Like many towns, Whitewater has a downtown, and a merchants’ association, in our case Downtown Whitewater, Inc. (DTWW). I’ve written occasionally about DTWW, and not long ago in support of continued municipal funding for that organization. See, The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Budget: Downtown Whitewater, Inc.
There’s been a wider effort to reorganize and consolidate the work of DTWW, the local Chamber of Commerce, and the city’s tourism effort. As we’re a town of only about fifteen-thousand, it’s sensible that we could sharing between groups whenever possible.
Also, as with other towns, the City of Whitewater subsidizes DTWW, in an amount of $20,000 for 2013. It’s a moderate expenditure, but offered in the context of a former municipal administration that budgeted poorly in the last decade, and wrecked one of its own tax incremental districts.
There’s no money to waste. More important still, there are needs throughout the city, of poverty and hunger, that could well use additional funding.
There’s a hard path ahead, to keep the city’s downtown from cratering, to hold out until broader forces outside the city transform both the downtown and all the community.
They will. In the meantime, there’s no swimming back to shore, and treading water will only lead to going under. It’s a steady Australian crawl, from now until better times.
A successful effort will require merchant-centric proposals, diligent cooperation from the city government to justify and make good existing taxpayer-funding, and a limit on people who want to run things as though the downtown were a society organization. There are many good charities worth joining, for those with that impulse.
A simple goal: More stores, fewer empty spaces. Either we move in that direction or we don’t.
If all this were accomplished, and fully, there’d be time to look backward to anniversaries, reminiscences of earlier times, etc.
It’s not finished, and until it is, there’s no good point to any of that. One should acknowledge and reward a year’s hard work, from those who have actually done that work.
Beyond that, efforts should concentrate on producing evident signs of a healthier downtown at year’s end. It’s a simple goal, one that I’m sure our city can meet.