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You asked?
Off the Wall
July 5, 2007
Sometime back, I asked a
number of my readers what questions they would like me to answer
rather than me always coming up with the subject matter. Even
though most of them were easy to summarize from a "Pee Vee
point of view," I had to take many long walks before settling
down with what I thought might be an appropriate answer to one
of these inquiries.
The question went something like this. "Do you think downtown
Latrobe can be revitalized?
If someone would have asked instead, "Do you think Pee Vee's
will ever reopen again, I could easily break the news with a
flat "No," even though it was a neat place to work.
But getting back to the original statement, I'd be stupid to
say no.
Being a Rick Seback fan that I am, he has shown in many of his
WQED documentaries, old buildings that have been restored and
made quaint little outlets for all kinds of businesses. These
stores kind of sprouted in places where one may have thought
nothing could have budded again. But they did, and people are
traveling great distances to say they visited the Strip District,
South Side or even the North Side.
I like to compare revitalization to planting a garden. Some may
say they don't have the knack to make things grow. But those
whom are good at it know that to plant a garden and have it yield
the best possible fruit, not only does the seed have to be watered,
but the ground has to be tilled and the weeds removed. Making
sure the flowers or the veggies don't get squeezed out by weeds,
the utmost care must be given to make sure everything is allowed
to grow as planned.
In my opinion and others too, many of the downtown stores were
victims when the malls took over not to mention the discount
"monsters" that are popping up all over the place.
But just like a garden, we have to consider each store a seed,
caring for the soil around it. You can't just plant a retailer
behind a counter like a seed in the ground and expect the business
to grow. It has to receive nutritional elements to sustain its
existence or it will wither and die. And probably the hardest
of all, these all have to be specialty shops.
In addition, both the outside and inside of the building must
attract the shopper to the premises. And last, all employers
and employees must be friendly.
Then when the flowers bloom and people delight in what they see,
there will be a return to smell the roses.
On another note, here was another question from a female correspondent.
"Why do so many people fear having certain medical tests
done?" She answered her own question by stating, "They
are just horrified thinking about them. Some people say if there
is something wrong, they would rather not know." What ever
happened to the saying, "Let's nip it in the bud?"
That's how I feel. Better to be knowledgeable than suffer later.
Others pointed out that there is too much pain experienced in
some of these tests. Let me tell you, from what I've heard, the
diseases that may be diagnosed have far more pain than the tests.
Another question that got me thinking was, "What are your
two favorite holidays." I asked a number of other people
that question to see if they agreed with me. Their top answers
were (1) Thanksgiving and (2) Christmas.
I hate to say this but I think we all tend to look forward to
pigging out (should be turkeying out) on the first mentioned
holiday. I can only surmise that's why it's so popular. As for
Christmas, it's a wonderful time of the year. In addition to
the celebrating Christ's birth, we tend to think of it as a time
of exchanging gifts. Personally, I love Christmas and Easter.
Both are very meaningful in every aspect.
My favorite drink you asked? Iced tea. One lady told me she's
addicted to Coke. If hospitalized, aged and can't drink it, she
hopes they'll give it to her by IV. "Fat chance."
Paul j. Volkmann
5/12/07
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