Unlike watching grass grow, watching downtown Ketchum's character change almost by the day has been a sight in breathtaking upheaval.
Retail stores, including Williams Market and several restaurants, have closed while banks and new multi-story commercial buildings with residential space included have popped up like wildflowers after a summer rain.
That something is amiss has been obvious, and not the latest to acknowledge it is the Ketchum City Council, which this week slapped an "emergency" 182-day moratorium on processing applications for certain residential units in the downtown core.
Preserving but also encouraging downtown Ketchum retail activity are not only economic imperatives (retailers account for local option tax revenues) but also vital to the spirit and lively character of a city's center that attracts shopper traffic.
The 8-to-5 nature of banking and commercial offices and second-home residences in downtown buildings imparts a certain nighttime lifelessness that discourages shoppers and visitors. It's also worth noting, and not in jest, that visiting downtown for shopping also can be a nightmare for spenders in need of public restrooms, which aren't readily visible.
Sponsors of several annual events—such as Trailing of the Sheep and Wagon Days—have demonstrated what imagination can do to pumping up downtown activity.
If the City Council uses the 182-day moratorium wisely and creatively, it will seek opinions from retailers past and present about the ordeal of doing business as well as ideas of creative planners who also are troubled about the race to blandness in downtown Ketchum.
