How is the character of a town preserved?

Question

In towns like Sanford FL there is so much history and local color. The first African American school built after slavery is still standing there...isn't this awesome! In other words, what happens when a largely working class town stands on prime realestate and new affluent development seems moving in all around it? How can the character of the town be preserved and what happens to local people?

Answer 1

I think it would depend on the people who were there originally. If they want to keep the character of their town then it would be up to them!!!

Answer 2

Well... it seems that the character of a town is preserved in any of the following:

The people
The buildings
The industry
The landmarks
The ancient documents
The written history
The spoken history and legends
The local groups that desire to preserve it

Without the desire of the locals (and this includes older locals) the history of a town will last only until urban growth catches up.

The character of a town is lost when new people sweep in and bring their own history and disregard what was before. The larger suburbia has no character because it is a mass of constant motion, with most individuals never meeting or knowing their neighbors. It seems that today most things are very temporary (including relationships) and as the years pass it becomes harder and harder to find something that is worth preserving.

Answer 3

I think local laws need to be placed to keep too many changes that will slowly take away the local culture and color. In Santa Fe, for example, there are laws saying every building must be made of adobe. And it definatly keeps a cetain atmosphere because of it. There is Ihop, Target, and Walmart, but yes, they have red clay exteriors.

Some other towns, some small New England towns, pass laws that ban chain stores. This allowes all their "mom and pop" stores to stay in business and the tourists come back for the "local flavor"

Sometimes it just takes a lot of community events and pride to make people feel connected to their town or city and want to do anything they can to better it and make it MORE culture-like, not destroy it. Starting a "Save (enter your towns name here" organization, even with no money, may quickly grow into a powerful force that can even work with the local politicians.

Answer 4

Well - I preserve cucumbers in vinegar.

Who is this character you want to put in vinegar?