On January 18 2007, tourism consultant Roger Brooks of Destination Development presented his creative vision for downtown Helena at a workshop sponsored by Helena's Downtown Visioning Partnership.
As reported by John Harrington of the Independent Record, Brooks had this to say about historic Last Chance Gulch: "I would never call downtown a gulch, no offense. 'Gulch' is right down there with 'ditch.'"
Sorry, Mr. Brooks, but offense is taken. Last Chance Gulch is a proud name and a proud place, in spite of nearly being destroyed by greed and Urban Renewal the 1970s. If Brooks had made his ill-considered comment a century ago, he would have been lucky to have been ridden out of town on a rail. As it was, Brooks was reportedly told to his face that he didn't "...know his ass from a hole in the ground."
Brooks' visit was sponsored by Helena's Downtown Visioning Partnership [defunct as of May 2007], who continue to champion the blocking of Last Chance Gulch by the ghastly Walking Mall. Do Downtown Visioning even care about Helena's unique heritage? After Brooks' embarrassing visit, I have to wonder.
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3 comments:
[This reply sent via email from Helena native Mike Holmes, and posted here at his request]:
Well duh. Peddling the obvious.
I suppose they should rename it "Last Chance Boulevard"?
Yes, "gulch" is downscale but this was a frontier mining town, not
Paris. Also it is unique and has its own quirky charm.
That's the point, Brooks, no other town -- even old mining towns -- has
such a prominent thoroughfare called "Gulch". It is memorable, even
classic.
As for street names being inconsistent, every town of any age has that.
I doubt it really confuses tourists so long as the signage is large
enough. Plus you can append the "big name" (Last Chance Gulch) to the
other name if you really need to. The big problem is lousy signage,
usually. Too small and hard to read/see at night or not placed in
visible locations.
This cluck is peddling snowballs to the Eskimos, but since he's an
out-of-town "consultant" costing big bucks, he must be a genius, right?
After all, who knew that "leisure travelers" were the real key to
growth?
Now maybe he'll write a big expensive report noting that one of Helena's
drawbacks is that it is 200 miles from anyplace else and difficult to
fly into on a major airline. And 500-800 miles from any major city. That
will be an eye opener!
hehe...good observations, Mike via Ken.
Helena needs to stay "Helena", as much as it can. I was raised here and remember the disaster of Urban Renewal, notably the destruction of the Marlow. After years of having to find work elsewhere, I came home to be with family, having thrown up my hands at the craziness out there. I just wanted to come home. But home ain't home anymore.
The reality is, Helena has been "discovered" and things are gonna get real ugly, real fast. It is real sad. They blocked off the street because of the fads of the design "experts" of the 70s, and now they want to unblock the street because of the fads of the design "experts" of the 00s. What...then they gonna go do the same thing 30 years from now again? Man.
No one ever looks at the real issue, which is that imposed program of "those who know best" never works in terms of design or use. I speak as someone having a Masters in Landscape Architecture as well as having been a Senior Planner for a firm in Hawaii during my exiled years.
You have to base design on what the people who USE the site want and need. The walking mall was created because they wanted to "revitalize" downtown, and now two opposing camps want to close or open it for the same reason. No one is looking at the fact that the place developed that way historically because the population was there...and it ain't there any more.
I tell you how the old Montana way of thinking I grew up with would be. Don't throw away money on a bunch of stupidity. And if you gotta build something, build a gas station and quick-mart down by the old federal building (well, kind of "old" haha, another waste of money) so that the people who live up the gulch can get gas and milk without having to drive three miles or more.
And save your money on "consultants" because all those stores they are building out on Custer, giant stores and a mall too I hear, are being served by a little two-laned road and a narrow bridge that ices up with a signal light on either end (how dumb is that?)...they better save the money they want to blow downtown and build a better road and bridge down there by Shopko...that is already a disaster. Poor old Eddie Barbeau would be rolling in his grave, now that his house, barn, etc. are gone. That area out there is a total mess, and obviously the big bucks that built those stores are going to depend on the taxpayer to build the roads to service their monstrosities. man, it's just pitiful.
I used to visit Helena every summer when I was a child and I remember how much I loved Last Chance Gulch - even in the late 80's, early 90's it was almost a fairy tale to even hear about it. I think the word "Gulch" added to that tremendously. Keep the name, remember the history.
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