The Forsyth/Decatur Thing:
I had an article up not long ago about my experience with Forsyth’s Funfest. It wasn’t the best experience. Nobody told me to leave after I told them I lived in Decatur but I certainly didn’t feel welcome. Okay, Forsyth wants their own festival. Who cares? I’m over it. But it does underscore the deepening resentment between Decatur and Forsyth.
Let’s face it, as Decatur’s unemployment numbers rise, our tax revenues fall off the face of the earth and our schools go without needed repairs, we’re not going to look fondly upon our rich neighbor to the north – who is benefiting greatly at our expense. Is it jealousy or sour grapes stemming from Decatur’s infamous mall decision blunder? To borrow from Sarah Palin, “You betcha ya!” Of course, we’re jealous and mad. We’re getting the shaft and we’re the dummies who did it to ourselves. Forsyth walked off with the rich handsome sugar daddy, who could have been ours, and we got stuck with the toothless, dimwitted, unemployed, abusive boyfriend. We’re like jealous competing sisters and we don’t care much for each other but for some strange reason fate made us kin. We’re stuck with each other.
The facts are the facts. Forsyth has the mall, the more popular restaurants, the big home improvement stores, the hotels and lots of really big expensive houses. They have tons of sales tax monies and high property values to reap in delicious heaping helpings of tax revenues to fund their schools, roads, infrastructure, etc. They don’t have the expenses or the problems that a larger and older community like Decatur has. But there’s things that Decatur has that Forsyth doesn’t; we just haven’t been very smart about capitalizing on them. Besides dumping the dimwitted boyfriend, we ourselves can be smarter and make our own way.
Things Decaturites can do:
1. Shop in Decatur when possible
2. Stop putting Decatur down
3. Invest in our own properties and ourselves
4. Capitalize on what we have that is unique and marketable (historic district, Lake Decatur, Lincoln connections, etc.)
5. Redevelop our inner-core and aging commercial districts
6. Lower our tax rates to be more competitive
7. Invest more in our neighborhoods (parks, new sidewalks, better lighting, landscaping. etc.)
8. Send our kids to Decatur’s public schools and/or volunteer our time to them
9. Encourage Decatur’s major employers to stop sending their highest paid recruits to Forsyth. Decatur has many great and affordable neighborhoods.
10. Most of all: Decatur, be bold and brave. Whatever we do: Do it big and do it right. JUST GO FOR IT!
Some Ideas
Instead of taking my daughter and her best friend to the mall a couple weeks ago, I took them downtown to the Wabash Antique Mall, several of the Merchant Street shops and Haines & Essick. They loved it. My daughter’s friend had never been in any of those stores. There’s a lot of kids in Decatur who have never been in any of those stores. They loved Macon Ice Cream and thought it looked like a cafe they saw on a television show. “Oh wow this is like tv! This is cool!” My four year old son enjoyed the old Wabash Train Station, as he watched a train go by the windows. You just don’t get these experiences at the mall. Downtown Decatur could use some more retail shops and locations geared toward kids, tweens and teens. It’s geared too much to the older crowd. Anyway, take your kids and grandkids downtown and they’ll appreciate Decatur more. They’ll probably also run to the parking meters and fight over who gets to put the quarters in first. They’ll also find the crossing lights fascinating.
And the Wabash Train Station area is cool. The old train station is in remarkably good condition. It was the first time I’d been in the building and I was surprised at how good it looked. There’s also several old buildings, from Decatur’s earliest history near it, and I could imagine that area being restored. It’s very unique in a kind of cool and creepy way. That’s another thing Decatur can capitalize on – our ghost stories. I’ve spoke of it before, but Decatur should really invest in a Halloween festival in the Fall. Local writer Troy Taylor’s Haunted Decatur tours sell out every year. We have the Avon Theater, the Lincoln Square Theatre, the Culver House, several other notoriously haunted locations in the West End and downtown area to send tourist to. And we have that wonderful brick road leading to Millikin which would be a fantastic ride on a crisp Autumn evening in a horse-drawn carriage, as ghost stories are being told by a guide. People eat that stuff up.
And Lake Decatur is an asset we haven’t tapped into very well. Nelson Park and Chandler Park could be utilized in a better way to bring in revenue and improve the quality of life for Decatur’s residents. A waterpark, lodge and a modern mini-golf course would fit in nicely. Restaurants and small shops along a board walk would be unique, to not only Decatur, but Central Illinois for miles and miles around. There’s already a big effort to make some of this happen. Of course, we already have an excellent zoo, children’s museum, an expanding bike trail, several excellent golf courses, Fairview Park, and Rock Springs to market. It’s not like we have to start from scratch. We’ve already got a lot going for us.
Of course, we really blew Lincoln’s 200th birthday celebration by being too conservative and cheap. The silhouettes and signs are nice and an improvement downtown but I doubt will draw many tourists. I could write a book on what we could do in regards to our Lincoln connections.
Just some ideas and rambling thoughts.
