Rocky Mount, NC: Does Councilman Blackwell’s “Deficit of Respect” Send a Thrill Up Your Leg?

In 2008, you may remember Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann discussing a Barack Obama speech? Matthews described what happened to him in listening: I felt this thrill going up my leg. This ‘thrill’ line is now a part of our lexicon.

When Councilman Blackwell came up with his ‘deficit of respect’ phrase concerning the lack of a hotel on the Edgecombe side of Rocky Mount, my thrill, when translated said: “Oh, for God’s sake.” (I know I should write, for goodness’ sake, but veracity causes me to leave it as I thought it.)

I admire the phrase itself and applied to the right circumstances, I would save it with a yellow highlighter. However, anyone with walking around sense knows that building a hotel based on the rationale, “It isn’t fair we don’t have one,” is ridiculous.

Certainly Mr. Blackwell has no expertise when it comes to finding the best location for any hotel, with its own set of essential needs for success, even in Edgecombe County. It requires more than Mr. Blackwell’s agenda to make this a possibility.

A support team made up of professionals is needed to ascertain if such a hotel is even prudent. Never mind becoming a priority in the list of things revitalization calls for. Mr. Blackwell wants a hotel; I want the Masonic Building turned into a boutique hotel. Without thorough input from commercial real estate agents, business/property lawyers, a restaurant consultant, and an accountant, and a seasoned contractor to help determine accurate renovation costs, I might as well be whistling Dixie. I applaud the dream, but Councilman Blackwell is whistling too until we have prepared for the support a hotel needs.

Not for a minute do I accept that the hotel, just because the words diversity, equity and inclusion, are thrown around justifies anything. The word equity has been perverted and means equitable (for blacks.) The few that take this view are an insult to all the black voices that have rolled up their sleeves and refuse to be captured by a false narrative because they believe in themselves and what they are accomplishing.

I don’t know about you but “we’re owed this” doesn’t persuade me. What is necessary is a reality that can draw guests in and make a hotel business in Edgecombe County successful. There is no reason to make this hotel a priority ahead of businesses that are needed for the newly build low-income housing on ECC parking lot. (An example of putting the cart before the horse.) This hotel is another power struggle with no comprehensive plan to ensure what the right location is. Without preparations, why would any investor think Edgecombe County is the place to be. But it can be the perfect spot with a considered, realistic approach to creating what is needed to sustain a successful hotel before one can open for business.

Mr. Blackwell’s hotel makes my point. Why would anyone think that Councilmen like Mr. Blackwell won’t continue to ignore what doesn’t suit them? It is the reason I am against a new plan from City Manager, Keith Rogers, recommending we take approximately a $1.Million of Federal American Rescue Plan funding for the city to update long-range plans. We know what happens. .

Here’s how it goes: an idea like a hotel, perhaps some money under the table to be had and any PLAN we have is out the window. ATTENTION City Manager, Rogers: the whims of some councilmen and their cohorts are THE PLAN.

I have nothing against plans, but we have bought, paid, and ignored the results of the Ratio plans. Hours of people’s time, public input, a professional approach to revitalizing Rocky Mount, mostly ignored. We are now told, they will hand pick the good stuff from the plan in the drawer to save some money.

The money must come from another financial source rather than take a penny from this Rescue Plan Money that will fix roofs, reattach a shutter, bring up code for the people living in bedraggled neighborhoods. Nothing guarantees that a new set of long-term plans will be followed. You know what is guaranteed, that Rescue Fund money will better the lives of our Rocky Mount family.

To prioritize any hotel based on Mr. Blackwell’s point of view is ill advised because he sees the world of Rocky Mount with little imagination and the glasses he wears are short-sighted. His knee-jerk position is, “We deserve a hotel too,” before having in place the necessary elements to sustain a hotel. The fact that we have no research to substantiate the validity of such a project is a no never mind to the ‘My Will Be Done’ folks.

A deficit of respect for Edgecombe County is Mr. Blackwell’s position. We are to believe that Mr. Knight and Mr. Blackwell bear no responsibility for their wards economy, housing, crime, safety. It is everyone else’s fault and because the rest of us are racist, which explains a lack of a hotel too. Never mind that the creation of a Blackwell hotel, as long as it is in Edgecombe County, has no warrant at this time. If someone can guarantee Mr. Blackwell starts paying attention to a plan and accepts you cannot revitalize along racial lines, then we can talk about paying for another set of plans.

It is not the hotel itself, but the careless management of these repeated decisions that cause my temper tantrum. For heaven’s sake, people, we’re making this far too hard for such a wonderful place with wonderful people, with wonderful commercial and residential architecture. Everything is possible. Can we get The Carlton House, that has its own wonderful stories to build upon, open for business, a hotel that must be saved located in a perfect spot? This is THE HOTEL to start with. Without determination to stop this, within the blink of an eye, we’ll have shovels in the ground again.