To the Editor;
It has been brought to this observer's attention that the Downtown Amherst Revitalization Society's interpretation of what constitutes Downtown Amherst may be somewhat historically askew in terms of who is in and who is out when it comes to recognizing legitimate businesses operating within the town boundaries. For those too young or a bit fuzzy in terms of our town's history, the designation Downtown Amherst was coined to differentiate between the businesses operating in the town proper and those setting up in the mall(s) on outer Albion Street.
In the beginning, there was a decided exodus of businesses out of the town, which occurred for a number of reasons, not least being shopping convenience and the availability of ample parking. Consequently some town establishments suffered a loss of clientele, and some, alas, were forced or opted to close.
It would seem that the daunting challenge of revitalizing the town business community (to vitalize means to endow with life, infuse with vigour) in order to offset the mall competition, should mean a gathering of the collective spirit of all Amherst businesses, and to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in order to remain viable options for customers. That does not appear to be the case. The optimal requirement now has little to do with who or what you are, but all to do with where you are.
A recent pamphlet detailing the events for the upcoming Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival has left out an Amherst business specifically involved in fibre arts. The reasons cited were (1) the business is too far from Downtown Amherst, and (2) it is too late to include the business because the pamphlet has already been printed. Really!
This arbitrary decision to use geography to select the "In" businesses, to the exclusion of all others, must necessarily exclude the Home Hardware stores, the Co-op feed store and garden centre, the Nova Scotia Liquor Store, Buzzell's on LaPlanche Street, Moore's on Station Street, Highland Quikmart and many others that are equally as far and much farther from the Revitalization Society's interpretation of Downtown Amherst as the excluded business is.
It is time the new boundaries of Downtown Amherst were spelled out, including the reasoning behind such a blatantly unfair and evidently selective inclusion/exclusion of town businesses in the equation.
John G. McKay, Amherst
