GRAVENHURST - SO WHAT’S COMING IN THE NEXT DECADE - A RENEWED MAIN STREET? WOULDN’T THAT BE GREAT!

Sometime in the late 1990's, I wrote a column, in the Muskoka Advance I think, regarding my adopted hometown’s future....... what I anticipated about Gravenhurst’s coming decade. With some history behind me, and an ever-watchful eye on Muskoka’s municipalities, as a freelance reporter / columnist at that time, I predicted Gravenhurst would be entering a profound period of urban re-development, and building / residential enhancements otherwise. I believed that it would be a difficult decade for council, having to weigh the advantages of development with the disadvantage of having to make some necessary sacrifices. We may not have imagined, at that time, the dimension of the Muskoka Bay / Sagamo Park re-development, or suspected that an entire rock hillside would be levelled to facilitate a large commercial node, at the south end of town.

If my prediction was weak in any area, it was in the re-generation of the main street. Some removals and additions were made, and it certainly appeared a time when renewal interests could claim an even greater number of older main street buildings. While wrecking balls took out some old houses for a new drug store, a fire claimed an historic corner building, housing the White Pine café and gift shop.....the sanctuary I adored and enjoyed on most days. With escalating real estate values and substantial costs associated with such renewal and re-development, projects may have been thwarted as a result. What might have been a huge period of mainstreet refurbishing, was brought down to a limited number of building improvements and character enhancements, which certainly helped create a momentum for more sprucing-up. But it has still been a slow process but welcome none the less. Road work has become a highlight, with new lighting and servicing that will contribute to an improving main street confidence in itself.

I’m satisfied I was better than 50 percent correct. Not good if you’re a gambler but not bad for an armchair critic. There were a lot of circumstances that developed at the same time, and there was a great deal of disagreement burdening the town, from business improvement issues to the sale of Gravenhurst Hydro, on to matters of Wharf development planning.......and the legitimate fear of de-centralization of the business core. As editor of The Herald-Gazette, in Bracebridge, during the Wellington Street plaza debate, and the construction of the Wellington Street Bridge as a bypass / alternate, of the main street, the same arguments surfaced...... as Gravenhurst would have to contend years later......the sprouting of commercial pods.......that while improving the town’s attraction and commercial diversity, did drain an already diminished business income away from what had always been, by history, the meat and potatoes of small town life and times. Those who argued that all this development would benefit Gravenhurst financially, didn’t own main street businesses, or frankly care at all, about whether these small enterprises would sink or swim. In Bracebridge, during their biggest period of commercial expansion, the main street vendors were seen as whiners, complainers, and old farts mired in their own musty history. To this day, it’s still a main street in transition, struggling to compete with the box-store commercial nodes......that in all honesty, haven’t really done much to enhance Manitoba Street enterprises.....as was the belief by council at the time expansion was being pursued. I’ve long believed the turn-over of businesses, on the main street, should be of considerable concern to the town council. We had one of those Manitoba Street businesses, in the late 1980's into the mid 90's, and being on the main street was no great advantage at all, until the summer season. Toward the end of our stay, even that was debatable.

What it comes down to, in Gravenhurst, is to appreciate the great necessity of unification of mission, to improve as many diminishing aspects of our community, areas of mutual concern and disharmony, as possible, over the next decade. I firmly believe the business community that exists now, not just on the main street, but throughout the town, can self-determine and network toward a more mutually beneficial business climate. Council can help inspire this new era of co-operation, by listening and learning, instead of just imposing untutored directives, and ill-timed initiatives that prove a serious disconnect between those who govern and those who dwell beneath their lofty heights. They are outrageously wrong to believe we’ll embrace all their clever insights, when it’s on our dime their spinning.

The change-over of the old town hall is a good example. Not that we begrudge the fire department or community policing a better, larger place to operate, but because the citizens and the business community weren’t part of the solution. When the business owners complained about the shift of town hall, away from the downtown core, and the lesser traffic that would be visiting the new fire hall on a daily basis, their arguments were dismissed as frivolous, and self-serving. While I’ve had my problems with the business improvement network, in philosophy more than anything else, this was clearly an example of dismissal of objection, because it was inconvenient to a pre-determined game plan. It was well thought out in advance.....not exactly an impromtu downfield “Hail Mary,” but something that was well researched before getting to the public domain. It was a force-fed decision based on a mission to accomplish initiative, plain and simple. Get out of our way.....we’re doing this thing, so get over it! They did! But all it served the mainstreet business community, was another heaping plate of contempt and distrust that will take years to overcome.

This is not to suggest for a moment, that local government needs to bend to the will of objectors, each time protest arises. When there is a legitimate concern about government stewardship of our resources, by golly, our officials should recognize that diligence is more inclusive and dynamic than obviously appreciated. At a time when it’s brutally clear, commercial pods and de-centralization are hurting the main street, which was already in peril and in need of greater renewal before the Wharf and South End developments opened, there is no option left for deferral of the issue, to a more convenient date. For the town to ignore the tempest in the proverbial tea pot, can only be seen as negligence.

And although it is necessary for business to innovate and network constantly, to meet the changing demands and economic climate, the town has an incumbent responsibility to pay attention to prevailing shortfalls and hard feelings, especially when these prevailing conditions cause businesses to close and move. While business failures aren’t shocking, within the norm, the routine of failures should be of concern. Reading this week, in a downtown business directory, published in the local press, that a well respected clothing shop is closing, and re-locating to Bracebridge, seems more than a little unfortunate. Not just because the business is closing but that it has chosen another town over ours, as a potentially better place to operate. Why? And can we handle the critique about the disadvantages main street businesses face? And be interested in stemming future closures by being pro-active, instead of “we’ll just wait and see what happens.” Most of us history enthusiasts, and business owners, have a pretty good idea what could happen if trends continue.

Goodwill can go a long way to improve business relations for the entire town, not just particular sectors. I’d recommend that councillors ask the kindly historians who operate the Gravenhurst Archives, at the Public Library, to show councillors some main street photographs from the town’s “hamlet business section” of the 1800's, to its wonderful array of diverse enterprises through the 1900's, including images from the war years, and the Great Depression.......to the dynamic mainstreet of the 1940's and 50's, when mom and pop businesses, and pride of building ownership, was the end-all and it showed. It was a showpiece despite more violent economic realities and intrusions than we’ve experienced in modern history. Can it come back to those days, when the business corridor was a bustling, thriving showplace......that citizens adored because it represented their values of home town life. A main street that town council was proud of, to showcase to the world. This isn’t to suggest the main street today is but a shadow of its former self. Still it would be hard to deny that combined with the prevailing sentiment, from all quarters, and the empty stores, in the visible sense, we’re definitely in need of a resurgence of something positive.......to entice new investment interest. It’s not just a business issue but a deficit of attention, the town must replenish, as general interest toward its traditional, historic main street stakeholders,...... that has been the longstanding postcard image of a really nice town to visit.......and reside in, as a solid, caring hometown. Looking after the mainstreet is a motherhood issue. As it has served us from the 1860's to 2011, we certainly owe it more than just a simple, fleeting debt of gratitude.

The next ten years will be a period of healing, if it’s initiated now by all sides. I’m sure if the main street merchants saw a change of attitude, and a new interest in main street renewal and prosperity, changing attitudes could initiate a new period of restored confidence. As the town did its utmost to facilitate, and promote both the south end development, and The Wharf, they need to focus on the showcase of our town........and that is the main street.....the linkage between the pods.....the street our visitors have long appreciated as representative of Muskoka’s gateway to wonderful vacations. Instead of interpreting the main street businesses as complainers, whiners and trouble-makers, give some honest consideration to what they’ve had stripped away in the past 50 years, as part of the local economic evolution; the losses of historic industry and institutions, and the passing-on of those mom and pop operations, that maintained their businesses and owned their own buildings. This has been a profound change in the past 25 years. This main street artery was our bragging right. It was a great place to operate a business. It can be again. It will require a greater level of participation from town hall, than I think “it” is currently prepared to lend. As well, the business community must agree to bury the proverbial hatchet, and extend the olive branch for a new beginning with a town partnership toward overall renewal.......and “confidence renewal” is the best first step at a better future.

At the end of the next ten years, possibly we will then be able to look at those same old photographs and postcards, and say, by golly, history has repeated......doesn’t our town look great.