Otterblog

Our story this morning on the trial (lead) balloon being floated by the Arts Council is an interesting metaphor for a lot of other issues that swirl around Winston-Salem. The council has proposed that the county create a taxing district along one of the shopping corridors where an extra property tax would be levied and distributed to nonprofits. Not surprisingly, it’s going nowhere. There are logistical and mechanical and ethical and semantics problems that are virtually insurmountable.

But I think that within this idea is a germ of something much larger, that of a sense of longing for the good ol’ days, when raising money in WS was a lot easier. There were fewer doors to knock on and the owners of those doors were a lot more generous. Kind of like how trick or treatin’ has changed, come to think of it. But those days are gone, and they’re not coming back.
The Arts Council’s lament is a familiar one to lots of legacy industries and institutions. I’ll put newspapers in that category. The explosion of retail along Hanes Mall Boulevard and University Parkway and South Main Street in Kville and L-C road etc. etc. is largely fueled by national and regional companies setting up shop here. They’re not always the best advertisers in the paper. Doesn’t mean they’re bad businesses or the like. They do things differently. Wishing they would change or forcing them to change isn’t the answer. You have to find a third way, which is always the tricky part.

I believe in the importance of the Arts Council, just like I believe in the power of newspapers. But I also believe in the power of the marketplace, which is much less restrained than it was in the past. It often provides cruel truths to those who listen.