Saratoga Springs: a miracle, revisionist history or simply a missing conversation?

Buy an ad; create your own myths

Any given Chamber of Commerce has as its primary function that of being a cheerleader; boosting the local community as a good place to live, work and visit. Promotion and marketing are keys to making things happen; hence there is nothing sinister with such a function.

So it should come as no surprise that this past Thursday found an insert titled “Saratoga Springs: Transformation by the Passion of a Community” within that city’s daily newspaper, The Saratogian. Published and paid for (one assumes) by the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, this collection of essays harkens on the supposed not-so-good old days of the Spa City’s downtown commercial district and Broadway epicenter. Historical images and recollections of abandoned storefronts and dilapidated structures are juxtaposed with the current streetscape of tidy facades and smiling shiny faces; a miracle turnaround, if you will.



Of special personal interest was the piece on the genesis of the Holiday Inn Hotel on the southern end of the street. In a quest to solve the gaping hole in the town’s inventory of lodging space (this is a tourist destination, after all), enlightened citizens came up with an innovative scheme as a means of attracting a development partner into the solving of that problem.

That solution was to demonstrate the community’s financial commitment through a stock offering of foundation shares, which were purchased at $50 each by everyone that gave a hoot. It worked, as the Memphis based Holiday Inn chain bought into the vision, constructing the first combo hotel & convention facility in their history in Saratoga.

My parents were two of those very stakeholders, buying a share each; as did most of their friends and neighbors. As a children, my brother and I would always shout out “can you show us which two bricks we own?” each and every time the family sedan drove by the facility, for that’s what we were told was the family’s ownership portion of such. Furthermore, the investment return on that $100 was very healthy, deemed as the “best financial investment we ever made” by our family treasurer.

Indeed, bricks and mortar are an important part of the mix of a community’s economic well being, and that’s what the Chamber is celebrating with such a document. Granted, some argue that the publication is more a celebration of the Chamber than it is of downtown, but either way, it still serves that aforementioned booster function quite adequately.

The point to remember, however, is that part part; as in “part of the mix.” Is a pleasant looking downtown a good asset? Yes; granted. Did a group effort by this city’s forward-thinking leadership and citizenry make that pleasant downtown happen? Yes, again! Now, did all of that lead to a thriving downtown economy and quality of life experience? Well, not so fast there.

Yes; downtown Saratoga rings the cash registers at a comparatively impressive clip – and that’s a good thing. But should that be the Report Card of a community’s health and well-being, or should it be but one line item (or subject matter) in such an analysis? The Chamber (and its willing partner The Saratogian) both seem to opt for the former; I’ll argue for the latter.

But the conversation never seems to get into that territory, and for that I blame the newspaper more than the Chamber. Again, the Chamber’s job is to promote; and a good promoter highlight’s its client’s primary assets. In the case of Saratoga, that asset is its downtown. The Saratogian cannot be let off the hook so easily, especially when its front page hype of the enclosed insert proclaims a “rise to glory” from “20 years of progress” and so on. Missing, not surprisingly, is an in-depth analysis of the community’s overall health and quality of life compared to the past. Instead, the reader is left with a given that Then was a shit hole; Now is Nirvana; nothing more.

But that more seems to be beyond the reach of the city’s daily --- just another sign of the continuing decline of this paper as a resource for thoughtful ideas and commentary on local dynamics. In this case, missing from the puzzle is a conversation that might raise these points:

• The downtown commercial district is dominated by a tourist economy, with precious little local-to-local commerce. The result is that very few resident citizens ever venture into this district as part of their economic (and social) life. Wouldn’t this be considered as a bad thing?

• Furthermore, the city’s livelihood seems to rely more and more heavily on it being the “bar district of the Capital Region.” Need proof: wander down Caroline Street on a Friday night (wear a helmet). Is this desirable?

• The city is devoid of a ‘high tech” or “creative class” economy; especially downtown. Few such businesses are created locally, further resulting in a brain drain worse than Appalachia’s. Need proof here as well? OK, how many of you or your neighbor’s kids returned home after getting their advanced degrees? Uh-huh: the waitress job at Lillian’s helped with the tuition, but it’s not a career path, is it?

• The city feels more and more like a combination retirement village and bedroom community. A discussion, please?

On and on we could go, but there lies the missing ingredient of the local fabric: that discussion. Who’s ready, willing and able to lead such a discussion? The Chamber of Commerce won’t and the Saratogian can’t. There lies what we would refer to as a VOIDin the community.

An old school buddy of mine made an interesting comment the other day when he said “I was probably the happiest back when I was living in a drafty rat hole of an apartment with lawn chairs and milk crates for furniture.” This coming from a guy who W2’s at least a mil each year and lives in a house that would make a Tudor prince jealous, mind you.

Those left standing on the battle field are the ones that get to write the war's history. That’s why the few childhood friends of mine that still remain in the city are those that have succeeded in the locally endorsed religions of tourism and housing/real estate or their allied sects. Those pursuing other interests in technology, high finance, software, research or whatever (including myself) needed to look elsewhere.

That’s fine: a town cannot be all things to all people. Just don’t tell me that it’s a miracle for Broadway to now have more barrooms than it does internet companies or that the demographics of the type of people likely to create those very internet companies are priced out of being able to live or work there. Yes, give me a bohemian ghetto and some interesting people to tell me stories around town now and then.

Personally, if push came to shove and I had to make a mutually-exclusive choice between: a) a pretty downtown filled with tourists and skyrocketing property values fueled by in-migration; or: b) a community of deep-routed neighborhoods complete with slew of locally-centric venues where everyone knows my name; I’ll opt for the Cheers scenario. But that’s just a personal preference; I can at least recognize there are varying perspectives and opinions on the matter.

But meanwhile, those holding the ropes go about perpetuating the myths and denying the collateral damage. Thursday’s offering was simply Exhibit #875771.

RM

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