boat somewhere on the lake and just jump in. So, what? You drive to Lake James? It’s a good option, but a long drive. Soon you’ll be able to go to Lake Norman at Sherrill Ford’s new park, but not yet, and that’s going to put you in your car for a while too.
But what if you COULD swim in Hickory? What if we looked at creating a swimming beach area at one of the many parks on the lake? Inspiring Spaces/Bond money is already earmarked to work on these parks for the Riverwalk. Why could we not also come away from this bond project with a beach? It would solve the problem of no public pools AND it would make people care more about the quality of our water. People drive to Lake James from all around, and they would do the same for us.
We call our lake a “full recreational lake” but if the public can’t safely swim in it, is that true? I don’t think so.
We should make the lake accessible to ALL Hickory residents, not just the ones with boats and extra money. It’s the fair thing to do, and it will increase tourism.
What do you think?
