Editor:

In response to Tony Clark’s “Revitalizing Downtown Franklin,” how about building up Franklin period. In order to attract the young professionals referenced in the column, there must be job opportunities that attract them to the area. Neither Franklin nor Southampton County has that. For years, young people finishing school have left this area to pursue further education, but do not return because job opportunities are nonexistent. Many, who stay, commute 30 or more minutes to get to jobs in the surrounding areas.

Franklin/Southampton Economic Development is a bunch of crock. A truck stop and a Bojangles are the best we can do? Those are honest jobs, mind you, but they are probably minimum wage jobs or close to it, which cannot sustain a household where the rent or mortgage is more than half the monthly salary. So you have high rent and low-paying jobs. Sounds like a lose/lose situation.

Who is marketing Franklin/Southampton County as an area to do business? Are the citizens to believe that no business/industry is interested in this area? It seems absurd that with Route 58 connecting to interstates 95, 85, and all the 64s that no one is making that a selling point to attract business and industry.

Or are people just comfortable (complacent) with the status quo? Afraid to let “outsiders” in to give new perspectives on issues? What happened to progression and growth? Without it things become stagnant and eventually die.

Jackson Taylor
Courtland