Revitalizing small downtowns

[jabogitlu]

That's the funniest thing I've heard all week. The Dead Peckers.

[skinem]

They have one of those benches in Fayetteville as well. It's on the courthouse lawn. The county still provides a little bit of cedar beside the bench for whittlin'.

About 20 years ago, a reporter out of Huntsville, AL, Jamie Cooper ("The Country Rover") did a live piece from there, you know, just one of those human interest pieces. Right as he signed off, he turned to the old guy sitting on the bench next to him and said "Now what do they call this" The old guy chuckled, ducked his head and said "Dead peckers' bench". That was cut from the re-play on the 10 o'clock news.

Back to the real topic...I agree with jabogitlu's idea of what needs to be on a town's square. Fayetteville is blessed with a relatively vibrant square with a couple little restaurants, a local drug store, hardware store, a couple of clothing stores, lawyers' offices, realtors, a couple of barbershops, a couple of furniture stores, and a blue million antique stores. But, it's not quite as active as it used to be, but these types of stores can and do attract the everyday local shopper, and not just the weekend antique browser that many of our downtowns seem to attract.

[jabogitlu]

These days, it's not enough to provide infrastructure for local business. Until a critical mass of people is educated enough in the evils of corporate America, local governments, businesses and residents will also have to proactively guard and fight against the opening of new mega businesses in their cities. Unfortunately, local governments will never do this as it is intensely against their interests.