The town I thought I was moving to ten years ago was mostly gone before I got here. But, I was still enamored of what was left of it. When I was asked on the first day of the Leadership Yellow Springs program I participated in a few years back what I wanted for the village, my response was, "To stay the same, mostly." That qualification at the end had to do with the squabbling that we are famous for. Well, the squabbling goes on and the town has remained mostly the same, but a little bit less so every year. We continue to take hits. Now I realize that when I said, "Stay the same," I meant "be the town that was mostly gone by the time I got here."
And now the situation has gotten critical. Businesses have left town and continue to do so. The college closed for a couple years and, although a lot of people are putting forth a great effort to revive it, in these economic times it is still at best a gamble. Our tiny school system is constantly threatened by a variety of challenges. We are teetering on the brink. And yet, some folks in town are in denial.
Recently the Director of Home, Inc. wrote a letter to the newspaper about how absolute transparency in an "economic liaison" is not possible and that it should not be a bar to a collaboration with Community Resources. At a recent Chamber of Commerce meeting, she spoke up again about exactly what I am writing about here, how we can no longer ignore the need for economic development. Without trying to speak for her, I think her point was that we have to start to pull together and find an acceptable balance between preserving our way of life and developing a local economy.
She and I have had some differences of opinion in the past, but on this we absolutely agree. If we do not attract and retain businesses that will employ our residents and bolster our tax base, people will not be able to afford to live here. In fact, for some people, it has already come to that. The irony in all this is that the folks who decry our diminishing diversity are often the same people who are digging in their heels when it comes to economic development. This irony even extends to the title of our new Economic Sustainability Coordinator. Is "economic development" really such a dirty word that our local politicians are afraid to utter it?
Yes, we probably all agree that we don't want a strip mall on the edge of the village. And yes, we want to maintain a vibrant downtown area. But should that stop us from having a small business park on the western edge of town at a corner where we once had The Antioch Company and Vernay Laboratories? The former is currently a mostly vacant building and the latter is now a vacant lot, and there is yet another vacant lot near the southern entrance to the village where Wright State Community Physicians once stood. Don't these ghosts of our once vibrant past have any symbolic meaning for us at all?
Perhaps the fear is that the cost of housing will go up if the village attains a certain level of economic vitality. That view is short-sighted. The cost of living here is going up precisely because we do no have any businesses to help us pay for village services and to attract families here to populate our schools.
My sister and her husband were visiting from out of town over the holidays. As I drove them around town, my brother-in-law asked me, "How does such a small town pay for all the services you have?" He was talking about our police department, our local dispatchers, and our village crew. I was hard pressed to come up with an answer. The answer, of course, is personal income tax. I almost choked on the words.
Picture this town without Vernay, The Antioch Company, Community Physicians, Antioch College and the Yellow Springs Exempted Village Schools. Well, we are already more than halfway there.
The Arts Council and the Chamber are doing a terrific job in collaborating in an ongoing effort to promote Yellow Springs as a tourist destination. But, we all know that tourism alone is not enough to sustain this village. And, if this place were to become a ghost-town, the tourists would stop coming, too.
Even with everyone pulling together to foster economic development, the task is a daunting one. There are many external factors that are beyond our control. The last thing we need is internal resistance. We are teetering on the brink and we need to catch our balance.
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22 comments:
Right on the nose, Virgil. Thanks for explaining the situation in such an accessible way.
I was just talking to my husband about this, this morning. The Visioning Committee report says that YS has an aging population with higher income like it is something to be proud of. Kettering has that, and it has had trouble keeping its schools current and passing levies. We are getting too expensive to attract OR KEEP the kind of folks we used to have. If we continue this way, we will be like any other bedroom community...Centerville, Springboro, you name it. Not unique Yellow Springs. My husband and I are living here by the skin of our teeth, but I don't know how much longer that can happen; our neighbors, who have kids, are about to lose their house. WAKE UP YELLOW SPRINGS!!! Without some kind of development, you will price out the very people who make this place unique and keep it growing...artists, writers, free-thinkers, PEOPLE WITH FAMILIES.
Amen. Most of the time we sound like the people in Washington - no compromise is ever possible. The Village has to ponder and discuss a left turn lane 2 or 3 years after the business park was already in the works. Does that send a clear message to anyone thinking about moving a business here?
As I have said before in other comments, I am planning to move my family to yellow springs in the summer of 2011. I am passionate about that, because I am very attracted to the village. And I have not much idea how or what i will be able to afford but am certain that I will be able to economize to make it work.
There are three main things I tell people when they ask me "Why Yellow Springs" and my answers are: 1) That I have never felt that I fit in in any other town because of my unorthodox (hippie) mentality and ways of living...2) to raise my children in a far more freethinking (hippie) town than I grew up in, and such a beautiful town it (seems?) is to me, and to raise them as near to the nature that exists around the village and 3) My husband is an "artist" and there seems to be a vibrant artistic (hippie) culture in Yellow Springs.
It pains me to read things like this, because i am not involved yet, in the intricacies, nor live there yet. And i had NO idea about the school system's troubles before I started reading the blog...
When people ask how we will make a living (money) i do draw a blank. I, personally, have an independent monthly income that would (hopefully) pay for rent and utilities down there, like I pay in the house we live in now..
At the moment, my husband works at a factory down the street. This does not, of course, align with our core values, but it puts bread on the table for now.
As for today, we look around the village when we visit and it is stark that there aren't a lot of jobs but we have faith that there will be one for him.
I plan to go to school at McGregor, for sure, since I have put off education until I have my younger children raised.
The reason I am sharing all this is to give background to the very real fact that young couples, and I am sure individuals and other kinds of families, who do long to move to the village and that what you are all saying is correct, there NEEDS to be some sort of growth while holding on to the core (Hippie) values that everyone loves about the village.
Like I say, I am saying this from the luxurious (ignorant) perspective of an outsider who has never been involved in four-syllable-three-word committees and visioning excersizes, just as someone who really longs to live in the village and set down roots there for myself, husband and children.
There must be SOME product/idea/industry that aligns with the towns' (hippie) ideals while still creating revenue and vital "business" income?
solar? green products? wind turbines? SOMETHING?!
thank you for hearing me out.
brilliant article. along with subscribing to the newspaper, this is where I get the knowledge about the village.
thank you for all you do.
may goodness (and revenue) be showered on the village and peace spread throughout the land :)
Actually in my mind there is more to the chamber and arts council efforts than just trying to promote a tourist destination. What attracts people to relocate, and I mean business' people is a community that is attractive in more ways than one, one that is also culturally rich. Not disagreeing with your view, just that a lot of my and Nancy's efforts goes way beyond just wanting people to come and visit and go ooh and ahh at a bit knitting on a pole or a bit art in a loo.
The arts is a lure, but then how to keep them is the key, how to create the kind of incentives that attracts companies to relocate, to stay ?????
I came to town during the good times. Antioch was bursting with students, faculty were renown in their discipline, Antioch had earned academic respect, and the town gown relationship was lively if not always relaxed.
We imported workers to the major employers, and those employers were generous in their support for the community. Villagers generally had a live and let live attitude so people who didn't "fit" the predominant pattern could be comfortable here. That's the village you thought you were moving to. That's why I chose to stay after graduation. I wouldn't make that choice today.
We lived here in 1978 and then moved out of state after a couple of years, so I remember what it WAS like but we still chose to move back here 8 years ago. Sure it has problems, (like other places don't) and challenges, but we chose to move back because it is still a very very cool unique place with some very cool people.
The irony about Antioch College is it developed its renown for starting small businesses right on the campus, with college resources. There was even an Antioch shoe factory. When everyone talks about bringing back Antioch College what about that aspect of it?
To Persephonesunset:
I doubt that anyone here would refer to themselves as a hippie (except for maybe one or two) and I can tell you that the residents in general don't think of this as a hippie town. That is a perception that is pervasive in communities around us and is a buzz word for prejudice against Yellow Springs.
Hippies were a phenomenon of the Vietnam War protests. It was a short-lived, nihilistic movement in the late 60s and early 70s. People in this town live very much in the present and are interested in coming up with solutions for what ails us. Lot's of solutions!
Hippie is just a word for a state of mind...get that '60s image out of your head. What it means, I think, is what many of you are talking about...open to ideas, nature loving, artsy, etc. Don't denegrate someone for their terminology. Many of us here don't consider ourselves "hippies" (I was too young to have been one in the '60s) but many folks outside of the Springs look at my car (which is how I speak my mind) and instantly call me one, although I don't align myself that way.
Any chance you will put this in the YS News? It is beautifully presented and it would be a shame if more folks did not read this. Spot on in my opinion.
Anonymous: I meant the word as a sort of "lack of a better word" type deal... I, of course, was not using it as a slur! I suppose I could've gone in a woo-woo direction and gotten all high-minded and high- fallutin' about "it", but was trying to be brief ( something that does not come easily to me to be sure....)
peace-nik? Environmentalist? Utopian perhaps?! I am too exhausted to pull out my thesaurus, having stayed up all night sewing handmade gifts for my "neicephew"s ( we don't know what it is yet :) ) baby shower and other such artsyfartsy " hippie" ( for lack of a better word) things I am liable to be doing at any given moment... ;)
thanks for the history lesson, though, from the bottom of my
Born- just- a - little- too- late, Gen X, hippie heart. :)
Yellow Springs will soon be like a shadow of its former self if we do not attract business and families. It is not a matter of affordable housing - it is a matter of having business helping with paying taxes to keep the town affordable. Vernay was run out of town, and Antioch did not have the leadership or kind of classes that were congruent with a successful college. Hopefully we can get back on track.
Vernay was run out of town, and Antioch did not have the leadership or classes to be successful. I hope our town returns.
I agree with your analysis Virgil. What do you believe could and should be done, and whom do you believe should do it - to reverse us from teetering on the brink and falling into the abyss?
I was raising my children during the 60’s, and whenever
“If you’re going to San Francisco, Be sure to wear
flowers in your hair,” came on the radio, tears would come to my eyes, because I would not be going to San Francisco....would never leave my kids.
On the other hand, I was in Yellow Springs, which I thought was a close second best. And I did feel it - and I - was a part of the hippie community, a
community that accepted everyone, no matter who
or what they were.
So that part of the hippie experience, I believe, is still with us in YS. In my store, I sell magnets that have a swirly multicolored background with Yellow
Springs in bold black capitals. We sell a lot of them; I
think it speaks to the hippie in us.....and come spring
you’ll see a number of folks in tie-dye t-shirts. They
are making a not-so-subtle statement.
I don’t believe in the least that it is a nihilistic philosophy.
And though some folks do use the term with disdain
when referencing Yellow Springs, others use it in
admiration.
And yes we need more businesses in town to keep us going and growing the right way.
Change must occur if we are going to keep what we have as a community and create new benefits for our community. A strong business community is an element that makes the other cogs of our community function; social, education, artisan, and environmental. We do not need big business, we need small different ones that can operate within our aging utility system. Once they prosper, our community will prosper. We residence must push the naysayers out of the way and encourage the development of a healthy diverse business community. We all will benefit. Thanks Virgil for enlighting us readers.
I haven’t said anything in this post that hasn’t been said before. I have just pulled together some ideas to try to say it in a different and more coherent way to get people thinking and talking. I don’t pretend to have any answers beyond the simplistic notion that if we don’t do something and we continue with the infighting and resistance to even moderate economic development, we will have done nothing to halt or even slow our slide. We are all looking for someone who has the answers, a consultant, a coordinator, a commission, a Chauncey Gardner. Throwing money at the problem may or may not help.
It has been suggested that I send this to the newspaper. I haven’t done that because they probably wouldn’t have the space to publish it without cutting it or to do justice to all the replies it might generate.
I wish I did have the answer. Unfortunately, all I have is this blog where I can get people thinking and talking about a problem that some villagers refuse to acknowledge.
In response to Craig:
Thanks for your support. However, I don't think you really advocate pushing anyone with a difference of opinion aside. With a little enlightenment, we can work together.
People have been thinking and talking about the subjects in your piece, "Teetering on the Brink", for several years. Thinking and talking has not and will not prevent further bad Council decisions that inch us over the edge.
It's your privilege to post your opinion on your blog, but I don't see it making much of a difference other than providing a place for people to vent.
Venting doesn't prevent disaster; action does.
Can you propose some action?
"Venting doesn't prevent disaster; action does.
Can you propose some action?"
Venting is a start, but yes you raise a good question. Problem is "what action" ? I don't see that villagers are NOT aware of the issues, but what can we do???? We don't have the tax base to offer tax incentives for business' to relocate here. Are land/building owners able to offer low rents to compete with other places and entice business? People can't seem to even agree what type of business' should be encouraged /allowed to come here.
Response to Teetering on the Brink
Your analysis that the village is stuck in “Teetering on the Brink” is right on.
Yes, “economic development” is a dirty word in Yellow Springs, as are the words “industry” or “business,” if the proposed activity would take place beyond the vicinity of Xenia Avenue or the proposer is not local.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Yellow Springs. I lived there for nearly 30 years and played an active role in the community serving on Village Council, Planning Commission, and on boards of various community organizations. Now I have been away for over ten years, which perhaps gives me some perspective on what has happened to the community.
I’m reminded of the lyrics to “The Way We Were – ¬Memories, like the corners of my mind, misty water color memories of the way we were…. Memories may be beautiful and yet, what’s too painful to remember, we simply chose to forget…”
We Yellow Springers tell a somewhat idealized story about our community, and yes, I still think of myself as a member of the community. Holding on to that story is mostly a good thing because it makes people feel good about living here. But it isn’t very realistic when it comes to the local economy and what it takes to support a small village and the level of services that people have come to expect. That’s not part of our “water color picture.”
Yellow Springs really knows how to say “No” to change of almost any kind; it has a much harder time saying “Yes.” I believe this pattern got started in the early 70’s when we had a protracted and divisive dispute over a proposed development of farmland on the south edge of the village. The proposal was for residential housing and a commercial shopping area. I think that dispute set the tone for how subsequent proposals for economic development – both residential and commercial - were handled by the community and then rippled into the way people have dealt with many other issues.
In the 50’s. the noted sociologist James Coleman (who by the way was one of the earliest to use the term “social capital”) wrote a paper called “Communities in Conflict.” With regard to a community’s capacity to handle controversies, he said , “ Each community carries out a trial and error process without benefit of the cumulative experience of other communities. Since controversy arising out of a particular kind of crisis is not likely to occur frequently, each community has little opportunity to evolve… the optimal procedures for handling disagreements. Quite to the contrary, the outcome of one dispute ‘loads the dice’ in favor of a similar outcome the next time. Only a few such incidents may be necessary to fix the path of community disputes for fifty or a hundred years to come.”
From an outside perspective, it seems to me this is what has happened to Yellow Springs, a pattern of unproductive conflict that has kept the village from addressing the important issues that need to be tackled if the community is to survive and thrive.
If people like you agree that the way issues are being addressed isn’t working so well, I have a suggestion. Because you are committed to the village and concerned that this endless round of controversies could immobilize the community, is it possible you and others could lead an effort to create some new norms for community behavior? If these norms for how to engage each other in communication and problem solving were generally agreed to, they could be called on by community members in all the various venues to keep processes from degenerating into a waste of time or a fight to the finish. That is the power or relationships and the social capital that exits in the Village. When members of a community are highly committed and identify their future with their community, that, in and of itself, can help constrain conflict and promote more positive outcomes.
Thank you for your excellent piece, and I wish only good things for the future of the village.
Chris Carlson
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