One Last Glimpse BEFORE It's gone ...

Though my title is referring to the image, taken last week of a house badly damaged by fire and left vacant and derelict for the last few months, the words could also be referring to the entirety of our town too.

Empty lots are forming all over town as old abandoned homes are knocked down and not replaced. They become like teeth falling out of the mouth of an aging person. The failure to fill the spaces that remain signals a slow inexorable decline. In this case it is the decline and death of a town unless something proactive is done to counter it. And done soon.

One would hope the Economic Development Officer would step up to the plate and prioritize such things, but without training or background in either Economic Development or Community Development, such hopes will simply flounder and the spiral will simply continue. Meanwhile, the talented visionaries are driven away or just ignored! The status quo remains.

Last week the backhoes moved in on the old fire damaged house and left a vacant lot in its place. There is now another vacant lot in a town that has too many already.

Better take a long lingering look around before it's ALL gone ... because our beautiful little town has seemingly lost its will to live ... sooner or later the backhoes will go to work on Main St too.

It's too bad. This town has huge potential if it would only learn to embrace the possibilities and start letting REAL change happen. Instead the sound you hear is grumbling and doing NOTHING.

Maybe one day it will change. I hope it happens before it is too late.