by Edith Cody-Rice
This is a book that needed to be written.In his introduction, the author Richard Peddie notes that although there are many books about big cities, he was unable to find any books that paid attention to small towns. He added that small towns face many of the same issues as large cities: too many cars, the negative impact of climate change, rising taxes, quality of leadership, resistance to change among others. He lives in Amherstburg, a town of 22,500 at the southwestern tip of Ontario to which he retired with his wife Colleen after a successful career as a senior executive in a number of companies including a stint as CEO of the Skydome and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.
In Amherstburg, he opened a book store, a candy store, a bakery and a homewares store. He has seen the town revitalize and decided to take a look at other small towns in Ontario. Mr. Peddie acknowledges that he is not a town planner, an academic, nor has he ever served on a town council, but he is a businessman with 41 years of experience and a voracious appetite for reading. Once he turned to planning, he delved deeply into the subject and his book contains a valuable list of resources: books and websites.
Mr. Peddie is a huge fan of walk and bikeability. He touts the importance of heritage buildings, libraries, alcohol in parks (without long lists of posted rules), the arts, independent book stores and the importance of third places – places outside home or work where people gather. It could be a coffee shop, a library, a bookstore or a town square. Third places promote community and alleviate loneliness. He also champions an open attitude to change – YIMBY instead of NIMBY.
To begin research on his book about small towns, Mr. Peddie googled small Ontario towns, then enlisted his nephew to prepare dossiers on likely prospects. He had two essential criteria: the town could not have a population over 25,000 and it had to have an independent bookstore (thank you Ann Shea of Mill Street Books). He whittled the list down to ten and, no surprise to Almontonians, Almonte made that list along with Perth and Picton, the only three communities in eastern Ontario to make it into the book. He visited each of the ten, more as a tourist than as a resident, except for his home base of Amherstburg which is the last town in the book. He investigates what makes these towns great and makes suggestions about how each one could be improved, both for residents and visitors.
Almonte appears to be a favourite although he had never heard of it before he started research for this book. He writes that once he turned into Mill Street (which he mistakenly calls Main Street) he was hooked by the beautiful array of heritage buildings (thank you Stephen Brathwaite) and the best walking tour of any of the great small towns. He also noted our gem of an art gallery (thank you Sanjeev).
One criticism Mr. Peddie raises about all of the small towns is that none of the them takes cycling seriously. I guess he didn’t get to meet Jeff Mills. He disparages sharrows (simple painted lines to indicate road sharing with cars) saying they are dangerous.
For each of his picks, he points out the valuable aspects of the town along with suggestions on how to improve it. His suggestions for Almonte are minimal – aren’t we lucky- but he does suggest we do more turning of businesses “inside out”, that is, allowing commerce to take place on the public street. He is probably not aware of our night markets and other street festivals that bring wares and services (like food vendors) into public spaces, but I do not know to whom he spoke or when.
This is a beautifully produced little gem of a book with lovely pics of chosen towns throughout Ontario. It can also be used as a tourist guide to visit other beautiful Ontario towns. It is pragmatic in its approach and suggestions. Town councillors and administrators as well as local citizens may enjoy his approach and his suggestions. He doesn’t pick his recommendations out of the air; he researched other communities both in Canada and outside to come up with his ideas.
Steve Paikin interviewed Richard Peddie on TVO’s the agenda here.
Published by Black Dog Entertainment
159 pages