Invest in eye-sores to create icons.

• Author: Jaehrling, Norman
• Position: Thinking Big in Small Places - Town planning

There is a magnificent new sign that now marks the entrance to the Bruce Mines marina. This project is an important and symbolic accomplishment for this small community. While the marina infrastructure itself is somewhat humbled by its grand new entrance piece, this simple sign has "raised the bar" and seeded a new a standard for this small community.

In our quest to envision and create new economic opportunities for our small communities, we sometimes neglect the simple fundamentals like, setting high standards for the appearance and image of our communities.

This particular fundamental is especially vital to communities seeking to retain or grow their tourism potential. It is unfortunate and frankly perplexing to see small communities that are either seeking or investing precious resources into tourism infrastructure and marketing, while at the same time tolerating dilapidated buildings, cluttered and confusing streetscapes, timeworn signs and trash-laden yards in their most prominent districts.

Great outcomes can be achieved by simply adopting and enforcing simple, but firm standards for properties and signage in communities. We need to learn from icons such as Walt Disney who, among many things, discovered that delivering consistent and impeccable cleanliness was an absolute minimum standard that visitors to his attractions deserved and expected. Cleanliness is as much a part of the Disney experience as Mickey Mouse.

The community of Spanish is one of the North Shore's own icons in this regard. Those who travelled through this community just a few decades ago may recall a picture of neglected buildings and a general state of disrepair. It is very obvious that the community has long since adopted a new standard; which now leaves travellers with an immediate, positive impression and visual invitation to stop in. The storefronts are fresh, the sidewalks are clean and decorated with planters, and brightly painted structures and crisp signs line the community's main streets. It is nice. Actually, it is the very least that travellers not only expect, but demand.

High standards can be as contagious as their opposite extremes. In Bruce Mines, the seeds are already taking root. A few neglected storefronts are being cleaned up and a few new signs of comparable quality to the marina gateway have already appeared on the main street. The local marina committee...