A
quick Google search (first few pages) found articles about the merchants of the following cities objecting
to downtown closures:
Holly, Michigan
Fairhope, Alabama
Macon,
Georgia
Tehachopi, Cal.
Carlsbad, Cal
Leesburg, VIrginia
And last
but not least Las Vegas, where the Sun newspaper
has the following quote:
“This is why we stopped closing the street off
a few years ago,” Metzger said, adding that as far as she knew, only
one owner favored closing the street. “It was too chaotic then — too
many people just hanging out — and there weren’t nearly as many people
back then as there are now.”
That's a money quote from a town that knows something about promotion -- and money.
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5 comments:
Meanwhile, after long searching, I can find not a single study that gives evidence that street closures are good for business. None. Nada. Zip.
Well yeah but -- not everything has to be about business. Does it? Everything???
Business -- or poetry.
Oh, I missed your point, Jack.
Well, yeah. But we business people like to be the ones to decide what isn't and is business.
I had sort of decided to skip talking about it this year. But the Bulletin's lazy article this morning set me off.
This followed an article a few days ago where the Bulletin asserted that the race was "scandal" free, which almost got a rise out of me. Do they actually believe the race is clean? Really? Or just that they haven't tested and/or care about such a small race.
I let that one go. But then they go an blithely print that we downtowners all just wuv, wuv, wuv the race...
I know that there is the "greater good" argument here. But it passed over into interference some time ago. It's the sheer numbers of events year long that gets me to speak up.
I looked up Austin Texas. Their website says -- "No street closures on schedule."
We don't HAVE to do it this way.
"But then they go an blithely print that we downtowners all just wuv, wuv, wuv the race..."
Yeah, that has to be irritating.
"I know that there is the 'greater good' argument here."
I reckon that was my take: that many people find these events to be enjoyable and that they add to the overall pleasure of being in the area. If business and commerce were all there is, then things might be a lot more colorless. IMO.
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