A new day dawns for downtown Waynesville

20 Smoky Mountain News

Opinion A new day dawns for downtown Waynesville

It was tough to witness the demise of the Downtown Waynesville Association. The DWA has a long, proud history, one of dedicated volunteers who through hard work and smarts filled empty storefronts and changed Waynesville forever.

As a business owner, as someone who has served on the DWA board, and as a journalist who has been covering this group’s many successes for nearly 30 years, though, I’m convinced that — right now — this is the best move for property owners, merchants and the town.

Waynesville aldermen made the unanimous decision last week to take the downtown property tax money away from the Downtown Waynesville Association. That tax money is raised through an extra levy on what’s formally known as the Municipal Service District, a stretch of Main Street running for about a mile and including some properties on side streets such as Depot and Church streets.

How dedicated were those property owners and merchants who formed the DWA in 1985? At that time Waynesville’s Main Street had a 23 percent vacancy rate and shoppers were skipping downtown in favor of retail centers on the town’s outskirts. That led to something I don’t think would even come close to happening today — those who worked and owned buildings downtown agreed to a tax increase on themselves in order to come up with money to hire an executive director and fund improvements.

After the business owners agreed to the tax, the town committed to helping out. Through the MSD tax, fund-raising and with town labor, amenities like benches, landscaping, brick sidewalks, buried utility lines, decorative lampposts, shade trees and more all came to Main Street. Through the years this public-private partnership — with the DWA leading the way in raising funds and corralling business and property owners to the cause — created the downtown Waynesville we have today, one often cited as the best-looking business district in the state. When I interviewed those who were involved in the DWA’s creation, one of the things that most impressed me was the early emphasis on the arts. Haywood Community College already had a successful crafts curriculum and Haywood Arts Repertory Theater was producing plays on Main Street at the time, so focusing on art to lure businesses and people to downtown made sense. Think Church Street Arts and Crafts Festival, think Folkmoot, think Haywood County Arts Council and of the artists who have called Main Street home through the years.

Waynesville was practicing heritage tourism before it became a catchphrase. Now, 36 years later, Waynesville’s arts community is vibrant and a big part of its culture, something that gives the business district a distinctive flair.

So how did the DWA lose its way? I sat through meetings where clear differences on how to promote the district and what events to hold were argued. There were factions on the board who wanted to move in new directions while other long-timers argued for the status quo. During this time there were abrupt board resignations and split votes until a general dysfunction settled in just a few years ago. Unfortunately, these differences lasted until an almost Machiavellian drama played out, one side dumping those they disagreed with and taking over the executive board.

Then, when it came time to hire a new executive director, that executive board did not have the time or the expertise to make it happen. Remember, these board members are all volunteers who have jobs, businesses to run, families to spend time with. In the last couple of months there were mass resignations from the executive board.

In effect, the town has swept in to rescue the Municipal Service District. The vote was unanimous and all aldermen were on board. Merchants will witness a professional hiring process for an executive director and the promise to form a volunteer committee to advise the new executive director and do much of what the DWA was doing.

Who knows what will come of the nonprofit DWA with no funding mechanism and very few executive board members left. This, however, can be said of the DWA: from the late 1980s into the early 2000s, it saved and over time transformed downtown Waynesville. That group is largely responsible for what one sees today as you walk Main Street.

Now, it’s up to the current elected and business leaders to step up and lead downtown Waynesville into the future, whatever that may hold. It’s time for the leaders we’ll be writing about 20 years from now to step up. (Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com.)

Scott McLeod Editor

Truth matters, but some don’t see it

To the Editor:

I fear for my country. The cause of my anxiety is the judgment that our nation has regressed beyond the point of no return. A number of events has led to that conclusion, and chief among them is America’s acceptance of Donald Trump’s neutralizing our collective ability to determine right from wrong.

Presently available (thru American Mint), for just $99, is the MAGA Movement Commemorative Coin Set. To quote from the ad I saw in the August 2021 issue of the VFW Magazine (I’ll get back to that): “From visionary economic initiatives, to his strong stance and decisive actions to protect our nation against harm, President Trump has proven that his commitment to putting America first was just what the nation needed. As President, he showed little patience for the status quo that has crippled Washington politics for decades and has taken the bold steps necessary to put America back on top as the most respected nation in the world.”

That’s simply untrue. The 45th President betrayed the nation and the people he took an oath to protect. He tweeted, he watched FOX News, and he golfed. He used his power to spread lies and disinformation and poison our politics. He pandered to dictators, alienated our allies, and encouraged and emboldened white supremacists. On top of all that, throughout his last year in office, he downplayed and actually worsened the global pandemic costing tens of thousands of Americans their lives. He was twice impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives. The

Republican Party (in the face of overwhelming evidence) twice revealed its cowardice and complicity by acquitting him.

We have always defined the United States as a nation of laws and the incontrovertible premise that no one is above those laws. Donald Trump and the GOP have, over and over and over again, proven that doctrine an illusion.

Donald Trump obstructed Congress, violated his oath of office, betrayed the public trust, undermined the Constitution, disregarded the rules of law and abused the power of the presidency on occasions too numerous to list (including asking the president of a foreign power to investigate a political opponent). As if that isn’t enough, to ensure history records and reviles the presidency of this consummate liar and conman (and I truly believe history will confirm this exactly), days before leaving office he incited a deadly attack on our Capitol in a lastditch effort to overturn a free and fair election he lost. That the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization (of which I am a life member and have been for decades) would agree to carry an ad glorifying such a man (in my opinion as a career veteran who served in a war zone — Vietnam) is inappropriate and discredits VFW members and all veterans who have served honorably.

I fear for our country. I fear that our people no longer hold inviolate the principle that truth matters and that our nation cannot long survive a divided, disconnected and disengaged society.

LETTERS

Time to end the filibuster

To the Editor:

In November 2020, millions of voters like me went to the polls and cast a ballot for Joe Biden.

Now, with a relentless GOP attack on our voting rights underway, I’m asking President Biden to return the favor. It’s time for Biden to go further than talking about supporting voting rights legislation. We need him to come out and fully support ending the filibuster so the Senate can finally pass voting rights legislation like the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

With the filibuster intact, these bills stand little chance of passing. We need the president to use his power of office to pressure the Senate to end the filibuster and clear a path for voting rights reform.

We can’t out-organize voter suppression. History will remember how President Biden handles these attacks on our right to vote. I’m urging him to do the right thing. Jana Williams Candler