By Hans Wilder | Watertown Post
Sackets Harbor, New York
Northern New York has people who complain that nothing ever happens here, then spring into action the moment something might. Apparently, progress is welcome as long as it happens somewhere else and doesn’t interfere with the afternoon broadcast. The possibility of combining a convention and event center with an upgraded Salmon Run Mall has brought that peculiar local talent back into view.
Readers sent me clips of a local radio personality dismissing the idea. I heard the clips. I do not listen to his show, and I’m not giving him free advertising here. Suffice it to say, the thinking had a decidedly prehistoric quality. Somewhere, a stegosaurus was listening and saying, “Come on, buddy. Try to keep up.”
This is especially rich coming from somebody who professes support for Trump, Constantino and Tenney. You voted for the Golden Age, but apparently the Town of Watertown needs to remain under glass at the Smithsonian. What an embarrassment. You cannot cheer American ambition and then clutch your microphone in horror when somebody suggests trying a little of it locally.
Salmon Run offers an exciting possibility: keep and improve the shopping, dining and entertainment while adding a destination for conventions, exhibitions, tournaments and events. Families could shop, eat and enjoy themselves while others attend a conference or competition. Visitors could stay overnight, fill restaurant tables and give local businesses more customers. That sounds considerably more useful than another broadcast explaining why we should all lower our expectations.
And yes, we have banquet rooms, hotels and arenas. They have their place. But pointing to a room that hosts a lovely wedding does not answer the question of what a larger, integrated destination could bring here. Having a toaster does not mean you already operate a bakery. Different scale, different purpose, different opportunity.
We also have winter. Plenty of it. Around here, winter occasionally behaves like a tenant who has stopped paying rent and refuses to leave. An indoor destination combining events, recreation, shopping and food could give families something to do and businesses something to look forward to during those long months. Why should our ambitions hibernate just because the weather gets unpleasant?
The location makes sense: the mall is in the Town of Watertown, with Interstate 81 access, nearby hotels and businesses, Fort Drum and connections to the Thousand Islands and the wider region. Micron’s development in Clay is down that same interstate corridor. Northern New York should be preparing to participate in a changing regional economy, not standing beside the highway waving opportunity through to the next exit.
Before the comment-section funeral procession gets underway, yes, we have heard it all: “Who’s going to pay for it?” “Nobody cares about Watertown.” “They’ve talked about this before.” Asking how to finance something is reasonable. Declaring it impossible before considering the answer is simply pessimism wearing a calculator. Previous disappointments are reasons to approach an opportunity intelligently, not instructions to abandon every future one. And if nobody cares about Watertown, why are some people so determined to stop anybody from trying to improve it?
Funding deserves initiative, too. Private investment, sponsorships, naming rights and eligible development programs are avenues worth pursuing, rather than assuming local homeowners must finance the whole thing. If the county participates, the aim should be an investment that helps broaden the tax base through new activity and outside spending. The long-term opportunity is to give more businesses and visitors a reason to contribute to this economy, instead of asking the same people to keep carrying it alone. “Who pays?” deserves a financing plan, not a permanent veto.
The people working on the Thousand Islands event-center concept deserve encouragement, especially from Republicans who keep telling us they believe in growth, enterprise and a Golden Age. Then act like it. A red hat is not a substitute for an imagination. If your entire economic-development strategy is explaining why the next idea cannot work, you’re managing decline with a campaign sticker on it. The Republican Party should be building a bigger future, not appointing itself caretaker of a smaller one.
Technology is changing. The regional economy is changing. Our infrastructure and imagination need to move with them. A stronger Salmon Run could mean more activity, more opportunity and more reasons for families to stay. That is a future worth working toward, even if the usual chorus would prefer another decade of complaining about the present.
Stop managing decline. We need to manage progress in the golden sense of the word. Give Salmon Run a chance to help build that future. The fellow on the radio can keep polishing his fossil collection.
About the Author
