Great post as usual Joe, but I do take issue with comparing Galesburg to a city only 8 miles away from the edge of a metro area with 700,000 people (Northampton to Springfield metro) and a dozen state parks and natural areas immediately nearby. I imagine you will talk soon about the impact of online shopping and the lack of tech industry businesses that would be great candidates for downtown. Yes to incentivizing though!
Hey thanks for reading! Yes Northampton has much different circumstances than Galesburg. They have a lot around them and their median income is probably 2-3x what Galesburg’s is. But if anything to me it’s an example of a small town thriving. Sometimes there’s a narrative that all small towns have nothing going on, and that’s not the case in Northampton. So I think of it showing that a small town can be thriving. Galesburg will need to build its own draw, but just because it’s small does not necessarily mean we’re doomed to be dead and/irrelevant
Great post as usual Joe, but I do take issue with comparing Galesburg to a city only 8 miles away from the edge of a metro area with 700,000 people (Northampton to Springfield metro) and a dozen state parks and natural areas immediately nearby. I imagine you will talk soon about the impact of online shopping and the lack of tech industry businesses that would be great candidates for downtown. Yes to incentivizing though!
Hey thanks for reading! Yes Northampton has much different circumstances than Galesburg. They have a lot around them and their median income is probably 2-3x what Galesburg’s is. But if anything to me it’s an example of a small town thriving. Sometimes there’s a narrative that all small towns have nothing going on, and that’s not the case in Northampton. So I think of it showing that a small town can be thriving. Galesburg will need to build its own draw, but just because it’s small does not necessarily mean we’re doomed to be dead and/irrelevant