Dem
47
GOP
53
We received a very interesting commentary from reader P.M. in Pensacola, FL. It's a bit on the long side for the mailbag, but it's a good companion to the above item, so:
I have some commentary to add to the write-up from A.G. in Scranton, concerning the general feeling across this nation where there is a deflected blame game and a pity party for small-town/county America's woes, along with the never-ending complaint from some small community members about ongoing prosperity of coastal areas or big cities. I also want to comment about local, state, and federal politicians and their political parties who get elected by saying one thing about "helping" or "saving" small-town/county America, and then end up being or doing something misguided or nothing, thus actually becoming part of the problem with the demise of small town/county America. Thanks to A.G. for bringing up this topic.
A.G. is correct implying that small-town America is not coming back with regard to natural resources that are no longer readily available in local areas. There are all types of remnant "thin, deep veins of Anthracite coal [not being] viable alternatives" for economic recovery in such communities. That's why harnessing and development of renewable resources and establishing sustainable and resilient communities is so important to both large and small communities for the future. Interestingly, many small communities fight this. Vocabulary has to be used in Small-towns so as not to offend the locals... Isn't this what conservatives called political correctness, and a softening instead of just facing facts that Small-towns hate to hear?
Here in the South, I cannot begin to tell you how many small communities historically depended on local non-renewable natural resources in their thriving years, primarily virgin longleaf pine. A drive through west Alabama (just follow US-43 and SR-5 north from Mobile, AL, where the problem is acute), or away from and parallel to the coastal zones of the Florida Panhandle, Alabama, or Mississippi, will reveal many communities in this situation. Most all of them have a history of an abandoned lumber mill that closed when the last virgin forest stands were clearcut by the 1930's, and some have sat virtually paralyzed ever since. Today, most of what remains economically are scattered utility pole and wood treatment plants and pulpwood/paper mills in their places, many owned by multinational corporations, along with numerous convenience and dollar stores. Some towns prosper more than others (hubs), but the smallest towns are generally beaten down, crumbling, enveloped in poverty, caught in drug dealing and dependence, people are in poor health, and communities are abandoned by younger people seeking jobs, a modern education, and a better quality of life in larger small-hub communities or beyond. These towns are away from interstate highway commerce at exits. They are not near tourist areas, college/university communities, or big cities. Embedded racial problems (both self-inflicted and external political) keep consensus from occurring, causing generational oppressive community bitterness and an overriding sense of a "woe are we" mindset that keeps things stuck. (There is always the call for a "miracle," a "blessing," or some type of supernatural event to change things, often referencing the second coming of Christ. And, of course, attention is on a near god-like president and a tall promise to small-town/county America to make things great again, but with no specifics.)
This is not just in Pennsylvania and Appalachia, or only in the South. The same holds true for some dried up oil-patch areas of Texas west of the Hill Country, numerous communities up and down the Great Plains, especially west of the 98th meridian, and the so-called "Rust Belt" states (but the "rust" seems to be gone, or is disappearing in many of the major cities of the lower Midwest).
At some point, local communities, states, and the nation have to say "enough is enough" about the apparent bleak future outlook of small-town/county America. And the best place to start that conversation is locally (town/city and county level), NOT at the state and federal level. The decisions to be made are not easy.
Unfortunately, what I have found throughout my 35-year career working in many small communities is that the conversation about what to do never really gets serious and does not even start at all unless someone says: "GRANT!" Then, everyone gets temporarily excited.
And what are the GRANTS! used for? What I've seen is: street repairs and paving an unpaved road; community centers; fixing an old low-usage bridge; a new park or play equipment/ballfields; building turn lanes for the dinky empty "industrial" park outside of town; buying window shutters and a metal roof so the local government is functional following a hurricane; weatherizing old homes in a tightly-defined block or two. When the grant closes out, there is very little to show for it as far as the destiny of the community is concerned. None of this really translates to a true and long-lasting economic or structural renewal of a dying town or county.
My observation over my career is that local small-town and county governments rarely look at their communities from the perspective of outside people from the "Main Line and Upper Bucks." Local politicians and business leaders are near totally ignorant of the impression left in an outsider's mind of the abandoned downtown and strip shopping centers, the junk all over people's yards, the unattractive parking lots and strip centers left to develop any way they please with random traffic entry and exit, abandoned and outdated signage, broken fences, little greenery in commercial areas, litter, people standing around doing nothing (because there is little to do except watch national "news," gaming, or streaming movies all day), and the lack of investment in upkeep of business, residential, and rental properties (including simple things like paint and pressure washing). There are few, if any, local codes or even common-sense neighborhood or building standards, and no enforcement if there are standards, usually because everyone knows everyone and no one wants to offend the other. It's only about self, not community, and the bar is set too low.
The prevailing thought among leaders, residents, and businesses is that "it has always been this way, and it always will be that way."
And that, fellow Electoral-Vote.com readers, is why much of small-town America is stuck. Small-town America itself plays a significant, but not complete, role in holding back small-town America. Yes, state, national, international economics, and business policies have a lot to do with the current status. But small-town America is stuck by the fact that its own residents, renters, businesses, and elected leaders fail to recognize that each individual—everyone in the community—has a role to play in order to change the direction of where things are and where they are going.
Unfortunately, local elected and non-government official leadership tends to overshoot and loves to budget economic development boards to land a new, sparkling industry in the local industrial park. This can go on for years. These businesses (who are looking for cheap or no tax offers) need skills that far exceed local training and skills, and maybe even local interest. Local industrial or economic boards too often chase the diamonds that only well-organized and suburban communities will land. Rarely do they consider the overall appearance of the community, or what demolition or renewal of decrepit downtowns or old strip centers through active code enforcement could do, creating incentives for cleanup and upkeep, or having the courage to enforce codes that would enhance and attract numerous small, young, entrepreneurial business people to open new businesses, thus attracting new residents and increasing community wealth. Are these local economic development boards misguided?
When someone says "GRANT!" in a small community, everyone jumps, but they also usually have to hire a consultant to even apply for the grant because of the skill set needed. And grants are only a dice roll due to stiff competition among applicants. Normally statewide. Grants alone are not the answer.
Image is everything. After reading the missive from A.G., I pulled up photos of Braddock, PA. I also mentally pulled up visions of Century, FL. Uniontown, AL. Sheffield, TX. All struggling small communities fitting the description of depleted resources and stuck. I thought of A.G. mentioning Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA). When I look at an individual in a leadership position dressed like Senator Fetterman, I cannot take them seriously. Senator Fetterman is the spittin' image of so many of the town council members and county commissioners I've observed wearing sweats, or blue jeans and a plaid farm shirt (even dirty) to council and commission meetings. They seldom appear to think about how unprofessional they look to visitors, new residents, young future leaders, and maybe a hidden person in the audience scoping out a place to relocate a business or create new opportunity. Their dress, including that of Fetterman, says a lot to others about how they themselves view the community they represent. (Honestly, I have a hard time taking the issues of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania seriously when I see him in his attire.) Small-town and county leaders are not being examples of and ambassadors to their community members, state and federal officials, and to potential new residents and investors by dressing like they just left a gym, finished working on a car, or were sitting around out back tossing a ball with the dog.
In my opinion, I believe unserious and "same old, same old" small-community and county elected officials, residential and rental property owners (and the renters), and some tired, suspicious of change (renewal) business leaders are truly in the driver's seat more than they realize as far as small-town/county America's future is concerned. The state and federal governments providing "GRANTS!" cannot solve every local and unaddressed problems. More often than not, the fortunes of these communities have come on hard times from external events (globalization, resource depletion, large corporate takeovers, sometimes horrible natural disasters, pollution or perceived pollution). Reality check: Those old days and the resources that made those old days are gone. Finished. Over. Making America Great Again has been latched on to by so many in small-town and small county America. Unfortunately, MAGA appears to have evolved to be more about vendettas and eliminating things unimportant to a political ideology, and not about renewal and the future, especially in small-town America.
But let's not transfer the blame for small-community demise exclusively on state and federal governments and those elected officials for something that needs to be resolved by local leadership (whether public or private) by taking their community roles seriously. Yes, state and federal dollars through grants and loans should be sought and provided. But my experiences show me that local leaders are simply not serious about COMPREHENSIVELY, CREATIVELY, and INTELLIGENTLY renewing and/or restoring their own communities for a prosperous future. They are, instead, grant responsive. If a grant is not available, they just sit. But, image is everything in terms of a community's attractiveness to new businesses and residents, too. There is a lack of seriousness and urgency among many of the residents, the slum lords, and businesses who allow their houses, rentals, and commercial properties to become eyesores for decades. Lowered property values impact the tax base. More concerning, visitors and potential new residents and investors to keep on driving through as fast as possible. (That actually applies to cities, suburbs, AND small-town America.) Small-towns often scoff at "newcomers." But if small-town/county America is dying because of depopulation, part of the key to living again is to attract new residents. Newcomers want to feel safe and live in a community that is looking ahead, not looking back or caught in "stuck mode."
Where would I start to effect renewal if I were in the elected or business positions of small communities? Well, I'm writing this from the "newcomer" point of view. Given that, I would develop a rather strong local land development code that established a means of getting all properties up to a 2025-35 level of mechanical, electrical, and aesthetically pleasing standards, likely in phases that started with voluntary compliance, then advancing to strict enforcement over a 10-year period. If it's abandoned and has no hope of ever being utilized again, condemn, demolish, put a lien on it, put the lot up for sale. If it needs upkeep and painting, coordinate with bigger cities, rehab non-profits, etc. to get things like remixed waste paint blends and materials from non-profits like Habitat's ReStore. There should be a generous and definite time of voluntary efforts to achieve compliance (taking into consideration that many people are disabled, low income, elderly). Abandoned car? Scrap them if people won't comply. Work with local judges to move issues in courts or with issue-specific magistrates. But in the end, get the community's core basic infrastructure renewed and revitalized. Engage. Take responsibility. Provide leadership. Achieve something higher and future oriented.
My second effort would be towards motivating the private sector and adult education to train all local residents about financial fluency and responsibility. When people are spending dollars on smoking, excessive alcohol and drugs just to numb the pain, oversized vehicles that over-consume fuel at the pump, and things that are beyond their means (multiple streaming and cable services, for example), the financial well-being of the community suffers. Money that people barely have is being sent out of household budgets and the local community to the big corporations or drug networks. The true ability to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse that impacts people the most is actually within their own control. Improve self-motivation and innovate away from activities that suck money out of a community.
From there, the future for any family and community will begin to improve. But notice, it starts in the minds and hearts of each person, locally, with every individual. Yeah, the states, feds, and the multinationals have their roles, too. It's a broad problem. But these entities have no solutions for local issues and struggles that locals should be engaging with and deciding.
Future state and local grant and loan programs should be developed and formed to work over a 10-year cycle to initiate community renewal and destiny, not a year-to-year band aid or casual "whatever" plan of approach. Small communities need to get out of the simple and narrow solution outcome thought process of yesterday and understand where things are headed. Small towns can be nostalgic, but they cannot function as 150-year-old abandoned covered wagons on the prairie (such as those west of Gering, NE... cute, historical, but useless for today). If a community has no planned long-term destiny and lacks a serious attitude, grant funds should not be issued and the community should be directed to the Department of History at the local university for photos and archives, be abandoned and reverted to forests or grasslands, or fenced off like Pripyet near Chernobyl if pollution is creating a "no hope for renewal" scenario.
I know, I know. Big city guy (Pensacola???... not really, oversized beach tourist town with a regionally important airport and banking center, and Navy personnel and retirees running everywhere) telling country people what to do. Not really. Larger cities and counties are simply tackling problems head on. Downtown Pensacola. Once dead. Thriving. Nearby Mobile, AL. Dead and dangerous downtown. Today, like a mini-New Orleans. Our larger-but-once-left-for-dead inner cities here are addressing their shortcomings with combinations of grants, local dollars, and most importantly with dedicated people who desire to use skillful, well-thought out planning and coordination. Small-town/county America needs to properly size this for itself, of course. But doing nothing locally is too often what I have seen and is not an option if such a town/county wants a future apart from where it presently sits.
But sitting around, year after year, all the while mumbling "woe are we" and thinking President Trump or any state or national leader, or that the current MAGA movement, or either political party, or some BIG diamond-studded industrial fish, now or tomorrow, will be able to single handedly change the destiny for the better for small-town/county America?
That is totally delusional.
Thanks, P.M.! We suspect readers will have thoughts on this piece, and we welcome them, of course. As a reminder, the e-mail is comments@electoral-vote.com. (Z)