Keep the Hill vital

The Fall for the Arts festival is this weekend, and hordes of people from all over the region will be descending on the Hill for a fun-filled day of entertainment, food and shopping. The event gives us chance to reflect on how others may view us, especially those who are coming for the first time or who only visit our shopping district occasionally for special events.

The visitor must be struck by the spirit and enthusiasm of our community, evidenced in everything from the booths and exhibits sponsored by local institutions to the hundreds of names etched in wood and stone at the Top of the Hill park and Jenks playground. In ways large and small, we are revealed to be community that has always known how to be proactive, how to throw its weight behind something and marshal the necessary support to make it happen.

The visitor may be surprised by the number of empty storefronts along the avenue -- more than there were last year, and especially striking along the upper Hill. This December will mark the one-year anniversary of the Gap's closing, with no word on a prospective tenant. The former Fleet offices on Highland Avenue stand empty. Artisans on the Avenue is moving into the former location of Chestnut Hair, but this does not represent a net gain in merchants. La Vie Creatif is closing.

The unused space will seem incongruous in the face of all the vitality apparent on the Hill. We are very fortunate to have the number and variety of shops that we do, from high-end antiques to shoe repair, family-owned businesses to national chains. Our shopping district is neither a collection of boutiques geared to visitors and bereft of services nor a transplanted suburban mall. It has a distinct character all its own -- one that can only be maintained if the avenue remains within reach of a wide spectrum of merchants and "on the radar" of those looking for a place to set up shop. The best efforts of the CHBA to attract new business must be matched by a commitment from property owners to work with businesses in keeping our avenue as healthy as it can be.