What Kills a City (part 2) Yesterday we discussed the aftermath of 1968 and its affect on our city. Today we delve into the rule government plays in killing or building a city. First and foremost in the case of Chester, lack of foresight or myopia has been the biggest hurdle for our city council over the years. The kind of tunnel vision that prevents one from seeing whats going on around them, and only whats in front of them. For years weve had a changing economic climate with closing of the downtown section and malls springing up in the area. City leaders failed to act on building an infrastructure to push businesses into the city. Leaving Sears, Spears, Stotters, Sterns, and the like to head for the hills. Broken promises lead to a serious of ridiculous one way streets and a pedestrian mall that prohibited traffic through downtown instead of stimulating it. Couple that with the new pay to park lot, with time limits instead of the old meters that were relatively cheap. Not only was it harder to get in and out of town, it cost more to even go, while the new malls had free parking! Keeping with the affect of 1968, the lost of recreational outlets, goods and services, and neighborhood schools being closed, while forced bussing was the rule of the day due to and antiquated way of thinking. While ideas work in other communities, weve always ignored them because the didnt fit into the politics of the day, which always seem to be about profit and not community needs. Giving bids to the highest bidder based upon affiliation and not the lowest bidder based upon goods and services has also brought us to this day. Ill stop t allow you to interject! let the discussion begin.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 13:11:47 +0000
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