Dead Center

In the aftermath of the tragedy in Littleton, Colorado, there has been a deluge of blame, focussing on the accessibility of guns, and the unrelenting violence in the media. Lost in all the finger pointing has been the root cause least reducible to sound bites and headlines, the pervasive sense of anomie that characterizes our lives at the turn of the century.When people speak of this event, they say "If it could happen there, it could happen anywhere". Littleton, Colorado could just as easily be Littleton, New Hampshire. It could be Springfield, Massachusetts, or Springfield, Vermont, Kentucky, or Oregon. However closely we examine that town, there is no there there, and that may be the most devastating truth of all. It sits squarely in the middle of what author James Kunstler calls ñThe Geography of Nowhereî.For Americans who relocate at the drop of a better job offer, anyplace anywhere can look reassuringly familiar. You can go from Hillsboro, New Hampshire, to Hillsboro, Ohio, North Dakota or Wisconsin, and everything will look the same. But none of them will be home. Ringed by Taco Bells and Wendy's, Bradlee's, and KMarts, cities and towns across the country have surrendered their geographical and architectural idiosyncrasies for generic aspirin, discount jeans and uniformly tasteless pizza.A sense of place begins with the preservation of the built landscape, now as vulnerable as any species on the endangered list. If there is any single factor that typifies the numbing impersonality of our lives today, it is the hollowness at the centers of our cities and towns. As the butchers, bakers, and greengrocers give in to Super Stop 'N Shops, and hardware stores, clothiers, dry goods shops and pharmacies surrender to WalMarts, we are giving away the intimacy that used to characterize daily life.Soon, no one will even remember when conversation between neighbors was a respected form of social interaction, and when Main Streets were the hearts of communities. In my grandmother's day, going downtown to replenish the larder was a leisurely expedition, at least as social as it was practical. Between squeezing melons, pinching live chickens, and going eye-to-eye with recently departed fish, there were heated arguments about the advantages of one family's recipe over another, the admiring of babies and the disparaging of in-laws, and protracted discussions of the minutiae of everyone else's life. These trips to Main Street were radio, television, and movies all rolled into one, a real live soap opera, now as extinct as the milkman, and the Good Humor truck.There are plenty of compelling reasons why town centers become moribund and die. The rootless quality of businesses these days, which float to wherever labor is cheapest and tax breaks the most extravagant. Downsizings, factory closings, discount giants, price wars, the growth of suburbs, the cost per square foot of downtown rental space and the resultant urban sprawl. There are more contributing factors than there is space to list them.There is, however, only one reason why towns come back from the dead. It is an act of will, the simultaneous commitment of town officials, business owners, landlords, and the citizens themselves, all working in concert to bring about revivification.And there is one agency that has assessed the multiplicity of causes, and is mounting a vigorous counterattack. It is the National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.The Main Street Program works with "urban downtown and neighborhood commercial districts, and downtowns of smaller cities and rural comunities." They provide technical expertise directly, on-site, to community organizations, over extended periods of time, in the development of comprehensive individualized redevelopment strategies in four categories: Design improvements and rehabilitation of historic buildings; Establishment of ñcollaborative partnerships between a broad range of organizations, agencies, businesses, and individuals, and the mobilization of volunteersî; Promotion to investors, residents and visitors; And perhaps most critical, restructuring of the district"s economic base.Customized training workshops are provided in market analysis, marketing strategies, real estate development, merchandising, nonprofit community initiated development strategies, and assistance to towns and cities in setting up business improvement and special assessment districts.Text support is provided on every aspect of the problems facing cities and towns, from finding alternatives to ñbig boxî superstores, to urban sprawl; from managing new parking plans with rates and regulations tailored to enhance foot traffic, to showcasing great American public places and explaining why they are successful; from fundraising to the seminal"Up Against the Wal-Marts: How Your Business Can Prosper in the Shadow of the Retail Giants."The National Main Street center is a lifeline for moribund inner cities and towns, a bulwark against the homogenization of America. You can reach them at 202-588-6219, in Washington, D.C. or at www.mainst.org on the Internet. Their mission is simple: "Protecting the Irreplaceable."