Here is a profoundly hard question for all of us rural folks to tackle: What are rural communities for? Mike Knutson of the Rural Learning Center in Howard is grappling with this question in front of an audience today at a rural development conference in Montréal:
...[R]ural communities must have a purpose to exist. Most of the rural communities in our region were created as retail centers in an era when farms were small and numerous. As the opportunity to serve as retail centers has diminished, many of our rural communities have not discovered a new purpose &ndash a new reason to exist. That has to change, or our rural towns will cease to exist [Mike Knutson, "Looking to Quebec for Inspiration," Reimagine Rural, 2011.05.19].
File that with Wendell Berry's critique.
In the next paragraph, Knutson shows why the RLC's blog title, "Reimagine Rural," is not just a marketing slogan asking city folk to change their opinion of rural America. "Reimagine Rural" is a challenge to us rural folks ourselves. We must heed this imperative or fade away:
And that's why we call on rural communities to reimagine their futures. Create a vision for the community that looks to the future, rather than the past. There is little chance for our communities to recapture what we once were. But we can become something new, something different [Knutson, 2011.05.19].
What then is that new and different mission for our small towns?
Perhaps small towns can reimagine and remake themselves as manufacturing centers, turning from serving the retail needs of farmers to factory workers. But with few manufacturing raw materials and few customers to whom to sell the finished goods, can we build a sustainable business model on coaxing manufacturers to ship their steel and plastic here to the prairie, then ship their manufactured goods back to the population centers?
Could we tip that manufacturing equation in our favor by promoting plastic made from corn and soybeans? What about industrial hemp?
Can small towns keep themselves alive as quiet retreats for knowledge workers who can make their living from anywhere with Internet? Or providing services for retirees who want to get away from the city? Can we count on teleworkers and old folks to choose small towns on a snowy prairie more than 20 minutes from the Interstate, or more than an hour from the nearest major airport and symphony orchestra?
Knutson asks a profound existential question. I look forward to hearing possible answers from him and from you, dear readers.
Very challenging problem.
Then again, as a generation of people used to doing little else but sitting behind a computer comes into the workforce, all those fancy social outing things may become less important.
If the rail system gets rejuvenated, the cost of shipping will go down, and we shouldn't forget that our river system is a very economical way to move cargo.
Transportation and Communication have dramatically changed the reason smaller communities exist. Communities were formed based on horse & buggy distance, just like County Courthouses and Schools. Since it took a full day to drive to town and back, retail shops and services were expected and needed in every town. People supported them because they had no other choice. Everyone is mobile, loyalties are weak and communications span the world of commerce. The beast just looks far different than it did 100 years ago and we have to evolve to the changing market and promote the family safety, small town friendliness and other attributes people are so desperately seeking in their lives.
Competition exists everywhere, city or rural. A better idea is always helpful for a new product of process. Sadly but practically, honesty sometimes makes you better than anyone else.
When I was a kid my parents tried several butchers in the area for our farm animals. One gave us more meat than all the rest. A father and two sons ran the butcher shop and mom did the bookkeeping. By the time Huisken Meats sold out to Sara Lee for a couple of million they had three hundred workers. This was while the experts from the Universities told us that meat packing was going to the big guys and nothing could stop it. Between the time the professor did his research and when he presented it here, one of the big four beef packers had gone broke. So the big guys do not always succeed either.
If people live in a rural area they think it a problem to drive thirty miles to work. In a big city they drive thirty miles in rush hour traffic to work.
It helps to have an advantage somewhere to stay competitive. Transportation and communication reduce the differences. But having a resource or market close by is helpful. My legislator, Brian Liss, told me we have low wages since we have a lack of transportation. We have freeways all four directions from our state and are located near the center of the country, and since most transportation is by truck this puts us not totally far from anywhere.
Gateway started in South Dakota by phone order. This use of universal comunication to make us accessable to the whole country is a good idea. We can look at past successes and look wise. But the one who reapplies a past success in a new product or method or comes up with an all new idea can succeed most anywhere. Location planning is still worthwhile for inputs and labor.
Doing a better job is still key to anything in a competitive capitalist system.
Good points, all! Roger, I like how you rephrase the problem. For economic viability, a "reason for being" is the same as finding a unique way to add value. Rural communities need to either offer things other communities don't (differentiation) or offer similar things cheaper, better, and/or faster (cost). Which way can Madison, Howard, et al. compete better?
I have been thinking a lot about this topic and have decided that our main street is dying and there is probably no changing that. I hear people say a lot that they do not want big box stores in this town, because it would hurt small business. I don't think there are very many small retailers left to hurt. The only thing we have to lose is more sales tax revenue.
I believe we should just go for broke and lure in a big box store, Target, Wal-Mart, Hy-Vee, etc. Something that can be built out by Prostrollo's that will help drive traffic to our town. Instead of seeing people posting on Facebook saying they are going to "Wally-World" in Brookings or Sioux Falls, get them to come here. I want to see my friends posting on Twitter "Heading to Madison to get some groceries and diapers, then off to the State Park and the bike trail. I love Madison, what a nice town to get away to for the day." Get those Lake Madison seasonal cabin folk to come into town to buy stuff, instead of bringing it from Sioux Falls.
Most Wal-Marts and Targets also have smaller shops spring up around them, because of the traffic. A new strip mall perhaps? That would be nice in this town. Maybe we could get a chain restaurant, (Applebee's, Perkins, or Country Kitchen), another Hotel with conference/events rooms for events, and maybe another fast food chain, like a Burger King or a Culver's. These kinds of businesses will draw people from the Lake, Minor and Moody counties into town. Hopefully, we could keep our people here to shop as well.
Yes, people will still go to Sioux Falls for other shopping and entertainment, but we need to bring some Big Box options to this town, before we lose more sales to other communities and online shopping.
I challenge the City Commission to find some incentive money and or tax breaks and or land deals to get a big retail store here. I want to hear about the LAIC going out and talking with large retailers and see if we can get one of them to come to town. Egan Ave. (Mainstreet) may be dying, but we can get Washington Ave. and HWY 34 growing with some creative solutions. That sales tax money can find it's way back to Madison, even if we have to bribe the likes of Wal-Mart. (We are already doing for Custom Touch... why not a retailer?)
By the way, I hate places like Wal-Mart, but unfortunately they are not going away and we have to do something. Lewis and the Dollar Stores in this town aren't enough. If I can find what I need in this town, I usually order it on Amazon.com and have it here in two days. If I had the option to go to Target or Wal-Mart just down the street, I would do that, since it is faster and keeps our sales tax local.
Just an idea... maybe it is time to have coffee with Karen, Scott, Nick and the rest of the crew. :)
Can small towns keep themselves alive as quiet retreats for knowledge workers who can make their living from anywhere with Internet? Or providing services for retirees who want to get away from the city? Can we count on teleworkers and old folks to choose small towns on a snowy prairie more than 20 minutes from the Interstate, or more than an hour from the nearest major airport and symphony orchestra?
I acted on those ideas, more or less, when I moved to Lead in 2004. The relatively low cost of living, the lack of a state income tax, clean air, low crime, and laid-back attitude all attracted me, a lone wolf who works at home but relies heavily on good Internet access, and obtains income from "abroad."
Lead was struggling when I came here, the Homestake mine having recently closed, and it continues to struggle as the shadows of doubt loom over funding for the Sanford Lab. Actually, I knew nothing of the lab when I first came here; I simply got lucky. A science writer in a town like this! Some sort of coincidence.
The funding question for the lab brings to light an important factor that all Republicans (including myself) must think about: The sword of fiscal austerity can cut both ways. I'd like to see the people involved with the lab look globally for possible sources of funding, not only from governments but from private enterprises. If I'm not mistaken, certain semiconductor devices require prototype testing in environments such as those that prevail at great depths below the earth's surface. We might also keep in mind the possibility that defense-related research could be conducted down there. Other things, such as a geothermal power plant, could also enter into the picture.
Imagination! A key ingredient along the road to utopia, whatever that is.
Rural communities in "backward" states such as South Dakota have one huge trump card: When life gets too hectic, too expensive, and too much of a hassle in general for creative scientists, artists, and entrepreneurs in the traditional "knowledge centers" such as New York, Massachusetts, and California, those folks will, I think, look more and more toward the tundra and hills of this state and others nearby.
As tax burdens mount to the point that economic refugees start to leave American urban centers, where will they go? Asia? South America? South Dakota?
Out West, dare I say, people with vision can still captain their own ships. May it always remain thus.
I have been saying we need a Walmart in Madison for a long time. Finally, someone is agreeing with me. A couple of years ago I needed a zipper to repair an item and was shocked that I couldn't find one in Madison. I too think that people will shop for such things in Madison if they are available, and that other businesses will be built around a "big box store" such as Walmart. Just look at Mitchell and Huron to see what happened there. This would create both jobs and sales tax revenue for our city.
Stan mentions captaining one's own ship. That's one reason I don't like the big-box stores: those stores foster a subservient-employee culture, not an independent-entrepreneur culture. But sticking with that gripe against chains stores is like my saying, "I don't want to have a boss, so instead of applying for jobs this fall, I'm going to stay home, blog, and paint pictures." I like doing my own thing, but my own thing is unlikely to translate soon enough into a viable business model.
Ditto with retail: carving a niche in the local retail market with a small stand-alone store in Madison is unlikley to compete against the big-box stores and the middleman-killing Internet. If I want to start a store, I can try to differentiate by carrying unusual products... but I can't compete locally with a million online vendors, and the more unusual the product, the fewer buyers I'll find locally, and the more likely I'll need to be an online vendor myself (consider I sold my first big painting not locally but to a buyer in NY).
Stan reminds us that South Dakota has exactly what a certain class of independent workers is looking for. We can't be everything to everybody; some people hate open spaces and love million-person cities. Stan, should the governor's economic development team internview you sometime and think about how they can tailor their marketing to draw more freelance writers and other such independent/online contractors like yourself?
...and Wayne, is there any chance the computer generation could find those social outing even more important? After spending the workday at a computer terminal Skyping and chatting with remote clients and coworkers, might they have more craving for live music or arts festivals or other opportunities to gather in person?
"After spending the workday at a computer terminal Skyping and chatting with remote clients and coworkers, might they have more craving for live music or arts festivals or other opportunities to gather in person?"
I think that Richard Florida's research may indicate that the music and arts are a prerequisite for luring that nebulous group known as knowledge workers.
If so, the tension between South Dakota's conservative tendencies and the more freethinking nature of an artistic community may difficult to overcome.
Here we go! I have started a facebook page dedicated to discussing big box retailers in Madison, SD. Citizens for bringing a big retailer to Madison, SD!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Citizens-for-bringing-a-Big-Retailer-to-Madison-SD/218414111509757
Please join and forward to your friends. I hope to organize some discussions and get moving on some action plans!
Cory asks:
Stan, should the governor’s economic development team internview you sometime and think about how they can tailor their marketing to draw more freelance writers and other such independent/online contractors like yourself?
I say:
Guess it couldn't hurt!
LK says:
I think that Richard Florida’s research may indicate that the music and arts are a prerequisite for luring that nebulous group known as knowledge workers. If so, the tension between South Dakota’s conservative tendencies and the more freethinking nature of an artistic community may difficult to overcome.
I say:
Sometimes I miss real-time interaction with the literary folks in a place such as, say, Minneapolis. But not enough to go back there to live.
As a graduate of MHS Class of 66 who has long been interested in these very questions, I am delighted to see this thread and the interesting ideas.
Not having lived in Madison since 1968, but loving it as much as always, and from the far distant view from here in Rapid City, I would say that in Madison's case, the answer is not big box or little box stores. The answer is that thing up on north Egan Avenue. The question is how to turn DSU into an engine of job growth. We are starting to figure out a few tricks along those lines here in RC -- how do you capture some of the intellectual capital at Tech to spin off startup companies, etc.
If I were King of the Madison Chamber of Commerce, I would devote every ounce of available resources into making DSU the area's engine of economic growth. The rest, retail, entertainment, medical, will follow of its own natural market accord. If you have a little machine somewhere that is cooking and cranking, the supply and service businesses will see it and go there.
There used to be a sociologist at SDSU, can't think of his name at the moment, who made a speech in which the central point was that the game is not Madison vs. Howard vs. Arlington, that's a losing proposition. The game is to make it Madison PLUS Howard PLUS Arlington. But getting people to see beyond their own city limit sign takes some doing. Here in the Black Hills there is (finally) an appreciable number who can now see beyond their own county line and recognize that if Lead and Deadwood and Hot Springs all get something going, it's good for all of us.
If you want one other off-the-wall idea, I'd say do whatever it takes to have high schools that send 75% of their graduates to four year colleges and have them equipped so that they can get a degree within five years. Do that one thing and the rest will follow. So here's a fun question: does anyone know how many graduates of MHS or HHS even apply to college? How many get in? How many make it past their sophomore year? How well does the community and how well do the parents and how well do the schools drill it into kids that college is the ticket? Does MHS offer classes in taking the ACT and SAT test? (big college bucks go to kids with higher scores).
It sure is fun to solve all your problems. Let me know if you have any suggestions for ours out here, too. :)
Toward the end of his time in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Karl Mundt proposed some sort of national commission on population distribution. As I recall, the idea was to examine why the middle of the country is emptying out while the coasts are teeming. Something like 50% of the population, or maybe 75%, or some such, lives within 100 miles of the coastline. So Mundt wanted to find out why that is and maybe what could be done to reverse the tide. I do not recall the outcome of that, or whether Mundt's stroke about then meant the work was not completed. It might be a fun project for someone in Madville to visit the Mundt Library and see if there's anything there about this.
The humble little movement that I started two days ago has grown to 28 followers on Facebook. Many have said they want a Hy-Vee. I appreciate all of the feedback and comments.
We know have a new URL. http://www.facebook.com/madisonsd
Come on over and discuss what you think would be a good choice for a large retailer in Madison. I plan to promote the page through local media for the next few weeks to grow our numbers. We will then hold a town hall meeting at one of our local parks or library. Then, after we have organized our ideas, we can go to the local leaders, including the City Commission, LAIC, and Chamber of Commerce.
I appreciate everyone's support. This will be very grassroots, but maybe a year down the road we will see some new businesses in town.
I need spell and grammar check on this blog...especially when typing fast. hahah!
Jody! Fascinating observations! And I would love to search the Mundt archives for info on the study yous peak of. Unfortunately, the Mundt Library is closed for the entire summer for repairs! (University with a doctoral program, and the library is inaccessible all summer—I am not pleased!)
Ashley, get in touch with the Mayor of Deadwood, Frances Toscana (good guy) and ask him to relate the story of the City of Deadwood's venture into the grocery store business. City government bought the grocery store and tried to run it when the private one closed. Frances may be able to relate some lessons that would benefit your effort.