Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Saving Our Town's Character
How can we protect the natural character of our town?
Helensville is a lovely place, still on the quiet side with many beautiful old buildings and a "small town" feel. What adds to this charm is the fact the town is only a 35 minute drive from the centre of Auckland, so we get the best of both worlds.
However, the beginning of the end has already happened.
It's progress (of a sort), and I'm not knocking it, but it is rather a shame too. Already the main southern entrance to the town is dominated by a massive Mitre 10. There's also an ITM building supply store, and in the middle of the main road what used to be Helensville Video is now chain Video Ezy. And of course there's the huge Woolworths supermarket, dominating the main shopping area.
How long will it be before there's a McDonalds, KFC or Pizza Hut? Or worse - the dreaded Red Shed?
It's going to happen eventually, probably sooner than later, and unfortunately Helensville will go the way of many other small towns around New Zealand (and around the world for that matter) - the locally owned shops will be swallowed by national chains, and one day I'll drive into town and wonder exactly which town I'm in.
Because that's the problem with progress - everything starts to look the same. There are towns all over New Zealand that have very little of their own character left. Some are luckier than others, but generally the faster they grow and more popular they become, the quicker they turn into what the people who moved there were trying to get away from in the first place.
You can't blame the commercial property owners for selling out to the big chains.
I heard someone moaning a few months ago because they had heard The Warehouse was making overtures about buying a block of commercial land in Mill Road. This person was quite indignant that the owner would actually consider selling to a big chain. But I bet if it was them who had the chance to land a big payday they would leap at it - loss of town character or not.
Is there anything we can do? The commercial land and buildings are all privately owned, and the owners are quite within their rights to sell to whoever they want. I'm sure many of them would prefer Helensville to stay the way it is, but I guess faced with the option of either going slowly broke or earning a nice healthy payday through a sellout, I know which way they will go.
I suppose Rodney District Council could impose stringent design rules that mean chains have to adhere to a specific look. A couple of years ago I was in the "Old German" town of Leavenworth in Washington, USA. There's a McDonalds in the main street, but you'd hardly know it - apart from some discreet signage, it looks like a traditional German building. Admittedly the whole town is themed, but it's an idea.
Maybe that would just scare the big chains away and stunt the development of Helensville.
Maybe that would be a nice thing...
Helensville is a lovely place, still on the quiet side with many beautiful old buildings and a "small town" feel. What adds to this charm is the fact the town is only a 35 minute drive from the centre of Auckland, so we get the best of both worlds.
However, the beginning of the end has already happened.
It's progress (of a sort), and I'm not knocking it, but it is rather a shame too. Already the main southern entrance to the town is dominated by a massive Mitre 10. There's also an ITM building supply store, and in the middle of the main road what used to be Helensville Video is now chain Video Ezy. And of course there's the huge Woolworths supermarket, dominating the main shopping area.
How long will it be before there's a McDonalds, KFC or Pizza Hut? Or worse - the dreaded Red Shed?
It's going to happen eventually, probably sooner than later, and unfortunately Helensville will go the way of many other small towns around New Zealand (and around the world for that matter) - the locally owned shops will be swallowed by national chains, and one day I'll drive into town and wonder exactly which town I'm in.
Because that's the problem with progress - everything starts to look the same. There are towns all over New Zealand that have very little of their own character left. Some are luckier than others, but generally the faster they grow and more popular they become, the quicker they turn into what the people who moved there were trying to get away from in the first place.
You can't blame the commercial property owners for selling out to the big chains.
I heard someone moaning a few months ago because they had heard The Warehouse was making overtures about buying a block of commercial land in Mill Road. This person was quite indignant that the owner would actually consider selling to a big chain. But I bet if it was them who had the chance to land a big payday they would leap at it - loss of town character or not.
Is there anything we can do? The commercial land and buildings are all privately owned, and the owners are quite within their rights to sell to whoever they want. I'm sure many of them would prefer Helensville to stay the way it is, but I guess faced with the option of either going slowly broke or earning a nice healthy payday through a sellout, I know which way they will go.
I suppose Rodney District Council could impose stringent design rules that mean chains have to adhere to a specific look. A couple of years ago I was in the "Old German" town of Leavenworth in Washington, USA. There's a McDonalds in the main street, but you'd hardly know it - apart from some discreet signage, it looks like a traditional German building. Admittedly the whole town is themed, but it's an idea.
Maybe that would just scare the big chains away and stunt the development of Helensville.
Maybe that would be a nice thing...
# posted by Dave @ 5:13 PM 
Comments:
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I'm currently living in Tokyo, but I know a thing or two about sustainable development, and fighting giant chains.
It's really just a matter of what people value, and a matter of short term, versus long term thinking.
When it comes to towns that are "lacking" a McDonalds, I consider that a bonus, not a detriment, especially when you consider how a fast-food restaurant chain decreases the health of a community. Large Big-box stores, are just a matter of short term-vs-long-term thinking. We are currently facing an energy sparse future, and big-box stores that are buying now...will be suffering in the near future.
Does the beautiful town of Helensville really want to have the scar of a giant bankrupt store, marring it's aesthetic potential?
It's like this...
Step One: Independent land owner sells property to absentee land-owner (Giant Corp.) who doesn't care about the community.
Step Two: The giant chain opens, and undercuts other local businesses thus putting them out of business.
Step Three: Town loses the character that gave it attraction in the first place. Becomes a generic cookie-cutter version of every other suburb in the world.
Step Four: Energy shortage removes the benefit of importing products made with cheap labor over-seas, and the emboddied energy use of production and shipping those products to massive stores that require equally massives amounts of energy to heat and cool.
Step five: Big-box chain store closes. Becomes an eye-sore to the community, lowering the value of property in the area. Town residents, now have to travel to the nearest strip mall, many more kilometers away than before, probably two or there towns away if they're lucky, just to buy basic supplies, yet energy costs are already high, and they can't afford to drive there.
Step six: Original owner who took the chance to sell to the big-box chain, spent the money on a styish condo built on a golf course, which can no longer afford to pay for the resources to maintain the turf with massive amounts of petro-chemical products.
Step 7: All the big box stores where they bought supplies, go out of business. All the property that used to be available in towns with character and independent shops to sustaine the life of thier community have been transformed into bix-box ghost towns. The original owner has nowhere to go to buy food or clothing and starves to death.
The end.
I've seen this pattern repeated already in the U.S. a thousand times.
But again, what it really comes down to what a person/community values, and how far into the future they can show each other the results of their actions.
I visited Helensville two years ago, and my wife and I fell in love with the area. The main attraction was the independent community, full of friendly people. It was exactly that independent character that gave the town class, style and value worth coming back to.
I'm on my way to spend another month in the area in September. I hope it hasn't changed that much.
If you truly wish to keep Helensville from turning into a cookie-cutter big-box, suburban ghost town, what is required is community discussion and debate. People need to support each other, and show each other how much they are worth now.
Don't let each other go slowly broke, and no-one will have to be forced to sell to an evil giant. A strong commnity, cannot be broken by a giant. Drive up the value of your community by supporting each other, and making it too valuable to sell to a giant. Shop at each other's stores, advertise for each other...form coalitions. Capitalise on the draw that you have, and pull money into your independent community from outside.
I used to work for the coalition of independent music stores in the U.S. We fought to increase the power of mom&pop shops against the giant Musicland, Tower and Virgin mega-store. A lot of those stores are still thriving because they support each other. Tower records, has now filed for chapter 11. It's a sign of things to come in other industries.
I hope Helensville can survive as is. It would be a shame to lose such a wonderful community.
Helensville, I look forward to seeing you soon.
sincerely,
Scott A. Meister
former Regional Marketing Editor of the Album Network (Los Angeles)
currently Certified Permaculture Designer and English Professor -Tokyo
It's really just a matter of what people value, and a matter of short term, versus long term thinking.
When it comes to towns that are "lacking" a McDonalds, I consider that a bonus, not a detriment, especially when you consider how a fast-food restaurant chain decreases the health of a community. Large Big-box stores, are just a matter of short term-vs-long-term thinking. We are currently facing an energy sparse future, and big-box stores that are buying now...will be suffering in the near future.
Does the beautiful town of Helensville really want to have the scar of a giant bankrupt store, marring it's aesthetic potential?
It's like this...
Step One: Independent land owner sells property to absentee land-owner (Giant Corp.) who doesn't care about the community.
Step Two: The giant chain opens, and undercuts other local businesses thus putting them out of business.
Step Three: Town loses the character that gave it attraction in the first place. Becomes a generic cookie-cutter version of every other suburb in the world.
Step Four: Energy shortage removes the benefit of importing products made with cheap labor over-seas, and the emboddied energy use of production and shipping those products to massive stores that require equally massives amounts of energy to heat and cool.
Step five: Big-box chain store closes. Becomes an eye-sore to the community, lowering the value of property in the area. Town residents, now have to travel to the nearest strip mall, many more kilometers away than before, probably two or there towns away if they're lucky, just to buy basic supplies, yet energy costs are already high, and they can't afford to drive there.
Step six: Original owner who took the chance to sell to the big-box chain, spent the money on a styish condo built on a golf course, which can no longer afford to pay for the resources to maintain the turf with massive amounts of petro-chemical products.
Step 7: All the big box stores where they bought supplies, go out of business. All the property that used to be available in towns with character and independent shops to sustaine the life of thier community have been transformed into bix-box ghost towns. The original owner has nowhere to go to buy food or clothing and starves to death.
The end.
I've seen this pattern repeated already in the U.S. a thousand times.
But again, what it really comes down to what a person/community values, and how far into the future they can show each other the results of their actions.
I visited Helensville two years ago, and my wife and I fell in love with the area. The main attraction was the independent community, full of friendly people. It was exactly that independent character that gave the town class, style and value worth coming back to.
I'm on my way to spend another month in the area in September. I hope it hasn't changed that much.
If you truly wish to keep Helensville from turning into a cookie-cutter big-box, suburban ghost town, what is required is community discussion and debate. People need to support each other, and show each other how much they are worth now.
Don't let each other go slowly broke, and no-one will have to be forced to sell to an evil giant. A strong commnity, cannot be broken by a giant. Drive up the value of your community by supporting each other, and making it too valuable to sell to a giant. Shop at each other's stores, advertise for each other...form coalitions. Capitalise on the draw that you have, and pull money into your independent community from outside.
I used to work for the coalition of independent music stores in the U.S. We fought to increase the power of mom&pop shops against the giant Musicland, Tower and Virgin mega-store. A lot of those stores are still thriving because they support each other. Tower records, has now filed for chapter 11. It's a sign of things to come in other industries.
I hope Helensville can survive as is. It would be a shame to lose such a wonderful community.
Helensville, I look forward to seeing you soon.
sincerely,
Scott A. Meister
former Regional Marketing Editor of the Album Network (Los Angeles)
currently Certified Permaculture Designer and English Professor -Tokyo
I lived in helensville in the 1970s and moved to australia, the old helensville would be sad to see go.But on the other hand helensville needs to move with the times. the town is a very beautiful place with the river and the harbour. When i was last there the town has grown more familys more homes, and with that the families need to have shops and sevices so there money stays in helensville and not go to the big city. We can't have it both ways . thanks
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# posted by 
: 1:51 PM
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