Dodging high-speed traffic, peering into dusty abandoned storefront windows, gingerly side-stepping unsavory panhandlers, admiring the latest graffiti while chewing on a slice of cheap greasy pizza. Isn’t this what we love about shopping on High Street?Campus Partners wants to revamp our beloved den of shady college commerce and turn it into a “nice” neighborhood where students (particularly alumni) and parents can spend a nice afternoon browsing through charming little retail stores. This sounds like a lovely idea, but realistically, the effects of these proposed changes are likely to destroy what makes High Street our street – dirty, dangerous and an experience in and of itself. For example, Campus Partners want to bring in more retailers and improve High Street’s market potential. But new, expensive stores, whether or not they are national chains or individual retailers, will undoubtedly raise the cost of living for students seeking off-campus housing. Rents will go up in the immediate area while the quality of the housing itself is not likely to undergo any significant improvements. Is this a good deal for the students? Although the shopping close by might be better, students would not have enough money to buy anything at the new stores. This is not to say that it wouldn’t be nice to see a new business now and again, but actually planning a new look for campus-area High Street seems to directly undermine its current flavor. High Street is an unplanned area which grew out of individual businesses taking advantage of affordable rents and catering their businesses to the student population. We do not want to see sterile “mommy and daddy” stores full of “gifts” and “collectibles” – we like our cheap, used CD exchanges and smoke shops even if they are not always visually attractive.If the goal of Campus Partners is really to improve High Street for the students, they must make sure that the new businesses they draw are really student-oriented. No gift shops, no “cute” restaurants, no expensive bookstores. We want a 24-hour diner that serves pancakes and eggs. We need a cheap food co-op where they sell good bread and grocery essentials. Or how about something more important than any new business: more emergency blue lights to make the area safe at night? It’s not that we students wouldn’t appreciate if High Street were cleaner or prettier or easier to negotiate on foot. It’s just that we don’t want the same fate to befall our campus as has befallen so many schools across the country – namely, that the focus of the area turns outwards instead of inwards and targets parents and visitors instead of the students. Campus Partners must recognize that we do not have a lot of money to spend. In bringing in new businesses, they must ensure that they do not unfairly raise the cost of living for off-campus students and that they do not select enterprises that are useless to students. While visiting prospective college campuses before deciding on Ohio State, I saw too many schools whose campus areas were decidedly focused on parents while students had nowhere to shop. High Street, and the student-oriented concepts which created it, were what drew me to OSU in the first place.High Street has unlimited potential as a commercial area. But we must remember that what makes it fun for visitors is that it is not targeted at them: it is targeted at us students. If they wanted to shop somewhere that catered to them, they could go to a local mall. Instead, they already come to today’s High Street to experience its student-oriented style. I hope that after the changes made by Campus Partners, future students and visitors will be able to appreciate the same kind of unique and comfortable atmosphere as we do now.
Jessica Weeks’ column appears on Fridays.
