I haven’t yet read what former Decatur mayor and Decatur Tribune editor Paul Osborne believes is Decatur’s biggest mistake in the past twenty years but I thought I’d throw in my opinion – not to place blame on anyone in Decatur but so we don’t continue making the same mistakes in the future.
These aren’t in any particular order:
Crumbling Infrastructure: Driving down Eldorado Street, one of Decatur’s busiest roadways, it’s easy to see the neglect. Curbing that has literally broken apart into chunks and crumbled into the roadway, weeded lots, unattractive light and electric poles, buildings in need of major TLC or a wrecking ball and just a general mishmash of new, old and dead. Decatur should have been much more proactive in its maintenance and attention to curb appeal long ago. On the positive, Eldorado is improving. There are bright spots along the road of businesses that have beautified and taken pride in their properties. The city is also installing new sidewalks and soon will be adding landscaping along the downtown stretch of Eldorado. In the future, lets not allow our major (or not so major roads) decay. Pershing Road is a prime example of a major roadway in need of attention before issues become worse. Let’s get rid of those vacant gas stations and preserve what’s good.
Clinging to the past: At one time, Decatur had several factories and manufacturing facilities – many of which have now closed. Much of the closings weren’t Decatur’s fault but rather a global economy that shifted to cheap wages in southern states, Mexico and Asia. There’s no doubt about it; the closings stunk and were, and continue to be, a major blow to the community. We got sucker-punched more times than any community should have to endure. The days of manufacturing in this country are gone for the time being. These are issues that are going to have to be dealt with on the state and national levels; until then we need to focus on what we can do and not rely on, nor put hope into jobs, which are no longer here, and aren’t coming back anytime soon.
But those in the community who continue to trash-talk Decatur aren’t doing us any good. When you stop and think about it, Decatur has been remarkably resilient. We should feel proud of that fact.
Public School Issues: The closing of Stephen Decatur High School and the demolition of Mound Middle School to make way for commercial development continue to haunt us. There’s no doubt that Target and the Olive Garden are assets to the community but what we gave up to lure both was too much. Now we’re faced with the dilemma of being left with two aging high schools and the cost of either renovating both, or building one new campus, or converting Stephen Decatur back into a high school again. Any of these options will cost the community in excess $100 million dollars. If Mound was still a middle school, our options would be much better and the costs much less to upgrade our school system.
But the biggest mistake in all of it was the city and school district’s disregard to the wishes of the community. Thousands of people pleaded to keep Stephen Decatur High School open and thousands pleaded to keep Mound but their pleas fell on deaf ears. That is inexcusable. However, I do have hope for the future. It’s going to cost a lot but I think we can move forward, be smarter and have an excellent public school system – it’s just going to require a lot of resolve and money.
Those are some things that have popped in my head this morning. Now off to work!
