Loose Laces

Just after a rain shower, the air clears, the
clouds begin to break up, and for a few
moments a decaying city recaptures its
aura of days long gone.

----

The trees with the yellow flowers will soon be gone; the few merchants claim they block the facades of their businesses, and falling leaves in the autumn are unsightly on the sidewalks. These trees do exactly what they were supposed to do; beautify the streets. Still few businesses came to set up shop. Millions of tax dollars have been poured into this area for many years, and the root problems still remain. Lack of parking, flooding (back when we had rain), one-way main streets such as the one pictured, and no ongoing initiative to draw people to the heart of the old town. The brilliantly done mural on the side of the Kress building depicting the railroad heritage of the town is obscured by trees.

They hire consultants, and the consultants are ignored unless it plays into the hands of the Johnson City Development Authority which has been "revitalizing" downtown for so many years. Now they are building a bike trail from ETSU to downtown. I can't see it ever paying for itself unless the root problems are addressed instead of ignored.

JCDA had the old and magnificent Arcade building torn down; it had become a place of refuge for the homeless, addicts, and pushers. Save the building and get rid of its problems never once entered their minds. It would have been a great place to develop into shops or even a city museum. Same thing with the once majestic Majestic theatre. That building could have been saved and used to attract people downtown. Yet like blind sheep the downtown merchants and the city citizens allow the JCDA to do just about anything it wants. Its biggest accomplishment was building a new city library. Yes, it is a beauty. But it isn't downtown where it needs to be to draw its users to the offerings of local merchants and service businesses.

Everthing that was the old downtown of my youth has dissapeared. No more Christmas parades on Main Street, and no more super-delicious cheeseburgers at Guy's Cafe. No more Fields' Men's Store, no more five-and-dimes like Kress, Powell's, and Woolworth's. No more little boy walking with his mom and looking up at the big buildings and bumping into parking meters. No more scent of fresh Honey Krust bread from the nearby bakery. Sterchi's furniture store is long gone, as is Wallace Shoes and Hamilton Bank, and JC Penny is in the mall with Sears.

The city castrated itself with the coming of K-mart in the cow pastures of North Johnson City, then the "Miracle Mall" killed the few remaining hanger-oners downtown.

For god's sake, either fix it right or allow it to die in peace.