Small town challenge: change or die

Bill Fontana, executive director of the Pennsylvania Downtown Alex W. Davis photo Center, told community leaders during a meeting Tuesday night at the Coudersport Legion that small towns that embrace today's changing economy and welcome cultural diversity will flourish in the 21st century.

Small towns have the opportunity to not only survive but thrive in the electronic and mobile economy of today.

As long as they quit thinking… well, small.

That according to Bill Fontana executive director of the Pennsylvania Downtown Center. He spoke to about 45 people at a community workshop Tuesday evening at Legion Post 192 in Coudersport.

A rural planner for close to 30 years, Fontana said plainly that small towns must begin to look at one another wholly as "regional cities."

"The fact of the matter is we don't live in individual towns any longer," he explained. "We have specific towns in which we go to bed at night, but we live in regions."

Fontana was asked to give the presentation by the Coudersport Area Chamber of Commerce, an organization that has rallied to the call of duty in the wake of Time Warner's elimination of close to 600 jobs in Coudersport.

"Small town economies simply cannot survive within the borders of their own political jurisdictions," Fontana stressed. "To deny that our economies are regional is akin to committing spatial suicide."

In other words, small towns and their business and community leaders must focus on promoting themselves to their neighbors and, moreover, working with their neighbors in "joint promoting" of events that take place on the same days or weekends.

But, saving downtown America is going to take a lot more than that.

Fontana said small towns must immediately start working on a long-range plan to retain talented, innovative and creative people- particularly high school and college graduates.

" C o l l e g e graduates aren't just looking at leaving the area anymore," he said, noting that top-level students are "thinking globally," when they make post-graduate plans.

Young people are more likely to stay in their hometowns, according to Fontana, if community leaders encourage and welcome their contributions.

"They want to c o n t r i b u t e , " F o n t a n a explained. "But they often don't feel welcomed to do so."

And it's not just young people that small towns should welcome with open arms- it's anyone with knowledge, innovative ideas and talent. Those kinds of people are attracted to towns that display intellectual receptiveness, encourage ethnic diversity and practice political openness, he said.

Fontana outlined changes that main street retailers can make immediately to position themselves better in the changing economy.

+ Adjust their operating hours to accommodate how Americans shop. He noted that while studies show most Americans shop in the evenings and on the weekends, most downtown businesses are closed during these hours.

+ Do business on the Internet. He pointed out that the holiday season just past is the first during which more money was spent online than at physical retail outlets.