On this episode of “Simplifying Life Through Technology,” Mark sits down with Jamie Gatton of The Mooresville Scoop, Brad Kalmikoff of Crazy Cool Collectibles, and the Mayor of Mooresville Chris Carney.
"Every town wants to have a heart and I really feel like our downtown does it hands down."
On our podcast, we typically discuss all things technology related, but today, we're spotlighting our local community of Mooresville.
Have you ever wondered how a vibrant community like Mooresville thrives? Tune in as we uncover the impact community members and local government can have on our town. Together, we discuss the transformative role of local journalism—Jamie's leap from the Mooresville Tribune to creating her own news outlet, The Mooresville Scoop, is a testament to the power news stories have in connecting us all. Shared memories, such as tales of former editor Dale, reveal how accountability and transparency remain central to our collective narrative.
We navigate through the intricate relationship between these local enterprises and our local government, illuminating some challenges still at play. Mooresville's new government planning director Erika Martin is reshaping the administrative landscape, fostering a more conducive environment for the growth and recognition our beloved small businesses deserve. It's a candid peek into the ongoing evolution of Mooresville and the essential unity required to propel it forward.
We wrap up with innovation in the form of solutions like parking conundrums and the exciting potential of a giant downtown screen, brainstorming ways to keep the community informed. Brad shares his success with the Mooresville NC Small Business Spotlight Facebook page, emerged as a dynamic network for entrepreneurs and citizens—a vibrant showcase of our town's collaborative spirit. His small business initiative has made a huge impact in the community in such a small amount of time. This episode highlights how Mooresville's community is consistently working to improve our town.
Topics Discussed:
Join us as we explore the transformative power of community involvement and support.
Stay up to date in Mooresville:
https://www.mooresvillenc.gov/index.php
To learn more about Jamie Gatton and The Mooresville Scoop:
https://mooresvillescoop.com/
To learn more about Brad Kalmikoff and Crazy Cool Collectibles:
https://crazycoolcollectibles.com/
To learn more about Mayor Carney:
https://www.mooresvillenc.gov/government/town_board/mayor_bio.php
To learn more about SoundVision:
To listen to more “Simplifying Life Through Technology” podcasts:
https://open.spotify.com/show/7fIkJuLZ7lZ8xbafz62muQ
Contact Us Today:
(704) 696-2792 | Info@svavnc.com | soundvisionlkn.com
On this episode of “Simplifying Life Through Technology,” Mark sits down with Jamie Gatton of The Mooresville Scoop, Brad Kalmikoff of Crazy Cool Collectibles, and the Mayor of Mooresville Chris Carney.
"Every town wants to have a heart and I really feel like our downtown does it hands down."
On our podcast, we typically discuss all things technology related, but today, we're spotlighting our local community of Mooresville.
Have you ever wondered how a vibrant community like Mooresville thrives? Tune in as we uncover the impact community members and local government can have on our town. Together, we discuss the transformative role of local journalism—Jamie's leap from the Mooresville Tribune to creating her own news outlet, The Mooresville Scoop, is a testament to the power news stories have in connecting us all. Shared memories, such as tales of former editor Dale, reveal how accountability and transparency remain central to our collective narrative.
We navigate through the intricate relationship between these local enterprises and our local government, illuminating some challenges still at play. Mooresville's new government planning director Erika Martin is reshaping the administrative landscape, fostering a more conducive environment for the growth and recognition our beloved small businesses deserve. It's a candid peek into the ongoing evolution of Mooresville and the essential unity required to propel it forward.
We wrap up with innovation in the form of solutions like parking conundrums and the exciting potential of a giant downtown screen, brainstorming ways to keep the community informed. Brad shares his success with the Mooresville NC Small Business Spotlight Facebook page, emerged as a dynamic network for entrepreneurs and citizens—a vibrant showcase of our town's collaborative spirit. His small business initiative has made a huge impact in the community in such a small amount of time. This episode highlights how Mooresville's community is consistently working to improve our town.
Topics Discussed:
Join us as we explore the transformative power of community involvement and support.
Stay up to date in Mooresville:
https://www.mooresvillenc.gov/index.php
To learn more about Jamie Gatton and The Mooresville Scoop:
https://mooresvillescoop.com/
To learn more about Brad Kalmikoff and Crazy Cool Collectibles:
https://crazycoolcollectibles.com/
To learn more about Mayor Carney:
https://www.mooresvillenc.gov/government/town_board/mayor_bio.php
To learn more about SoundVision:
To listen to more “Simplifying Life Through Technology” podcasts:
https://open.spotify.com/show/7fIkJuLZ7lZ8xbafz62muQ
Contact Us Today:
(704) 696-2792 | Info@svavnc.com | soundvisionlkn.com
Welcome to a special episode of Simplifying Life Through Technology. While we typically explore technology-related topics, today we're shifting gears to shine a spotlight on our lineup of guests who are deeply connected to our local community. As a small business ourselves, we understand the importance of community involvement and support. Tune in as we delve into the heart of Morsewell's community and discover how we all play a part in its success.
Speaker 2:In the podcast studio today. We've got Morsewell's mayor Chris Carney, me Mark from Sound Vision and Jamie Gatton from the Morsewell Scoop, and we've got Brad Kalmikov.
Speaker 3:I'm here.
Speaker 2:How is everybody doing?
Speaker 3:Doing. Great Thanks for having us oh man, this is exciting, Jamie.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm doing good Ready, I'm ready.
Speaker 2:Not nervous. No, Jamie just said before this started that she's usually on the other side asking the questions and so we're going to grill her. That's true.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm used to being the question asker.
Speaker 3:Actually, mark, you brought up a really great point. I think that's what should happen, is the mayor should ask the reporter questions, and that might be a really great turn of events hey we can do that.
Speaker 4:I'm fine with it. He might not like the answers.
Speaker 3:Not to mention she has a long memory.
Speaker 2:Side writer, side do.
Speaker 3:I'd rather stay on the right side of it.
Speaker 2:So this is really cool because, jamie, you are with the Moresville scoop, I am, I am the Moresville scoop. Now, I thought the very first time I saw that you thought I was ice cream. I absolutely thought it was the one on the corner. What's the ice cream?
Speaker 5:We have carne, tacos and ice cream. What's wrong with this?
Speaker 2:Now what's the Moresville ice cream shop right on the corner down there?
Speaker 5:It's Moresville ice cream, it's Moresville ice cream, it's ice cream, it's ice cream, literally yeah.
Speaker 2:Literally what's called yes. So if I were you, I'd trademark that name quickly.
Speaker 4:Listen, we've thought about doing some sort of like incentive in working with Moresville ice cream, or there's like two scoops.
Speaker 2:Any time that we're working with ice cream, it's fun.
Speaker 5:Right, I'm going to agree with Mark on that, yeah.
Speaker 2:So tell me about the Moresville scoop. Who are you and what do you do?
Speaker 4:Well, the Moresville scoop, kind of relative to who I am and what I do, is the newest thing. When Chris and I first got to know each other, I was a reporter at the Moresville Tribune, and so I was there from like 97 to.
Speaker 2:So you knew Dale.
Speaker 4:He was my editor. I tell everybody he taught me everything I know.
Speaker 2:So I played soccer for me Really. Yeah, I haven't seen Dale in a long time.
Speaker 4:I saw him just a couple of weeks ago. I did.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 4:I was so excited. I've always called him like my second dad. Actually, he shares a birthday with my dad. Isn't that weird?
Speaker 2:That is weird Okay.
Speaker 4:I started working for Dale when I was 19 years old and I told him the other day I'm 46. How old does that make you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, I'm sorry, got you all checked. No, that's okay, that's okay Continue.
Speaker 4:So, anyway, I stopped working there in 2006 whenever I had my son and the tail end of my job at the Tribune. I started covering town government from 2003 to about 2006. And that's when I shifted from like human interest stories and covering schools to not really covering town government. But there were some scandals happening in the town and my predecessor Scandals.
Speaker 5:You can come to my store and I'll tell them to you in person, but I so there were.
Speaker 4:Continue, jamie, please Like there had been scandals happening and my predecessor had been covering them and now he's like my partner with the scoop. But when he left to go to the independent Tribune there left this kind of hole like a vacuum of that coverage. And I sat there and I'm like I'm not really equipped to do this kind of journalism. But I knew after reading his stuff there was no way that they were going away magically just because he was and there was nobody there that was going to pick up this slack. So I went to my editor, I went to Dale and I said, hey, what about I continue covering schools and the happy human interest stuff, and then you've got a town board reporter and then I start looking into things, local government. Sure, that way we could play. If they're mad at me and they don't talk to me, they'll still talk to the town board reporter, right, and that way we can still get information while doing our job.
Speaker 4:Right, thanks, appreciate that. So, anyway, whenever I quit the trip, it was to stay home with my son who was born. And then, like two years later, I kept having one of my mentors and friends. She kept reassuring me somebody will step up and do it. You've done your part. Somebody will step up and do it.
Speaker 2:And, shockingly, no one did.
Speaker 4:No one stepped up and did it. There's two years that go by and you know I'm still hearing from people, because now I've made all these connections and I'm hearing some really concerning things and I don't have anything to do with it except pass it along. But I'm sure the mayor would tell you like you can pass stuff along all day long, but unless you're really kind of pushing things, just passing along is not going to be very effective.
Speaker 2:So somebody's got to take action at some point for something to get done, correct?
Speaker 4:Yes, so I started what was then the Gatton report and out of the gate, the Gatton report exposed a former police chief for the cops for kids. It was a fiasco. He ended up later being indicted etc. But that was right out of the gate. And then so of course, you know, snowballs, there's a couple of other things that happened and then I shut it down Just because there was nothing left to write about. It got fixed. He was on the board at the time.
Speaker 2:Chris was on the board at the time. Yep.
Speaker 4:Yep. Chris was on the board at the time, and I would credit him a lot for getting that taken care of as well.
Speaker 2:Now, what are you doing?
Speaker 4:So now the scoop started five, four or five years ago because of another issue went away for a little bit than the farmers market. When the farmers market happened, it has really just taken off.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure that our listeners would know exactly what we're talking about. So can you just give us like a high level, like 30 second, exactly what Sure.
Speaker 4:So Josh is a more little native currently, I think, mount Ola but he started a produce stand on the side of the road on his grandparents property on Williamson Road 30 years ago. He's 10 years old, selling watermelons out of a wheelbarrow and it has grown since. So the town of Morzell for a while worked with him. Ordinance kind of became a thing, because for the longest time they really weren't and they were giving him like every six months produce stand they made something up for him.
Speaker 2:basically pretty much yeah.
Speaker 4:And so he operated under that. Well, most recently he had to leave the Williamson Road property. He moved over to the YMCA and the town of Morzell in the meantime adopted a new ordinance policy and essentially and people will argue over this a little bit, but essentially, whether it was intentional or not, and I don't think that it was they wrote his business model and open air market out of the ordinances. So there were three ordinances, none of which he neatly fit into. But they put him into a retail sales category which would have made him build permanently. So he's fine with building permanently and he would say I want to build permanently.
Speaker 4:But the town gave him essentially, you know, a year or two years, but in like a one year permit that they gave him to build permanent, they extended it another six months, I think, but in that one year they also made him do a traffic impact analysis. That took up six months of that time that they gave him. Well, during that time all permitting had to stop. So I don't know if anybody looks around, but it's really difficult to build something real fast in Morzell. So they literally set him up for failure from the job Unless you're Chick-fil-A.
Speaker 4:That comes up real quick. Well, people love some Chick-fil-A.
Speaker 5:All right now you own it.
Speaker 4:So anyway, that's where, basically, it all got started, and so the town. I wasn't invested in this one way or the other. But then October the 15th, that day comes up and the town of Morzell took to its own Facebook page to write this very long diatribe to explain its side of the story. Against the farmer's market, red flags went off. For me I'm like since when does government for the people go to its Facebook page to bash a small business?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's been here for a very long time and people love it and I'm like what in the world? So you can go back and you can see a couple of comments where I'm like this is way out of place, like way out of place and I'm like, well, this is a one sided story. Now you got me curious about the other side.
Speaker 2:Today, as of this date, we've rided the ship with this with Chris's help, is that correct? Yeah, and Chris, to kind of bring this back to you for a second, we're talking about Josh's, but we're really talking about small business by and large, which sound vision is certainly part of. So my last question before we hit calc what exactly is the future for small business in Morzell? How does the local government see small business here?
Speaker 3:That's a good question and I think that's what I try to remind people of. This is less about Josh and more about the fact of how our government interacted with small business, and that's the thing people need to remember that take him out and it could have been anybody else and actually has been other people. They just didn't get the attention that he died. And what Jamie didn't tell you is when she first started, she actually started off defending government. She assumed that he was wrong and then she went in, did her homework and realized there's a whole nother side of the story, and I always try to remind people that. You know it's amazing when you look at all the emails and stuff and you start getting what people are saying, the real picture, yeah, yeah. And so I try to tell every person you can expect a fair treatment if you're a small business, and that's all you should be asking for and we should be guaranteeing that.
Speaker 3:And that's where so many people going into planning if you were going on a planning department back then there's people who've had 12, 13, 14 reviews.
Speaker 3:You gotta remember each review is 15 days on one side, plus whatever you got to do to fix whatever they send back. We were literally pulling out time so long and, as you know as a business owner, time is money, yes, sir, and there was literally an example of a company we recruited and it took them so long to get through our planning department that the incentive we gave them actually didn't cover the rising costs and the time it took them to get through our planning department. Now I will tell you now, erica Martin, our new planning director, is fantastic, went in and absolutely lowered the hammer down on that type of wasted time, wasted efforts, and so it's interesting that when we brought in a new culture of people, I get texted like every other day of somebody says, oh my gosh, it's never been better when I walked in here. That's really the goal and it really it's just the beginning, but when you start hiring talent that has the right customer service attitude, it does trickle into the rest of the organization and we're finding that.
Speaker 2:That is very cool. Thank you for elaborating on that and telling us a little bit more about that story. And now, mr Kalmikov, there's initiative.
Speaker 1:Take a moment to engage with us. Use the hashtag sound vision pod on social media, drop a comment, share your thoughts or just let us know you're out there. Fire up those social media accounts and hit us up with hashtag sound vision pod. That's sound vision P O D, and let's make this a podcast community. We can't wait to hear from you.
Speaker 2:Is that the right?
Speaker 5:term? Is it initiative the reason I'm here, not just for comic relief, especially since you're not funny?
Speaker 2:That would be that too.
Speaker 5:It would be that too, Obviously my big initiative. It started because the location I'm at in downtown Mortisville it wasn't meant for my kind of store, so my next-door neighbor, Danny, wants to skateboard shop. It was a fire extinguisher refill station and some doctor's office.
Speaker 2:By the way, brad Kalmikoff, owner of Crazy Cool Collectibles in downtown Mortisville, I think everybody listening knows that.
Speaker 5:I appreciate it. So we're not mad about that, because when the street gets shut down and at night time, those businesses didn't exist. So you know, my mother would be the first to say they need to put lighting by your store. I'm like, okay, it wasn't a store before. So that's, you know. Yes, valid, but that was the big thing is we didn't get recognition and no one knew we were there.
Speaker 5:And naturally I'm good at marketing and being loud and getting out there, so I was able to sustain myself. But he was having a tough time because nobody knows he's there at the skate park. So that struggled into the skate park coming along and he was so responsible for the skate park and like, so excited about it, helped design it, put on all these events, and literally gets no recognition for it. And he's not me, he's very timid and very quiet and he goes well, whatever. And I'm like, no, not whatever. So that was one of the biggest initiatives of mine is we have a skate park, the biggest skate park on the East Coast. By the way, most people don't know that it literally is the biggest skate park on the East Coast.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 5:Exactly, wow, the kids 16 year olds that drive from Virginia hours and hours to come here to skate and they may break their board and go home and have no clue that they could walk to a skate shop, because there's nothing there that says he exists.
Speaker 2:Ultimately, you're looking for some signage and some sort of way of.
Speaker 5:My giant initiative. Yes, I don't think I'm going to solve everybody's business and save everybody's business. But the signage in this town I'll just say it the word that you don't like but it sucks everywhere, not just downtown, everywhere and I don't know who's fault it is and I don't really care, but it's a huge issue and to me signage gives a fighting chance. So, the stuff on Broad Street, the stuff on Church Street I'm talking about downtown, yeah, you got Williamson that entire. You know what does everyone refer to? Oh, the Lowe's food thing. No one even knows what is in there. You drive by it every day.
Speaker 5:There's still a sign on the side of the road on Brawley School for that Mexican restaurant, the taco place that's been out of business for almost a year now. Signs still up there under the Jimmy John sign. Thank you, we know Jimmy Johns is there. This is stuff like that. But again, it's why we're here and why I really appreciate Chris is because I just think there's not been great leadership and the downtown area specifically is like divided and it's very weird. My friend, greg so, is the one who brought up. He said the word silo and he said that these entities that run Mooresville and they're all right next to each other and they have nothing to do with each other. And there's no communication. And if there's something going out at Liberty Park, well, downtown Mooresville is not involved, and if there's something downtown, the town of Mooresville is not involved. And then this and that, and that doesn't make any sense to me.
Speaker 2:So well, I am not disagreeing with you. I do want to call out though my wife and I we go through small towns a fair amount and the gentrification that has happened in downtown Mooresville. Downtown Mooresville is unbelievable compared to the majority of small towns. That would look like our town, to your point, liberty Park, where they've got concerts and you've got parades and you've got. So maybe the communication part and the notification part needs to improve, but I do want to always call it like for those have not been to downtown Moresville. I mean it's awesome, there's like everything down there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's fantastic, so cool. I think what Brad's saying and what he's so right about is the next step now is to make everybody who is in downtown feel as if they have a voice to be in downtown and Main Street gets a lot of attention the center part of Main Street but if you're over on Church Street or Broad Street or North Main it kind of felt like you're hanging out and you're in the step child.
Speaker 2:You're in the tertiary area, yeah.
Speaker 3:And good call. That's one of those things that we do. It's something that needs to be done, because so many people have really put a lot of effort to make their business successful as well, and not to give them a fighting chance is something that we can do, and it's little things like AgroGarzi, that Italian place that's over there.
Speaker 5:Yeah, just open Tara. Do you know? Tara, tara, she's awesome. I was just there, the other night she's awesome.
Speaker 3:We had a conversation. We were talking about her parking situation. They can't park there.
Speaker 5:Wait till Edible opens. I warned him yeah, Edible Real 150, the Savannah Savannah.
Speaker 3:So it was as easy as I talked to staff about it and we're going to go and find a way to set aside about 50 or 60 spots from six to nine at night. She's going to go hire a valet company and all the companies are there can share in it and essentially we'll find a way to help them to handle a little bit of the parking problem. And we had the parking area. We just had to go and decide as government it was okay to let them use it for valet. Reach out to the chamber, kirk Ballard. Hugh, shout out, buddy, I appreciate you. Same thing he said. Hey, listen, if the town needs our parking lot from six to nine at night, love to have them use ours too.
Speaker 5:That's how I met Tyra, actually, because I said to her welcome, and I'm a block away and I'd love for people who drive an hour to come here. You can let them know like, hey, there's a cool shop there and you can park there. Yeah, especially at nighttime nothing else around there is open. Right, so use my parking lot. I tell people for the downtown events all the time. I told downtown to say you know, it's good for us for promotion. We exist, hi, we're here, but also park there. And then no one ever takes advantage of it and people are scrambling where to park. There are spots. I mean, you have three banks right next to each other. Nobody's there. You park there, you know every weekend, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I would say that really the communication part shockingly could be better.
Speaker 5:Communication. And if I'll say one last thing, it is a big deal for me to have a giant screen downtown, maybe on the Charles Mac center or something. So I don't think there's a problem, despite what the town thinks, getting people to downtown Morzill. It's a problem of people being there and not knowing about any other place or what's going on. And I have offered to pay for it and I've offered soundvision to do the installation for it. So wow, thanks. That's kind of why I'm not accepting it's not in our budget or we don't have time thing. So it is a solution. I think that would help everybody.
Speaker 3:Well, Brad, I think that you're going to find one of the things I've talked to the interim town manager about is we're going to go back out and get a local company that can help us come in and take a fresh look at the way we're doing all that, and I think not having a yes man in that role right, Do a lot for us.
Speaker 2:So okay, we're coming up to the end here, but we do want to do something sort of fun, so, Brad this wasn't fun.
Speaker 5:Fun question. All right, how long have you been here in Morzill?
Speaker 2:Almost six years, six years. What is your favorite part about Morzill since you've been here in six years?
Speaker 5:I'm gonna selflessly plug. The best thing that's happened to me like in my life is creating this Facebook page. It's called Mordsville, nc, small Business Spotlight and it's up to 1900 members in three months, and literally not only have I made so many new friends, jamie being one of them, chris and other, I've networked and connected so many people with so many businesses and businesses with businesses and made friends. But the best part is, every single day people come in the store. Mike from Ghostface came in and introduced himself and said I don't know why you're promoting us, but thank you, it's awesome, great to meet you. You're doing this for free, yes, so I'm at Fred and June's bookstore every weekend. I'm hanging out there.
Speaker 5:So Lady says where do I know you from? That's always scary to me when people say that. So she goes wait, you're crazy, cool, collectible guy. Right, I'm Lyndon's bakery. I'm like, oh yeah, over by me and Michi and Moon Dog. She's like, yeah, she literally had tears in her eyes and said I can't thank you enough for everything you've been doing, and like everybody appreciates it. It's like that's cool To me. That's like like I'm even like kind of shaky right now because it should just be the way it is, and I hope I'm inspiring people and I'm inspiring other towns. My friend who owns a collectible shop in Huntersville she's like I wish we had something like this in our town, like nobody cares about each other, nobody helps each other, and I love the fact that all these people are grateful and want to just help each other and work with each other.
Speaker 2:And, yeah, Jamie, how about you? What's your favorite part? Living in Moorzeal, being in Moorzeal, about Moorzeal what's your favorite part?
Speaker 4:I've got a lot of favorite parts. I've been here.
Speaker 5:Don't mention the tub. I didn't like that tub, but it was just a picture.
Speaker 2:I don't even know if that's Moorzeal it is. It was actually Davidson.
Speaker 4:So I have actually lived here since I was younger. I grew up in States, my main Ardell County native. I moved down here whenever my oldest daughters were younger, primarily for the schools. My uncle, bill, lived here and owned a business here. He opened a first like boat shop boat repair shop on Lake Norman. I love and this probably echoes a lot of people I love. You know where Moorzeal is. You know I understand we got some problems and some hiccups and growing pains but I really do love that there's still a small town feel.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you've got Brad, you know, stepping up and kind of throwing out all these businesses, some of which, I mean, I've been here forever and I don't know are here, and because of my coverage of the farmer's market. That's probably how I got pulled over into this conversation. Some the blog has sort of shifted a bit because there's not much investigations to do. Thank you, mayor. Currently anyway, none yet. Anyway, I've kind of pivoted a little bit through the Ardell Free News as well, some features on people and on businesses, and now I've become known as, like, the champion of small business down here in Moorzeal, and so that's probably it. I mean, you still got people that know each other by name, and if they don't know you by name, they'll find out your name. And I don't know if people know how to get downtown, but once they do, I'd be surprised if they want to leave, because you really do have that small town in the heart of Moorzeal feel right and it's
Speaker 4:a lot different and I love West Moorzeal too. I ain't trying to pick on y'all, Chris, I do. I mean I go there a lot, try not to on 150, but I try to get there and spend some money over at those businesses as well. But you know, every town wants to have a heart and I really feel like our downtown does it hands down.
Speaker 2:Very cool. Okay, look, this has been very educational. I appreciate all you guys being here. Mayor, thank you so much for being here. Jamie, thank you for letting us even know. I didn't even know about the Moorzeal scoop. So again, thank you all very much. We really appreciate it. Thank you, andrew. Can you take us out?
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us for Simplifying Life Through Technology. To learn more about Sound Vision, visit our website at soundvisionlakenormandcom. Follow us on X at Sound Vision LKN. Find us on Instagram, facebook and YouTube at Sound Vision LLC.