To the Editor:
Last month, some friends invited me to a couple meetings where Chris Cerino was preparing to announce for the mayor’s race. I didn’t know what to expect since my friends lean liberal and I’m conservative. What I heard was a guy seeing, without bemoaning, some of the town’s current problems and having clear ideas about its future direction that made solid sense.
What interested me most were his thoughts on the town’s business and residential needs. There, he was enlightening (when was the last time a candidate told you something you didn’t know?!). I’d been puzzled about why we seemed to be pulling out of the “Great Recession” less quickly than the town’s many advantages would predict. He explained how knitting back together particular areas of the town would help restore the vitality of the town as a whole. He also said he wanted to aggressively market the town to bring more visitors. That’s when the penny dropped.
An important key to what feels like a vaguely “stuck” situation is an authentic visual and “experiential” effect of areas changing and straining the interfaces among them—for example, the waterfront growing separate from downtown—which is something the town is best suited to be aware of and keep up with over the long haul. And I am certain that same sense of the town not quite being together heightens the uneasy feeling created by empty storefronts.
When he turned to the business situation, I wondered if he would segue into something bureaucratic, like focusing on federal or state economic development handouts, but I was surprised again. His focus was on working with the business community, and his words about marketing the town were down to earth: advertise, publicize, promote, make people aware of the town’s unique appeal. In short, get more visitors coming here and do it fast. How sensible for both the short and long term. Business and jobs increase quickly with more visitors, and some visitors become residents, either part or full time, and some decide to establish a business here, all contributing even more to the town’s economy. Either way, the town prospers based on its essential character, its prized combination of historical, cultural, recreational and environmental appeal.
He had plenty of specifics, but these ideas seemed to be the glue holding them together. Which brings me back to my being conservative and my liberal friends. I thought what I saw in Cerino was an entirely natural merger of both, ideal for a town of our size where people of all perspectives (mostly) know, like, and respect one another. Thanks to his time as chairman of the planning commission, he had studied, documented, and built a consensus on the needs of the town, and he saw, not only as one of five volunteer members but also hearing from residents and business people on the issues, how valuable and productive personal engagement can be. He seemed inclined to think Chestertown people see it that way, care about getting the town going again, and will like how he wants to do it. I think so, too.
Jane Nevins
Chestertown
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