Approximately 30 percent of business (a very conservative estimate) which operated here two years ago are gone. These businesses paid employees who, in turn, paid taxes and purchased local goods and services. Real estate, which was a major engine in bringing income into the area, is sputtering at best - mostly down to a flicker.
There are no jobs for a large percentage of the population.
Unless you are a drinker, there is very little entertainment, and, while the food is good at most restaurants, very few are chosen for formal events or special outings.
The choices of where to buy clothing, shoes, home furnishings, etc. have dwindled to a precious few. More and more folks are driving to the valley to shop.
Even the once wealthy country clubs are in peril - places which brought in customers and created demand for a variety of enterprises.
In short, the town is rapidly drying up. Soon it may have absolutely nothing to offer prospective homesteaders. It already loses most of its young people to other places offering a chance at a better future.
There is a constituency here which wants time to be frozen and change to be forbidden. As long as television is available and at least one grocery store and filling station remains open, these folks are happy. Actually Walmart could easily fill the needs or desires for a lot of folks. One problem, however, is that there would be no small businesses run by local people. It comes perilously close to that now.
A town like that has no local color or rich personal engagement. You can get the necessities but not the fulfillment of diverse life. The majority of folks do not live off welfare or Social Security. They need jobs.
Our biggest employers here are outsiders, not residents. This is not Bedford Falls or even Mayberry where folks had civic pride and a well established local identity. It's rapidly beginning to lose that small town feel. It's a reasonably nice place to visit, but who wants to locate here?
Here are some excerpts from a recent letter to the editor of the Rim Country Gazette Blog. I think these sentences say it all for the "frozen in Time" group -
"Colleges are businesses that make money, and we don't need one in a small mountain town like ours."
"Don't put these expensive pressures on our town just to improve someone's economic situation."
These sentences can only have been written by someone who is quite comfortable with his situation and doesn't give a flip about the rest of us or the future of this town. He obviously is impervious to the "Economic Situation" here and has a total lack of understanding of the complex engine a town needs to be to survive - much less to thrive.
A satellite college is exactly the kind of economic engine which could spur local growth. It would be the complete opposite of the big businesses which drain money away from us. Of the millions of dollars which Walmart takes in each year, how much do you imagine stays in Payson? You might be amazed at the percentage, even though the town is dependent on them for tax dollars. The same is true for Basha's and Safeway.
I'm certainly not knocking these businesses, Their managers are good local citizens for the most part, and we need their services. What happens when their corporate offices no longer see the possibility for making a good profit in a drying up town? Those businesses came to Payson because it promised a healthy growing environment - one with an excellent future. You might even call it an "economic situation." They are “businesses that make money” just like dreaded colleges.
The small community college we have at present offers a very limited curriculum and is run by outsiders with no love lost for Payson. It furnishes some nice amenities for a few people, but adds very little to the local economy. The nursing program is probably its best asset.
A small college here is exactly the thing to bring diversity and local growth. Skilled labor will be needed to build it - the kind of labor which has moved away from Payson. Students will need local services . Local businesses will be the biggest beneficiaries - motels, restaurants, clothing stores, movies, etc., even barber shops. Perhaps it will bring new sports teams to cheer for or better athletic facilities for all to use. It can train doctors, lawyers, school teachers, bankers, business men and women, politicians and social workers. The list of needed skills is large.
The downside is comparatively small and certainly manageable. If a trip to Walmart is your only diversion from your favorite television shows, you might have to look harder for a parking space. Most small college towns are great places to live, however.
6 comments:
I don't think you know enough about Payson to know that a college would be good for THIS TOWN.You neglect to understand how much the required services would actually cost.
This town has been involved in several "pie in the sky"projects that they have spent much money on without any returns.
This is another ONE.
"How much the required services would actually cost."
Sorry, thats sentence doesn't make much sense.
The "required" services are owned by local merchants. Ask THEM if they would like an increase in business.
Perhaps you are refering to infrastructure requirements. They would, of course, need increased funding to pay for things like:
better roads, more police and fire
support, water and sewer construction and improvements, a broader electric grid, improved radio, television and internet service.
The town benefits from these upgrades and improvements, and, further more, would have the revenue to pay for them - unlike the present.
Greater availability to far more things of public interest: arts, athletics, education, public service, etc. etc. can only be looked upon as very beneficial. Greater tax revenue and more access to government grants can only be healthy for a small town. New interest in the area from folks who have never known its beauty and desirability.
The Pluses FAR outweigh the Minuses.
Without some kind of economic promise, there is no incentive for
this town to grow and/or survive.
Look at its history. The only reason it is as advanced as it is today is through the investment and support of outside interests.
I have researched the history of Payson in great detail, Have you?
A town depends on revenue. That's an indisputable fact. If, however, you think otherwise, perhaps you would like to suggest that we do without the services we enjoy - Police, Fire, Waste management,road maintenance, Health Care, Education, and the list goes on. Demand always out paces supply. Improvement is a natural law. The alternative is a slow death.
Retirees will not be able to enjoy a dying town with fewer and fewer services and ameneties. AND, what happens when the retirees all die?
What will attract fresh blood?
Sorry, my friend. There is far more to life than television and rocking chairs.
What you are talking about is basic survival. Almost everyone wants more out of life than that.
Sorry Cowboy ,it's very obvious that you haven't been here long enough to know how this town has worked or don't understand how their "pie in the sky"system has worked for YEARS.None of your manufactured methods of growth have ever been used here.It's too bad that you have been brainwashed into thinking that what SHOULD be actually has been!
I have tried. I really have, but I can make no logical sense out of the previous statement. Whatever point it is they are attempting to make is completely lost in the cloud of confusion and double-speak.
Is the writer saying that since nothing has worked in the past, nothing will ever work?
The writer states that none of the suggested kinds of growth have ever been tried here. Somehow he seems to say, "therefore" they won't ever work? How does he know?
Is the writer saying that some kind of "pie in the sky" system is what the town is used to and only what works in this town?
"What Should be actually has been." ?? Huh?
What on earth does this mean?
This writer must be looking hard for something to disagree with. If I could sort out exactly what is his meaning, I would be happy to discuss it.
In the meantime, anyone, ANYONE who believes the town isn't suffering exonomically and needs fresh ideas and projects, either is completely asleep, blind, or doesn't give a rat's tail what happens here.
When Basha's and Safeway and Chapman's Auto pull out, When the Blue Ridge water is no longer routed to Payson, When there isn't enough tax revenue to operate a fire dept. or a police dept. or half the schools, When roads completely crumble, MAYBE it will create enough of a wake up call to finally address the issues.
There is apparently a strong faction in Payson which wants desperately to see it revert to another Pine or Strawberry. As nice as those places are, we already have two of them.
I have heard some of these anti-growth folks say about say about America, - "If you don't like it, go somewhere else!" Well, if you don't like Payson, use your own advice.
The folks who love this town want to nourish it and watch it prosper, the same way a good parent would feel about their child.
However, anything slightly sniffing of improvement or progress in Payson is treated like a poisonous snake by some folks. Some people are so afraid of it that they won't even discuss it.
Nothing will change their minds, I know, but if they are going to write to news organizations, they should at least get someone to proof-read their stuff to make sure it makes some kind of logical sense in its explanation.
Perhaps someone can document all the many "Pie in the Sky" projects which the town has spent "much money" on without any returns.
Let's take a good look at that claim.
Where's Anonymous when you need him?
I'm waiting for the list of
"several 'pie in the sky' projects that they have spent much money on without any returns."
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