By Katie Ochs
?Manchester, Michigan is a jewel of a community, tucked away in the Southwest corner of Washtenaw County. It?s famous for its annual ?Chicken Broil,? and works to preserve its precious heritage and scenic beauty.? That?s how the town?s website describes this village of 2,200. However, many people say Manchester has fallen behind the times, and its focus on preserving the past has wreaked havoc on present and future job opportunities in the village.
Several businesses have shuttered their stores in the past two years. The town?s two auto dealers have shut down. Pilot Industries, an automotive component supplier, closed its Manchester factory, and several other component suppliers, like Manchester Plastics, Collins Aikman, Inc., and Manchester Tool and Die have followed suit.
The town?s only upscale restaurant, Dan?s River Grille, has also closed its doors. Even the town?s newspaper, which has always been locally owned and operated, was sold to the Heritage Newspapers chain. News of the potential closing of automotive parts company manufacturer Visteon, in Saline and Milan, have also sent shockwaves through the community.
Residents of this rural village depend heavily on service industry and blue-collar jobs. Nearly 90 percent of the residents have graduated high school, and nearly half of the households have incomes exceeding $50,000 per year. Its school district, with about 1,100 students draws, pupils from throughout the southwestern portion of Washtenaw County. However, regardless of these positive scholastic statistics, the census figures show that less than a quarter of the residents have college degrees. Thus, when local blue-collar businesses close, a ripple effect occurs through the community.
?Compounding the problem for this town is the further urbanization of Washtenaw County,? stated lifelong resident John Hochstetler, a former school board member and recent State Senate contender. ?The flight of urban people to rural areas has gobbled up our farm land, which further reduces our agricultural base. As a direct result, our two farm equipment dealers have closed. Both K&W Equipment and SK Sales have shut their doors in the last two years.?
?If we are no longer collecting taxes from these closed businesses, the tax burden is shifted to homeowners,? Hochstetler added. ?Property taxes get higher and higher, and that squeezes out the long time residents, because it becomes too expensive to live here. It is a downward spiral. The businesses are leaving, the long time residents are leaving, and all we have left is a bed and breakfast community with Ann Arbor transplants who thought they were moving to country club place. At the end of the day, they are slowly destroying our community.?
To combat the issue of a declining business district, the village council has formed a Downtown Development Authority. The group hopes to come up with a plan that will make the village a more attractive place to set up new businesses.
Business owner and authority chairman Karl Racenis says the task is a difficult one.
?It is hard to lure new businesses to the village,? said Racenis. ?Especially when the village council has historically placed a greater emphasis on preserving the past.?
Historically, Manchester has been a prime location for automotive suppliers, but declining auto sales and huge cut backs by domestic automakers have led to numerous plant closings, which has hurt the supplier industry.
?Many Americans think it is sophisticated or chic to drive imported cars. They cry crocodile tears at the announcement of domestic plant closings as they are driving their Honda Accords to work,? says John Ochs, a retired public relations director of Ford Motor Company who lives near Manchester. ?Here in Michigan, our governor was welcoming Toyota to Ann Arbor during the same week that she was mourning the announcement of the giant Ford Wixom plant closing. No one should be surprised that our two local auto dealerships as well as our supplier businesses closed in the same year. People don?t seem to understand the linkage.?
Despite the bad economic news and the increasing tax burden, many residents like the lower paced, quiet, and relative absence of violent crime lifestyle that Manchester has to offer. Many residents say that aside from its economic troubles, Manchester is a very peaceful and rural setting, where everyone knows each other, and old way life, forgotten in the great Metropolises of our nation, is still present.
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