“People are moving to Wellsville all the time”
A COLUMN By Kathryn Ross
It annoys me when I hear people complaining about Wellsville – there are no jobs, everyone is poor and needy or a druggy, there’s nothing to do, it costs too much to live here, taxes are too high, roads are bad, there is nothing for kids to do. It just all overwhelms me because I have mostly been in a profession where I see what has been done in Wellsville and how much is being done.
I’ll never forget standing in a checkout lane in a local grocery store when the clerk, after learning the person ahead of me had recently moved here, asked, “Why would you want to live in Wellsville?”
My immediate thought was, “Why wouldn’t you want to live in Wellsville?”
I know that ALSTOM Air PreHeater has recently laid off a number of workers, so people have jumped to the conclusion that it means the plant is floundering. Air PreHeater has been part of this village since the beginning of the 20th century. Over the last 100 plus years the fate of the industry has fluctuated with the economy. There have been lean times and boon times. My own father worked there for 42 years.
Air PreHeater, Lungstrom ARVOS or whatever name you know it by, has been in the forefront of the energy business throughout the century. Most recently, when it faced a decline in their product, they found a way to reinvent themselves. They found a way to fit their expertise into the growing wind turbine industry.
I’m sure this current downturn will turn around and that the powers who run the business will once again find a niche they can fill. Afterall, I am a PreHeater daughter.
But Air PreHeater is not the subject of this column. It is just one of the examples which suffers from the general degradation of the village.
I can’t see how people can say the village is dying due to a couple of empty storefronts. There are always empty storefronts. But recently there have been numerous ribbon cuttings for new businesses – such as the Shop At Main, the Wandering Nyx, The Book Cellars, most recently the Pot Spot and the BD HQ, and, Stillwater and The Arena. That’s a lot of new businesses in a very short time.
We also can’t forget that Runnings chose to come to Wellsville and that it has become one of the best local supporters for local fundraisers.
I often hear people say that there is nothing for kids to do in Wellsville. True there are no soda shops where teens can hang out or lounge in a parking lot. But to say there is nothing for kids to do is shortsighted and ignorant. There are numerous sports activities offered by the school. There are several dance studios. The YMCA offers numerous programs and sports activities. There are boy scouts and girl scouts, an active Little League, football and softball for both boys and girls. The David A. Howe Library offers a plethora of free activities from story time for pre-schoolers to programs for teens and young adults. There are also businesses that specialize in computer games for those who lean in that direction. If a kid can’t find something to do in Wellsville, then they either aren’t looking hard enough or they don’t want to.
People are moving into Wellsville all the time. I’m always meeting individuals and young couples and older couples who have just moved here. Compared to the rest of the world, I’ve been told that buying a house here is very reasonable. They comment too that compared to other places, Wellsville is quiet, safe and a pleasant place to live. Newcomers often say that a big attraction is that the people are friendly, not to mention we have an exceptional hospital.
For those who think finding a job is hard. Well, it is, and it isn’t. What do you want to do? Because I think what is missing, is not the jobs, but the work ethic. People aren’t automatically deserving of a job. Nothing is going to be handed out on a silver platter. Excuse the cliché, but you have to work for it. That means training or education.
In other words, there is plenty to do in Wellsville and it is a good place to live and work. Just look around.
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Kathryn Ross is a lifetime Wellsville resident, journalist, writer, and community activist. She pens the weekly “Golden Girl” column and can be reached anytime, kathr_2002@yahoo.com
