A Vision For The Next 20 Years - Mayor Addresses Dalton's Future
Tuesday, August 16th, 2022
“A community is just like any individual one of us – we all have issues,” Dalton Mayor David Pennington told the Rotary Club of Dalton in a speech Tuesday. “It’s how we handle those issues that ultimately determines our fate.”
Mayor Pennington addressed some of his thoughts on the City of Dalton’s next 20 years in his Tuesday afternoon speech. First, he assessed what he called the three most important building blocks for any community: jobs and the economy, education, and healthcare.
Mayor Pennington said he believes that Dalton is on strong economic ground thanks to flooring manufacturers becoming more centralized around the Dalton area and also because carpet manufacturers are now making their own yarn locally.
“The most important part of a piece of carpet is the yarn,” Pennington said. “Back in the 1980s and 90s, none of that was made here… but thanks to advancements by Engineered Floors, more and more of the yarn is made here in Dalton and Whitfield County. Also, Shaw and Mohawk have opened up yarn plants here. People don’t realize that but that’s why I think we’re stronger today from the economic standpoint than we’ve ever been, and will continue to be.”
On education, Mayor Pennington said that Dalton is home to great facilities but that the community faces an issue with low test scores. He noted that the problem is not unique to Dalton but instead also an issue for surrounding communities. But he pointed to a new initiative in the Dalton Public Schools as a reason for hope.
“The good news here, is that the City of Dalton I think now is undertaking what we saw in Mississippi - it’s been a revelation in Mississippi, Kentucky, some other states – and we’re going to do it individually here it looks like which is we are going to focus on 3rd grade reading based on phonics. Those states have seen remarkable improvements and I think we’re going to see the same thing here and I think that Dalton Public Schools for helping lead that.”
On healthcare, Mayor Pennington reports that Dalton and Whitfield County are exceptionally well positioned for a community of their size. He praised Hamilton Medical Center’s programs for open heart surgeries, the Peeples Cancer Center, and the Shaw Children’s Center. He also pointed out that while other Georgia communities of similar size have lost their hospitals or seen them bought by far-off corporations, Hamilton is still locally owned and strong financially.
Mayor Pennington then turned his attention to challenges faced by the community and new projects that the City of Dalton is working on to improve quality of life in the community and to attract new residents. He told the Rotary Club Tuesday that the appearance of the community needs to be addressed. One way that the city intends to improve its first impression is a project to improve the Walnut Avenue and Market Street gateway corridors. But the mayor said that work is being held up by commercial property owners.
“The biggest issue we’ve got, we’ve got one developer who controls probably two third to 70 percent of the property out there. We’re trying to work with him. He’s difficult to work with,” Pennington said. “When you get off the interstate, the first thing you see is the mind reader or whatever that thing is. A vape shop, a second class magic market, an empty restaurant building… leading our number one gateway.”
“I could go to Market Street, the same developer controls most of the properties there,” Pennington continued. “Across the interstate, same thing. We’ve got issues but we’re going to move on to other things if we can’t work it out with the different property owners there. It’s extremely important that we get that corridor the way it needs to look for a community this vibrant, this successful.”
At a meeting of the city’s finance committee last week, city administrator Andrew Parker told members of the city council that the city was still having trouble securing rights of way, easements, and property concessions in the Market Street area to make way for planned streetscape improvements and the planned access road connecting Market Street and Dug Gap Road. Negotiations with property owners are at a standstill with the price tag for acquiring the needed strips of land in that area estimated near $2 million, which was the projected cost of the entire project. At the meeting, Mayor Pennington pointed out the investment by city taxpayers to improve the appearance and function of the street will increase the value of those properties for their owners. The council authorized Parker to move funds earmarked for the project to stormwater improvement projects until the situation could be resolved on Market Street.
In his speech, Tuesday, Pennington praised the development of downtown Dalton and expressed optimism that new developments such as the planned boutique hotel could bring even more commercial and residential growth. He also expressed his hope that projects such as the planned corridor improvements and the new aquatics center being planned adjacent to the Dalton Convention Center will move the community forward into the future.
“The next 20 years in this community is already baked in. It’s going to be a good community to live in no matter what we do,” he said. “What I wonder and question is, and it’s going to be led by people younger than me, ‘will this community be exceptional?’ Most communities our size can’t even dream about that, can’t even talk about that. This community can, and I think we will.”
