Stoney Creek's Downtown: Part Seven, Changes

'Every situation's potential has a ceiling. Unless you change some of the contributing factors, some of the variables, you're going to keep hitting that ceiling.'

Each time I returned to Stoney Creek after having moved somewhere, I was...well, surprised.

Surprised that it hadn't all been gobbled up my some misguided Planning and Development Department co-effort in the never-ending peripheral bloating of Hamilton. Surprised at the changes that did occur. And maybe most surprised at how just how much had stayed the same. From the last time I was there, from when I was growing up there in the 60s...from forever.

The underlying impression was reminiscent of Gertrude Stein's famous quote:

'There's no 'there', there.'

(I guess this is where I have to issue yet another disclaimer, or wish I could publish footnotes, or maybe even have this as a multi-media production, where you could click a link and view a video of me 'explaining' myself. I know a lot of what I'm going to propose is going to piss-off some people. Not just in this segment, but the next one, 'What To Do?'. Here's the thing: I'm a Stoney Creeker, a Cricker. I attended two elementary schools there, the high school that used to be there, I had my first kiss there, experienced my first heartache there, saw my parents separate and divorce there...and ended up returning there in middle-age. So; not that I would ever feel I'd have to ask for the right to voice an opinion, but I've certainly earned it.

Further to this, I've spent my entire life in 'customer service'. Most of this was spent in retail. So I know the pressures of businesspeople, I'm intimately familiar with their ceaseless sacrifices...and I've experienced the realities of how precarious an industry it is.

I've also lived in three countries, in various cities, towns and villages, witnessed up close when things work, when they don't, the contrast between the two states...

...but most of all, I believe in community. I believe in the notions of 'neighbourhood' and of 'neighbours' and that though we are mostly all of us independent creatures, there is nothing so magical as what can transpire through human connection.

OK? Good. Onwards.)

When the recent paid parking brouhaha was percolating at full force, I began to make enquiries in an effort to try to understand what was going on. I'll admit that my gut reaction to the rallying cry warning of the death of the downtown was 'What downtown?!? There's nothing there!'

Ouch, I know.

And yet, I believe in thriving downtowns, in vibrant main streets. And consistent with my general beliefs, I maintain that if you're going to do something, at least try to do it right. Doing just for the sake of doing has its merits...but this philosophy can often be little more than a great retroactive rationalization device

Back 'in the day', if you’d asked regulars what the draw of downtown was, they might say the IGA, the hardware store, the Royal Bank, or maybe Ann’s. (Admittedly, I'm guessing.) These days? Probably The Royal Canadian Legion or The Village Restaurant. (This will be covered in the final portion of this series, 'What To Do?') Either way, the profiles of then and now are not ones that I feel would fall under the banner of 'Thriving' or 'Vibrant' or 'Dynamic' or 'Bustling'.

On a slight tangent -or wholly germane to this discussion- my personal feeling is that downtown Stoney Creek was never catastrophically affected by the ever-shifting emphasis to mall or big-box shopping from the 70s on, because it never really was so much a ‘destination’ as it was a fixture. So maybe there wasn't as much at risk?

Strangely enough, going back forty years, before almost all of the Metropolitan Hamilton malls entered the fray, downtown Stoney Creek had strong competition from less than a mile away as the crow flies. Because to the east/north-east from Ann’s, at the corner of Highway #8 and Gray Road there was a concentration of businesses that rivalled those of King Street. A strip mall containing a Dominion grocery store, a hardware store, a shoe store, a liquor store, a discount department store in addition to others. The Skyway Drive-in was down the way. Across the street, a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise, a beer store, an animal hospital, a building supply outfit...and a bowling alley.

Bluntly, I can’t imagine a family making a trip of going into Stoney Creek’s downtown –an excursion– these days. Moreover, I can’t even pretend that this might have been the case four decades ago when I was growing up. I'm not convinced it's ever had the critical mass required for it to be an actual destination, somewhere you'd gather up the kids and head to, or even just with your partner. It’s always serviced ‘the locals’...but I really wonder what kind of penetration this servicing achieved, then or now. (Again, this will be dealt with in the concluding portion of this series.)

So the final questions to be asked are 'What kind of downtown does Stoney Creek want?' and, if the answer is anything bolder, anything greater than the decades-old status quo, 'How can it get it?'