What's the difference?

Yesterday I visited the Coventry and Murray Hill area in order to compare and contrast it to the Ashtabula Harbor.  There were some serious differences.  The Harbor at home seems to be good at the restaurant business.  We have a successful barbeque shop, diner, coffee house, pizza parlor and more upscale chophouse.  What we do not have is the daytime foot traffic that I observed during my Cleveland exploration.  In Ashtabula there are very few retail shops to walk in and out of.  Most people drive down in the evenings to have dinner but do not do much else.  In addition to my community service at the Garage Sale Bonanza, I am also working with the Ashtabula Harbor Development Association.  I took my trip to Cleveland so I could discuss with my mentor some of the differences I saw and how we can learn from a more successful area.  Both Coventry and the Ashtabula Harbor have residences in the surrounding areas.   However, based on the recent census, the average income for Ashtabula and level of employment is alarming low.  But, money is not everything.  I addition, I think that the Harbor suffers because we have a lesser population density.  Ashtabula survives on our summer tourists, not all year round traffic.  One proposal the Ashtabula Harbor Development Association is working on is connecting our bike trail that runs through the country to the Harbor, bringing more people to the street.  Other things to work on are: outdoor seating at restaurants, evening hours at our coffee house, more retail shops as well as an ice cream store or bakery (which I will discuss in another post).  In addition, we need to take advantage of our location.  We have boat traffic and nearby public beaches that can be developed to help our community prosper.