HOW many people drive through Featherston and not stop?
I would hope that a reasonable number do stop at the cafes and cheese shop, and these are attractors that make people want to wander elsewhere.
But, as residents were commenting at a meeting with South Wairarapa District Council on Monday night, the town itself isn't attractive to the stranger's eye. Open space sounds good, but it isn't when the public is expecting to see commerce.
And so we have this interesting catch-22 where the council weighs up what is attractive to the residents - that being the proposed town square, due to start in November - and what works for retailers.
For commercial operations, shops both sides of a street is probably the best case scenario.
Visible commerce makes people want to stop. Arguably, an attractive town square may also prompt travellers to stop, then wander to shops, but really the town square is for the benefit of residents. I'm one of them and I like the idea, I really do. But I can see it's for beautification rather than commerce. It basically means we'll have a moderately more attractive town where tourists won't stop.
Why have Greytown and Martinborough succeeded?
The mayor put it best when she says it depends on the property owners - which in Greytown's case includes Greytown Trust Lands Trust, a useful outfit to have on your side.
In Featherston, we have the diabolical situation of a building landlord who has amassed a collection of buildings like a monopoly player hoards houses on Old Kent Rd. He might be equally as trapped in the situation as the rest of the town, but when you own commercial properties I believe you have a moral responsibility to action - even if that is to call it a day.
I agree one thing has to end - the shingle pit open space on the main street. You can't reasonably run a business opposite what looks like a quarry. But I debate whether it will suit the mentality of the shopper, used to plenty of options, on both sides of the street.