@Sm Potatoes - Followup with Tom Lonergan and Mass Exodus on Main Street

(cross-posted from www.smallpotatoesblog.com)

C’mon, Small Potatoes, when will you wake up and understand that Main Street needs more than your sloppy surveys and self-righteous facebook posts that you are eating at Vasilis (although I’m glad you do come here occasionally, I don’t need to see the pictures of your half-nibbled plate that might make people think you support Main Street).

Look what happened this week alone: Chloes and Popkorm Mama both announced via facebook (screen grabs in the gallery attached to this post) that they are closing up shop!

While I really hate to see any business leave Main Street, I can’t blame these two.  Chloe’s in particular, will be a real loss.  They’ve been here awhile, really tried to hit a stride, and for better or worse, according to Tom Lonergan’s infamous survey, people in the neighborhood really do want an independent coffee shop.  I guess they don’t want it enough…or wait, that survey doesn’t mean much because maybe there aren’t enough customers in the neighborhood to support them, and Main Street needs to figure out how to draw customers from outside of Pleasantville.  (Sorry if I sound like a broken record…)

I care about the viability of Main Street as much as just about anyone.  I may no longer have a storefront on Main Street, but I did, and I founded the KDP, and I chose to live here, raise my kids here, and we still operate our business here from home.  I just care.  So, I had a chance to sit down with Tom Lonergan and talk about Main Street, the next steps for his survey, and how he feels about the pending game of Monkey in the Middle I described in an earlier post.  

If you checked out my last blog post on Patch, you know that I set out to ask him some pretty tough questions.  As usual and expected, my meeting with Tom was informative, interesting and the time passed quickly!  Also as expected, his “official” responses were drier than his quippy conversation.  But, I’ll take what I can get and see how you respond:

As for the website, promised since he started, he promises that he’ll have something to show people soon.  He says that much of the back-end work is complete, will include a bucket for each of the City’s commercial centers, an events calendar, sections to highlight the City’s incentive programs, search engines for available properties, information on demographics, major employers, housing, schools, transportation links, and a bucket dedicated to the Biotech industry.

When asked about Kentlands Downtown being squashed by Crown and Watkins Mill, and if it worries him, he says that he’s “thrilled by the new commercial development at both Crown and Watkins Mill, not to mention the fresh life that will be breathes into Lakeforest Mall by its new owners.”  Huh?  Well, i guess he HAS to say that.  He went on to say that the new investment means new revenue, shopping and jobs for Gaithersburg residents.

I get that, but what about property values here in Kentlands/Lakelands, Tom?  What will happen when all of these Main Street shops leave?  He commented, “I believe that a neighborhood as beloved, as charming, and as successful as the Kentlands will always have a style and allure of its own.”  Tom!  Clearly that allure isn’t working!!!  He said he is working on some ways to enhance the aesthetic of Main Street.

Does it bother Tom that Crown and others are wooing our favorite businesses away?  Not really.  He says it hardly surprises him.  It doesn’t surprise me, either.  Tom says, “Great businesses are always being courted by other centers and other towns.  It’s always nice to see businesses that start within, and almost always become synonymous with, a particular neighborhood, to stay where they are and thrive, but I also recognize the realities of commerce and competition.”

He also mentioned that he is planning to open up a Main Street survey to others in the near future, but wasn’t able to give a firm date.  I think this is critical to get feedback from people who don’t live here.  What would bring them here?  A new independent coffeeshop…oh, wait…