Everywhere you turn there is growth, change and development. We can’t stop it. We can try and prevent it, but why should we? Or, maybe a better question is why “would” we?
I went downtown today. Now, in a small town this might seem like a daily activity not worth mentioning. For most people it is. I am not most people. (My friend Mike calls me an “un-official” city official. He is an official city official so he knows.) A trip downtown for me requires that I afford myself at least an afternoon. In that afternoon I may get half a block. But, in that afternoon I will have listened to the heartbeat of a small town. Talked with people on the street who love this town with their whole being and know what this town needs, and for sure what it doesn’t. They will tell me how things “used to be done”, what things “used to be like”, and how things will be “IF” something new and different comes to town. They also talk about how no one comes to town anymore. Store fronts are empty, businesses are closing and when people do come to town they are only here on their way to someplace else. They talk about the desire to be a “destination”. They then look at me as if to say, “What can you do to help?”.
Emotionally exhausted from both the passion and the defeat I hear in their voices, I begin my walk back to my car. My thoughts turn to Home Tour weekend….my museums….new events that could bring more people downtown. I can’t help but notice the signs in some of the store windows. Here is what I see:
Hours:
Monday: Not open
Tuesday: 10-5
Wednesday: 10-5
Thursday: 10-5
Friday: 10-5
Saturday: 10-5
Sunday: Closed
Today there was even a sign on a store that said “On Vacation“, with no indication of when they would return. We want to be everything that a destination is, but we want nothing to do with what being a destination means.
I get back to my car, which I proudly parked on Main St., to find a parking ticket displayed prominently in the center of my windshield. I didn’t have any pennies on me today and our “part-time” parking meter enforcer was out in full force. (Who still has penny meters anyway?)
I sit for a moment in my car, feeling the warmth of the sun on my face. I know what I need to do and I can only hope that the path less traveled is the right road to take.
