Archive: Opinions

This week's announcement that the Lansing Farmer's Market has been cancelled underscores an argument I have been having with myself for some time.  One of the things I love about Lansing is that our small rural community does so much with so little.  I am not alone in wanting it to do more.  But I sometimes wonder whether that is a residual way of thinking that comes from growing up in a major metropolitan area.  A lot of Lansing residents grew up near big cities.  I sometimes wonder whether our eyes are bigger than our stomachs.

This applies to just about every major issue the Town faces right now, including plans for sewer and a town center.  On the one hand I know our property taxes are out of control and I believe that thoughtfully planned development along with the power tools needed to make it happen can increase the tax base, lowering or at least halting the rise of our taxes.  On the other hand I wonder how much development we need to accomplish that and whether we are potentially biting off more than we can chew.

Is it my big city bias that makes me favor these projects, or is it a truthful analysis of our current local condition?  I like to think it is the latter, but worry the former is influencing my analysis.  I worry that what works for Boston or New York or Chicago isn't going to work for Lansing.

When Lansing Community Council president Ed LaVigne told me he was going to raise enough money to restore a historic log cabin I was delighted because I loved that 200+ year old cabin and it was in danger of rotting away.  But I privately doubted he could raise the well over $10,000 needed to do it. 

Oh me of little faith!  He raised the cash and the cabin now stands at the entrance to Myers Park.  When he said the council could raise more than $100,000 for a public playground I thought, 'the economy is terrible'.  Raising nearly ten times what he collected for the log cabin will be impossible.  But the community pitched in both with the money and volunteer manpower and Lansing now has a gorgeous playground.  These are only two examples.  Look at the contributions of the Lion's and Rotary Clubs, the scouts, CDC and countless individuals and groups that have improved our quality of life.

I think those successes encourage us to think we can do everything.  And Lansing is a community with a large contingent that pushes for more and more.  I like that.  I support the Lansing town center because I love the idea of more local businesses and the possibility of shopping in local establishments and maybe going to a local town doctor (like Lansing has had in the past) in my old age.

I do strongly support a town center and I think sewer is a good power tool to make that happen.  But the arguments of those who say these things threaten the character of the town that attracted many of us here in the first place do not fall on deaf ears. 

I was pretty sure a rural community like Lansing could sustain a modest farmer's market once it was started four years ago.  When there was a Town Center Committee one of the things residents said they wanted in a town center was a permanent farmer's market pavilion.  If anything the lack of interest in sustaining a farmer's market illustrates that the future is anything but certain. 

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