Small Town Charm
"Small town charm". It's not so much a question of size (small vs. large populations) as it is about design considerations that foster closeness between residents, a sense of community. That's why our downtown needs to be protected as a place where residents of every type and income level come together, to shop, eat, meet etc. The opposite direction turns the downtown into a tourist mall. I'm not for villainizing tourism and the businesses that serve visitors, but there needs to be balance. If we don't maintain balance, then visitors are going to question a downtown that is overrun with hotels, tasting rooms, high end clothing shops and the like. Where is the 'charm' in that? Unfortunately, there is not a ton that our City Council can do to directly change course, but there are some things that would help. The first thing though, would be to express a change of values. To make it a goal to preserve our downtown and work to prevent it from becoming not