I Asked 43 11th Graders What They Like & Dislike About Houston County–Here is What They Had to Say
The youth loves our Peanut Festival & parades but want an even better downtown
Photo curtesy of my good friend, Walter Hill
In recent posts, I asked a group of primarily young professionals what they liked and disliked about our community. That group was the Leadership Dothan Class of 2023. Just a few days ago, I had the privilege of visiting with the Dothan–Houston County Youth Leadership Class of 2023. Youth Leadership is comprised of local 11th grade students who have been selected by their teachers.
I was very impressed by their attentiveness, their passion for our community, and the questions they had at the end.
But similar to last time, I asked them to take an index card and on one side write one thing they like about Houston County. Then, on the other side, I asked them to write one thing they hate.
It’s always interesting seeing the different cares and concerns of various age groups and demographics. I must say this group impressed me with their responses, which I have transcribed unedited below:
Things Young Leaders Love About Houston County
Desirable events - good community
Opportunities/friendly atmosphere
The opportunities for performing arts
Restaurants; the fair
Support of small business
The fair; Westgate complex; places to eat
Local restaurants
Local coffee shops; places to eat
Downtown (KBC, Bookstore, Boutique)
Local shops (Mural City Coffee & KBC)
Forever Wild Trail; Westgate Trail
Parades (Mardi Gras), Foster Fest, etc.
Parades
Eastgate Park/recreation
Performing arts; festivals
The Peanut Festival
The Peanut Festival
Enthusiasm of leaders trying to get people to come back later in life
The thought in daycares
The people and opportunities
I like the parks
Eastgate + Westgate Parks
Industry/professional opportunities such as Southeast Health and Hudson Alpha
The Peanut Festival
The school system
Peanut festival
Scenery
Plenty of places to eat
Parks, events (downtown)
Plenty of food; nice parks
Places to eat/food
Good variety of restaurants
Mardi Gras (NYE Peanut Drop b4 it stopped)
Fast food options
The community/all the people
The food options
Mexican restaurants
Our restaurants (food options)
Lots of opportunity for Ag because that’s our whole economy such as row crops as well as cattle
Westgate/outdoor recreation
Support of school teams
Westgate recreational access
Recreation; Westgate Tennis Center
Things Young Leaders Hate About Houston County
Construction
The construction
Traffic patterns are confusing/aggressive drivers
Traffic, all the construction
Traffic & roadkill
Traffic
Traffic-bad drivers
Multiple chain restaurants
Not a lot of fun things
Need more trails/places in nature
Cityscapes park/water (lake); Downtown
Chain restaurants
Construction/traffic it causes
School (rats) buildings/education quality
Traffic due to construction
Construction on 84
Construction always happening
Ongoing construction on the circle & bad traffic
Money towards certain schools
Construction on the roads constantly
Education system
The constant road work
Lack of shopping; No Lululemon; no dress shopping
Downtown
Construction, traffic at Brannon Stand light
Never ending construction every 2 years
Weather
[Need a] bigger downtown with more shops
Need more culture/places to hang out
Road work
Traffic block ups; limited places to shop
We need a more advanced downtown area; We also need more places to hangout and outdoor activities
Homelessness
The crazy traffic at 5
[Need] more food options farther away from Dothan
The road construction/traffic
Constant road construction & traffic
The roads (construction); traffic
Expedite road construction/re-pave
[Need better] Things to do on the weekend
Not a lot of recreational activities
Not many things to do besides sit at Sonic
Not many places to go have fun at with friends