Dear Editor,
Since last May, I have been collaborating with Team Marysville creating videos that showcase the many small businesses, historical buildings, optimistic residents and leaders hoping to shape the future of this town.
One thing I have noticed working on these projects is that everyone loves Whit’s in the Uptown. It was the go-to destination for people living in Marysville, and while I understand that Whit’s is a chain, it has been a priceless asset to the Historic District.
Regardless of the details surrounding its closing, surely everybody associated with the business thought long and hard about the superficial significance behind the store’s popularity before deciding that no compromise could be made. Yes, the frozen custard was great, but the old bank made Whit’s a sort of heart to the city’s small-town aesthetic – the perfect marriage of a gorgeous old building with a contemporary store. A place that complemented any trip to the block. Now that it will be moving or dissipating forever, the heart of the city starts to flat-line as another lot remains vacant, its rent too expensive for local business owners.
I have spent nearly a year rigorously producing media that discuss how great the Uptown is. How its unique businesses and consequent personality attract new people from around the state of Ohio. However, this potential is lost when clear incompetence, unprofessionalism and disinterest in improving where we live abound in Marysville.
This community does not need complacent leaders who fail to engage residents with permanent and effective change to its infrastructure, who do not target the conspicuous issues contaminating our identity. I express my endless frustration with the town as a whole, with the poor decisions made regarding public policy, with the evident laziness on display by people too preoccupied to make my hometown a priority.
Anyone who has a stake in this community needs to understand the aspects that make it special – MEVSD, the Uptown Historic District and its growing (now dwindling) number of shops, local entrepreneurs, all of the theater groups in town, the renovation of the Avalon Theater, and people who have relocated here by choice – then pull themselves up by the bootstraps and get to work, because a lot needs to be done to protect small business owners and the area collectively.
It will not be easy, but nothing easy is worth pursuing. No dedicated representative should find their job easy.
Many people work in Marysville but commute because of a general distaste for this city. That is a wake-up call. A great deal of entrepreneurs in the Uptown have become good friends of mine and I want their shops to thrive for years to come and not be painted into a corner to shut down.
Those who do not want to confront the problems in Marysville, who do not want to contribute to what this area needs, who do not feel that anything needs to be done need to move, close, or resign. Marysville’s grass is dying.
Chase Cutarelli
Marysville High School senior