In the Last Days of Lockdown we visited several small towns, many of which have fared better than the larger cities we had visited. It was interesting to see cities like Butte Montana, and Demming New Mexico had an array of smaller towns to complement them.  

In California, it was a continuous flow of one retail district to the other.  In Texas, there was a large gap between cities along the border. The difference in how large the city you are near with your small town determines the function and direction of your downtown.

Some of the towns created an arts strategy like the strip across the Texas border that includes RT 90 Arts Drive that connected the central theme in the towns.  The northwest area featured a lot of similar sculpture strategies.

Closing Streets as a Small Town Revitalization Tool

Phoenixville Pennsylvania was one of the small towns that reacted to the pandemic by closing the main street and letting people walk the outdoor streets without vehicular traffic. The idea was that outdoor dining in the summer should be emphasized. The sheer volume of craft brew pubs in Phoenixville far exceeds those of neighboring communities or many small cities. It has created a need for that kind of capacity during the summer.  With the 36-hour closure, you could often shoot off a canon and hit no one, say at 2 or 3 in the afternoon. 

For the entire weekend, there is no traffic on Bridge Street, allowing for through traffic going north and south to transverse the street. I have office space in this town, and I always try to leave before the shutdown closes the street, impacting my exit options.  I have heard varying things from retail store owners.  Some like the idea, and some do not like the idea of closing down the street. People are going with the flow.

In Philadelphia, many things could not be improved with the onerous permitting.  Most restaurant owners need help filling in the form and getting the utilities to make things like lighting legally permitted. Getting through Bureaucracy is easier if you are skilled in form submission.

On South Street In Philadelphia, the street’s closure has brought some problems.  There are the issues of ATVs and violence.  A mass shooting occurred there, and another shooting followed soon after.   Phoenixville experienced a shooting last week after a bar fight escalated.

Small Town Strategies with Large Minority Populations

One of the issues in small-town revitalization is the income makeup of your downtown.  Before the revitalization, Phoenixville had previously rented most of the second and third floors to people in the mental hospital at Pennhurst.  Many of those people were displaced by upgrading the units above the retail store during the process, as rents increased from $300.00 a month to $1300.00 a month.

Some small towns have been the dumping ground for many low-income people as suburbs have tended to restrict density, which is the byword for low-income housing. Many counties have concentrations of low-income individuals brought about by the clustering of Section 8 housing.  These small towns continue to have issues concerning well-meaning people seeking to cluster the low-income in certain county areas. 

When you cluster people experiencing poverty, the downtown only sometimes becomes a destination.  Closing streets and offering a more open atmosphere only sometimes works in these scenarios.

Revitalizing a Small Town often relies on the survival of Complementary Pieces.

The pandemic has created a dilemma in some adaptive reuse situations downtown.  Strict zoning and approval processes also slow adaptive reuse proposals for historic buildings.  When you close down the street for multiple days, there is a tendency to promote foot traffic in the street. This pedestrian/shopper distribution pattern pushes retail stores to look to pull people from a further distance than normal.

Many businesses rely on the foot traffic to make a successful retail operation.  The show windows are the store’s view in the world.   The goods offered are normally in the store window to promote foot traffic within the store.  It promotes a small town feel and establishes the fabric of the small town business district. 

In a large city, crowds sometimes fill the sidewalk, giving the street a good impersonal group dynamic, creating more human interaction, and promoting better group behavior because of the constant flow of people between the parked cars and the storefront.  In a small town, diners may enjoy sitting in the street, making for a more enjoyable dinner with the social distancing theory. 

Normally, there are not enough people on the street to warrant closure, and the restaurant issue could be addressed with regular closures of a shorter period.