Bloggin’ on the Edge

Posted by Scott Spielman at 3:00 AM | Comments (1)

I was a little disappointed to see a plan for a ‘racino’ fall apart in the City of Romulus, but not too surprised.

I always had a hard time believing there’s enough disposable income around to support such an ambitious venture. I don’t always buy into the doom and gloom of the economy today, but there’s a difference in not believing all the nay-sayers and believing people are at a place in their lives where they could just throw money away.

Still, it points out something about our economic recovery, whether we’re talking about a state-wide scale or on the local level. We can’t just wait for it to happen.

That’s what I get frustrated about here in the City of Wayne, a place of great potential where things aren’t exactly popping. Sure, you can see minor improvements, but it’s a telling sign when the city gets excited about a Jimmy John’s coming to town.

I look at the downtown area and see some proactive signs—I still think the mural will attract some attention, particularly if city officials are able to promote it during the televised portion of the upcoming Wayne Wheelfest. The Michigan Avenue project will help, too, with a new roadway and the extension of the streetscape.

I still think more could be done, and, more to the point, more should be done. I get the sense that everyone is waiting for someone to come in, take a chance on the city and provide the spark that we need.

My weekly travels take me from the Wayne Downtown Development Authority (DDA) to the Plymouth, Northville and sometimes Belleville DDAs. The difference is staggering, particularly in Plymouth and Northville. They have different business groups working together to attract more customers—and merchants—downtown. There is all kinds of construction going on; store fronts are going through changes. People walk around, there’s a sense of excitement. Plymouth and Northville have marketing plans they’re kicking off, too, to highlight the overall DDA plan.

What is the difference?

Well, there are several. The Wayne DDA has a bigger budget than both those communities. The problem is that most goes back to the general fund and the rest is kind of nickel and dimed away. After infrastructure improvements, there’s not much left to support things that will actually increase the tax base, which will in turn increase the DDA budget and provide more funds for more improvements.

Wayne can’t necessarily develop a marketing plan, unfortunately, because there’s not much of a plan to market. That leads us to the big difference between the three entities: the other two are proactive.

They meet once a month—if not more—they plan, they try to control their own destiny.

The Wayne DDA meets four times a year—whether they need to or not, as the joke goes.

That’s where a radical revitalization has to start. The DDA has the funds to promote downtown development. They just need to get more active. I know it’s a volunteer board made up of business owners who have plenty of other responsibilities, too, but it’s the same way anywhere else.

We can’t afford to wait for some swashbuckling developer to leap onto the carriage and guide us to financial and economic safety. We have to take the reins, ourselves.

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