Friday, October 9, 2009

The sounds of nostalgia...



A city tries to put a feeling of 'olden days' back into it's busy lifestyle... now we can hear the clip clop of hooves, as a surrey shuttles giddy passengers up and down the streets of downtown Muscatine. The beautiful draft horses prance in unison, where trolley cars delivered their passengers all over a once bustling city.

A busy river port was the scene, back in the day, as passengers and product flowed up and down her course day after day...back in the day...as the whistle of an arriving river boat stirred curiosity from the locals. Bits of these nostalgic scenes are trying to show their past splendors on the weekends...BUT...as with every city, there are always those that have to hover like a black cloud over a parade...

Some have complained that the hooves and wheels of the horses and buggy are scuffing the asphalt...white scuff marks leave ghostly paths and hints of the trail left by the weighty beasts...WHY!!! There is always someone living under that dark cloud of doom that wants to ruin the parade for everyone else.

Our beautiful, historic downtown is a ghost of it's past splendor. Slum apartments, owned by deadbeat landlords, have brought in the bad elements that wander the streets, making it uneasy for older generations to safely walk the streets. They take up parking space needed for retail, leave their trash everywhere and allow their kids to run wild.

Typical of so many downtowns, but maybe the economy will do a turnaround and bring life back to this beautiful old downtown of my youth...we have elections coming up, maybe bringing in the new and out with the old will help.