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Written by John Plucenik
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Thursday, 13 November 2008 16:43 |
Deciding where to put things on a community scale is not always black and white. It takes planning. It takes goal-setting and cooperation.
It takes bold, visionary leaders and not among the least, creativity.
Much of our local landscape was determined by our past industrial forces with little or no planning. Throughout a majority of the past millennium, the coal mining and manufacturing industries reflected our heritage and landscape.
Times have changed.
Our economic landscape has changed.
Our physical landscape is changing as well.
We can still do something about that.
That is where Smart Growth planning comes in.
As consumers, we want convenience.
We want good parking spots.
We want good prices.
And we want to taste that sizzling steak that tempts us on our TVs.
The problem is perception doesn’t always meet up with reality.
And that steak you are served at that chain restaurant is never as good as the one on TV.
A renaissance of independent-minded consumers is needed.
And it will take bold, creative thinkers to return some much-needed pride to our cities and small towns.
Outside-the-box thinkers. Outside the “big box” that is.Our elected officials and community leaders can start by pondering a few simple questions. For example, what is the American Dream and how can we keep it alive?
The answer does not lie in a huge, asphalt parking lot.
It is frustrating when we bring in collective, creative minds to devise master plans, only to be rejected by stagnant leaders who embrace the comfort of the status quo. We need to encourage the infusion of creative young minds in the community development process.
We need to give entrepreneurs and local independent merchants, not huge out-of-town corporations, tax incentives.
We need creative minds in our local chambers of commerce to focus on filling empty storefronts outside their windows instead of putting another big box store in an asphalt jungle.
During a recent community meeting between the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce, the Back Mountain Business Association, and the Greater Valley Independent Business Alliance, the group of more than 100 people was challenged to come up with ideas for new economic growth.
The suggestion of bringing in more creative voices of young people was made. Everyone agreed and applauded.
But who are these young, creative people and are they really welcome into the fold? Or do they just get lip service from the powers that be?
We need creative government leaders to get out of their offices and drive through their towns and ask local independent business owners about the future of the town.
Don’t hold your breath. Too many times, small business owners are perceived as the enemy.
In many ways, some of these local store owners are indeed their own worst enemies. They refuse to collectively take action, although many are so busy staying alive they do not have that luxury. Some feel it is not worth throwing their “pearls before swine,” while others wipe off their sweat and quietly get ready for the sound of the bell and another round.
One frustrated and struggling local store owner, who preferred to remain anonymous, tried to rally other business owners to get involved, but was met with apathy and indifference.
“Just look at the small numbers of retailers actively involved with business associations. I have met the enemy, and it is us,” he lamented.
Culture
At one time, living in the city was reserved for the wealthy. Remnants of the beautiful architecture in and around downtown Wilkes-Barre provide a glimpse of this once-proud past. Small towns bustling with busy shops, foot traffic, and actual sidewalks prospered as well.
Now they are looked at with nostalgia. Why?
Because where we live has changed. And where and how we shop has changed as well.Or more accurately, where we choose to shop. Sadly, a lot of people go through more cars than sneakers.
That is a big part of the problem.We complain about property taxes, but ignore the economic consequences of where we spend our money. It is a fact that supporting local independent stores injects more money in the local economy, therefore, keeping taxes down and supporting our infrastructure. Empty store fronts and crumbling buildings equate to less revenue and more debt, with fewer residents absorbing the bill.
But we love those blue-light specials, don’t we?
We have allowed Corporate America to take over the controls.
This goes beyond the capitalistic principles of supply and demand.
Some studies indicate consumers are bombarded with more than 3,000 carefully crafted marketing messages a day.
We’ve become programmed to listen … and obey. From an early age.
Is it any surprise that in a recent study, kids preferred a hamburger with
a McDonald’s wrapper over an exact replica with no branding label, after tasting each, a vast majority of the time?
In the multi-billion-dollar world of marketing and branding, quality and service take a back seat to packaging, hype, and speed.
When locals wax nostalgic over the disappearance of a “Percy Brown’s” in downtown Wilkes-Barre or any mom-and-pop store, we should not dismiss the fact that the fight is not over. Risk-taking entrepreneurs know how to take a punch and swing back. They are a tremendous economic asset to our culture. And they are a key element of Smart Growth.
Unfortunately, a lot of small independent business owners have hit the canvas and sniffed the smelling salts. They’ve raised the white flags to the corporate goliaths. But many have not.We should not dismiss these fighters in our economic arena. A majority of our workforce is still made up of those who work with independent companies with 20 or fewer employees.We are not just talking about our economic forces. We are talking about our culture. Our people. Our friends and neighbors who make up our wonderfully diverse landscape.
“Local businesses enrich the civic fabric,” said Stacy Mitchell, author of The Hometown Advantage. “Small merchants care about their communities because they are part of their communities. The taxes they pay provide for the schools, police, and parks that they and their families use. Small merchants give to community causes more than their big competitors, but don’t get the same press. Their purchases and profits circulate within and strengthen the local economy rather than flowing to distant suppliers or corporate headquarters.”
Change
“It is time to change the rules,” said Mitchell. “Local merchants still command a significant share of the market for consumer goods and services, but with economic consolidation proceeding at a staggering pace, citizens need to act now to ensure the survival of local retail and service businesses. A number of communities have taken the lead in fashioning policies that favor diverse, humanly scaled, locally owned autonomous businesses.”
Policies that embrace Smart Growth.
But good policies are not worth the paper they are printed on if they are not enforced or embraced.
Act 167 was passed in 1978 to deal with storm water management plans such as large commercial parking lots and residential development. Yet according to Barry Newman, chief of storm water planning and management for the Department of Environmental Protection, no county in Pennsylvania has been in full compliance. Many municipalities have their own storm water management ordinances, but as we have seen in unprecedented increases of flooding in the Back Mountain, West Side and Wilkes-Barre area, these have fallen way short.
The fact that Northeastern Pennsylvania has suffered almost $700 million in property damage from flooding is no accident. It is poor planning, inadequate enforcement of laws, and unsupportive government officials when it comes to devising comprehensive Smart Growth planning.
While support from government officials and business leaders is critical, the true power is in the grass roots. Our citizenry. Citizens and business owners must be proactive and talk to zoning officials and chambers of commerce before corporate development is thrust at them, not after, about tightening laws and crafting sound policy.
Attend and speak out at meetings. Let your voice be heard in the media. Vote for officials who support Smart Growth. Support your local Independent Business Association. Contribute to local land trusts and conservation groups. Support bold, new, visionary ventures such as The Lands at Hillside Farms, created to honor our heritage and preserve our natural resources.
Currently, a band of active citizens and business owners is trying to prevent a big chain super store from coming into their picturesque Tunkhannock area. The fight is still raging on.
Not everyone has the time or money to get involved at these levels.
But there is a simple way to start.
The easiest way to fight for Smart Growth is to look after your neighbor, starting with your local independent business owner. By just shifting five percent of your annual spending from big box and large chain stores to local merchants and restaurants, we can inject tens of millions of dollars into our local economy. This will have a positive ripple effect on our tax base, although the savings are not always as immediate as a blue-light special.
By shifting our spending to more local stores, we will encourage more diverse shops to fill empty storefronts.
I recently witnessed a local newspaper sales representative make a pitch to a local business group and proudly proclaimed that, according to a study, 40% of people buy the Sunday newspaper just for the circulars and advertisements. I’m sure all the hard-working journalists, editors, artists, and photographers at this paper are thrilled with that.
But that figure might actually be right.
It is also a sad sign of our times.
I’m sure when our forefathers shed their blood and constructed the First Amendment, they didn’t do so to fight for the freedom of the press to distribute Wal-Mart circulars.
It’s easy to complain about our politicians who bow at the altar of big-money, special interests.
It’s easy to complain about the media that have become shills for corporate America.
It’s easy to complain about business groups and store owners suffering with inertia and apathy.
It’s much harder to take an honest look in the mirror.
Perhaps that struggling local store owner was right.
We have met the enemy.
And it is not Wal-Mart.
The enemy is us.
John Plucenik is a freelance writer who has lived in NEPA for his whole life, along with his wife and five children. He holds a master’s degree from Wilkes University and is a past recipient of the John Heinz Outstanding Young Pennsylvanians Award, as well as the Outstanding Commitment to Children Award from the Children’s Service Center. This is part of a regular series on Smart Growth that will continue in The Independent Magazine in November.
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