Monday, December 29, 2008

Boycott Dayton? Not Much of a Sacrifice.

The boycott Dayton concept seems silly or extreme, but it's actually pretty easy to do. The average person is already doing it, but uninentionally.

Why would one need or want to go into town? I can only think of a few reasons: jury duty, legal issues, or some form of specialized entertainment.

Culture vultures have to come downtown for the "SOB" & theatre. A somewhat different audience comes downtown for Broadway road shows and Cityfolk stuff. Then there are the sports fans for Dragons games.

People who are live/original music fans would have to come into town as the big club concentration is in the Oregon, bleeding into downtown a bit. This is mostly a singles/couples/young adult thing, with some older folks depending on the music and venue.

A subset of the music/culture vulture scene are the Cityfolk and Celtic festivals (for a more general audience) plus the Dave Hall Plaza music festivals, which are narrowcasting to certain music niche markets.

Relevant only to yer humble host are the gay bars, which is a very specialized form of nightlife.

Suburban geneological hobbyists would be using the downtown library to do their research (I use it for history stuff, but I notice folks using it mostly for geneology research).

Beyond this, for the average person with a family, who doesn't go to the SOB or out to listen to bands, or aren't into minor league sports, they are most likely going to be staying at home, or close to home, with little reason to go into town. They aren't really boycotting Dayton, there's just nothing there for them, or nothing they can't get closer to home.

So there is no reason to travel into Dayton, boycott or no boycott.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's a lot to be sad about in your pair of posts. I spent much more time than the guy deserved clicking around trying to make sense of it.

The problem is much bigger than one father with mis-directed anger, it's that Dayton has been a victim of one of the most successful boycotts in the history of boycotts. No one has been going there for decades.

Unknown said...

Jeffery - you just listed a bunch of reasons for people to come downtown, and then you say in one general sentence - there is no reason to come downtown. I think it would be more accurate to say that for some people there is no reason to come downtown, and for others there are plenty of reasons to come downtown.

Some people never come downtown, others make it down here a few times per year (Dragon games, Riverscape festivals, etc.), others come a couple times per month (theater, dinner, etc.) and then others may come every week (bar scene, gay scene, live music, etc.).

It isn't accurate to simply say there is no reason to come downtown.

Anonymous said...

I love your practical comments. I clicked around that dude's site. His argument is over simplistic, but I couldn't help feeling sorry for him.

My wife and I won't be boycotting Dayton, but there aren't as many things for us to do there since we've added children to the mix.

Anonymous said...

For 74ta455--
1. Boonshoft Museum of Discovery
2. Children's Garden at Wegerzyn Metropark.
3. "Skate the Scape" at Riverscape
4. 2nd St. Public Market on a Saturday morning: see the pets at the Humane Society kiosk; get a balloon toy from the resident clown; get a piece of tasty bread with Amish butter
5. Visit the Wright Bicycle Shop and become a Junior Ranger.
I'm sure there are other things for the whole family to enjoy--just give it a try!

Anonymous said...

These are once or twice a year reasons to go downtown and are done with trepidation by most suburbanites. "Downtown" is a state of mind as much as it is a destination; Dayton is critically lacking in the former and is barely satisfactory in the latter, and knee-jerk boosterism isn't going to alter the situation.

Anonymous said...

To add to Metromark's list:
K-12 gallery and the youth programs at the Art Institute -- which both provide regular, even weekly reasons to be downtown.

Jefferey said...

I totally forgot about the 2nd Street Market, probably because I go to the Findlay Market. But yeah, 2nd Street Market would be a reason to go into town on Saturday mornings.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad suburbanites stay away, frankly. Keep their Thomas Kinkaid/Christian rock/Lladro figurine-loving asses off my sidewalks (remember them, Laz-Y-Boy?).

Anonymous said...

metromark: We do all of those things. Except Skate the Scape. The kids are too little and I just fall on my ass and get in the way. It's still a nice atmosphere down there. Saturdays at the market are great. A lot of vendors love getting the kids to talk. Ok, so there are plenty of things for a family to do. I was just thinking we go to the bars a lot less and don't go to as many shows. :-)

Anonymous said...

Yes, suburbanites will 'keep their asses of Dayton's sidewalks'. By the look of things [Look out your Dayton window.] everyone keeps their asses off Dayton's sidewalks. That seems to be the problem.

kevin said...

What Billy said.

What is it people accomplish by announcing problems over and over, hoping that the motivated will step up and solve them. Is this their part in the issue? Seems to be the easier part to play.

Here's to Dayton, through its energy, that will continue to hold events and bring the area's diversity together. Ignorance about the different feeds bigotry and hate.

Thanks for the post.