“A new chapter and fresh approach to making Wellsville’s residential areas beautiful is urgent”
An OPINION By Dr. Zahi Kassas, Wellsville
Brandi went to her favorite coffee shop every morning. Grabbed her coffee and on to her teaching job. Her favorite cappuccino cost $1.00. A few months later she looked at the price list and realized that the price of her cup of coffee was listed at $1.05. She thought about it a little bit, then shrugged her shoulders when she realized that an additional 5 cents daily would not break the bank. A few months later she noticed the same cup of coffee cost $ 1.10. Brandi could not start her day without chatting with her barista friend while sipping her favorite coffee and an additional 5 cents per day was still going to be manageable. The process went on and on and a few years later Brandi’s cup of coffee was $5.00.
An increase of 5 cents every few months did not seem like a big deal. Brandy forgot that a few years ago, the same cup cost her only one dollar! She wouldn’t even care!
This is what sociologists call :”Creeping Normality”
To better explain creeping normality, it is the gradual acceptance of change that, if it happened suddenly, would be seen as significant or objectionable. The small, incremental and often unnoticed change makes it difficult for individuals and societies to recognize its cumulative effect over time. Examples are global warming, changes in personal health habits, degradation of freedoms…and the evolution in my adopted hometown: Wellsville NY.
Every morning as I commute to work, I notice stacks and stacks of “garbage, scrap and junk” at the sides of some houses in our beloved Wellsville. Day after day, week after week, more junk accumulates, and this does not seem to be picked up by anyone. I am puzzled by the amount of scrap that accumulates around homes. There is always a sofa or a love seat that is thrown away at the curb. When finally, it gets picked up, another sofa and more junk show up.
What do the tenants do on these sofas? Where do they get them from? They seem to have a limitless supply of sofas. But then again, there are countless amounts of bed mattresses, chairs, boxes, shopping carts, more shopping carts, and plenty of garbage. Many of the homes seem to be abandoned all together or at least all maintenance has ended.
Would such scrap attract rats? Germs? Sickness? Olfactory and visual pollution? How about flies, fleas, or bedbugs?
A new normal is creeping in, and Wellsville is looking less charming than it used to be. Main Street may be seeing a revival, but many residential areas have fallen into decay in the twenty-seven years since I moved to Wellsville.
Darkness seems to bring more dangerous elements than in the past. I am often called urgently to Jones Memorial Hospital in the middle of the night to attend for emergencies. Since COVID, driving on Main Street Wellsville at night is like going through a minefield! One needs to be extremely careful not to run over people walking like zombies in the middle of the road or just standing there for no reason nor aim! I won’t even mention bicycles and electric scooters in the dark of the night with no lights or reflective gear. I’ll spare you my thoughts on the real problem with unleashed dogs as well.
This brings me to the dilemma and reason for this letter. We are bound to our humanity. Helping a brother or sister in need is just who we are as a community. I am proud of our ability to show empathy and support to those less fortunate. But no one, rich or poor, should be so openly allowed to participate in this ‘new normal.’
Living in residential areas requires standards that are only as good as how they are enforced. We should all expect that, along with law enforcement, general building code enforcement be a robust part of the village effort to combat the growing blight.
I am kindly reaching out to our county and village leaderships. This cannot be our new normal. There are many thriving businesses (Jones Memorial Hospital included) that are looking to recruit new physicians and staff that need to see in Wellsville what I saw 27 years ago. We have vibrant restaurants, new restaurants, friendly coffee shops that open 7 days per week, a top-notch hospital, and great shopping centers, all while keeping to Wellsville its small village identity. Many of us have great faith in Wellsville and we deserve better.
A new chapter and fresh approach to making Wellsville’s residential areas beautiful is urgent. We can reverse the trend, I know it.
I just fear a time when a new normal creeps in on us and, as we look back, forget how charming and safe Wellsville was.
Zahi Kassas, MD, is a longtime Wellsville pediatrician caring for generations of families.
