David Smith has been involved in Asheboro politics for almost 30 years, including serving four terms as mayor. He did not seek reelection this year. His tenure will end with the swearing in of the new council and mayor this week.
WFDD’s Paul Garber spoke with Smith about the economic turmoil the city experienced with a manufacturing downturn and how the local government worked to turn things around.
Interview highlights:
On what it was like for Asheboro to lose much of its manufacturing base in the early 2000s:
“I know the Acme-McCrary (Hosiery Mills) people built the hospital, built the schools. There was no end to what they were willing to do to build our neighborhoods and our city for the benefit of their employees. So certainly, when you start losing things like that, and the town just got hit hard by economic depression.”
On the reaction to a 2012 “60 Minutes” story that featured Asheboro as an example of a dying small town:
“The city administration and most of my friends and neighbors did not see it that way. You know, to be called one of the five fastest dying towns in America is a pretty strong statement. We did not see that. But I will tell you, it was an eye-opener. It was a wake-up call. And we just decided that wasn't true and we were gonna prove it.”
On the town’s response that led to an All-American City designation four years later:
“That was part of our game plan. We got our heads together, and we had a great city manager, John Ogburn, and great council, and a lot of citizen support. So we set out to make sure that what people were saying about Asheboro was unproven. We started doing quality-of-life projects. We revitalized our main street downtown, and it was eventually named a Great Main Street in North Carolina. We built a music and entertainment venue in one of the parks, and refurbished the Sunset Theater, which was a 1929 movie house, and gave us a great performing arts venue right in the center of downtown.”
On finding a balance between new growth and preserving the environment and landscape:
“That's the big question. Some people don't want change. What I've always believed and worked for is: If you don't grow, you eventually die. We are not satisfied with the status quo. We want our population to grow. When you have an employer like Toyota that expects to have 5,000 employees, it does change what we know and love as small-town America.”