of Chillicothe, Ross County & South-Central Ohio
of Chillicothe, Ross County & South-Central Ohio new 2/16/05The cover of the 2005 Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce Membership Directory and Buyers' Guide is a sampling of our area's assets: employers, developments, technology, people, industries. But as I look closer, and read the slogan near the top of the cover, I see how it is yet another symptom of the narrow vision of our community.
I don't want to be pessemistic. I don't want to be a gadfly. I don't want to constantly find fault with our business people and community leaders. And, even though this is a throwaway catch-phrase in an annual glossy - something that feww will notice and fewer will remember - I point this out as only a tiny a symptom of our community's economic, social, and cultural health.
"WE'RE BUILDING IT . . . SO THEY WILL COME," the cover states. That's a loaded statement if there ever were one. It's clearly a take-off of the famous line from the 1989 movie Field of Dreams: "If you build it, he will come." But what is the Chamber saying with this statement?
Who are the "WE"? I'm certain they are the members of the Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce, whom this publication is by and for. That's easy. (And, they have a right to be exclusive - they don't have to represent everyboby - membership has its value.)
And in that context, "BUILDING" means more than just constructing buildings - it includes expanding services, creating opportunity, "growing" the economy.
But what is "IT"? I suppose that refers to an ideal business community - a community that encourages business growth and prosperity. A dream of progress, of future growth.
And if that is achieved, then "THEY WILL COME." A constantly expanding population creates a constantly growing economy. The only way to keep matters improving is to draw.
But what if IT is already BUILT - and THEY were already HERE - and the best of them left? What if WE are replacing our something with lots and lots of nothing because WE can't see the forest for the lumber?
Only one of the eight images on the cover represents anything in Chillicothe and Ross County other than new stuff that could be anywhere - the "Geography of Nowhere" - places that fill, but do not nourish:
Granted, that may be a fair proportion - our historic downtown, neighborhoods, and cultural attractions may represent only one-eighth of our landscape or economy.
And yes, Mead, Kenworth, the big industries are a part of our area's character. (Do they always give us a good image, though?)
But that sole image of our historic character, of the downtown - and even there, not a clear image of a place but of "OPEN" signs and a vacant sidewalk - Doesn't that speak more strongly of who we are, of what we offer? ...Of how we treat it?
Most everywhere - and most every nowhere - offer strip malls, big industries, communications...McDonald's, Red Lobster, Long John Silver's, Sears, Hobby Lobby, Big Lots...cheap buildings in a gaggle of chaos cluttering a once rural highway on prime farmland...another shovelful of loam to be coated with concrete...
Only one where offers the Carlisle Building, the Foulke Block, the Ross County Courthouse, Yoctangee Park, The Majestic Theatre, Smith Middle School, Mound City, Paint Valley, the Great Seal, State Route 104, "Tecumseh!," the Dock on Water, a little shoe-shine booth at the corner of Second and Paint under the enclosed stairway. Are those highlighted in the directory?
Are they highlighted by our community leaders?
Are they valued by our community business people?
Are they known by our community residents?
