A Tale of Two Towns

A Lunchtime talk to Piqua's Rotarians brings up some great questions

This past weekend, I was extended an invitation to talk about this publication to the Piqua Rotary Club. I immediately jumped on the opportunity to go back to a community where I was able to serve in their City Hall and talk about the work being done here at Civic Capacity.

It was good to get to see some old friends and acquaintances and as I relayed in the meeting, it was my first time to really talk to residents in Piqua in the ten years since I have left the staff of the City.

I was happy to remark that things seem to be moving forward in the community. I recalled when I worked in community and economic development in the city, many residents felt that getting an Olive Garden would put Piqua on the map. Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical on the theory that getting a new restaurant would cure what ails the community, but let’s give credit where it is due. It was recently announced that a new Olive Garden is coming to town. It will be placed where the current Red Roof Inn will be demolished. New development, prime location…the new Olive Garden checks some boxes to instill a new sense of pride in the community.

The community is also going to celebrate the new Lock 9 Park Amphitheater downtown later this month as well. And while there will be those who want to measure the return on investment of the development (which is important), it’s also worth knowing whether this development will actually improve the morale of the community. From the outside, the facility looks really attractive. Hopefully, the city can provide programming that will draw folks to the community, and it will become an asset that the city can take pride and can help drive further development.

After my brief talk, I was asked a few questions. One of the most interesting questions was about how Piqua and Troy compared. One might be surprised, but the numbers between the two communities are very similar in many demographic categories. For example, the Census data reported that gross rent in both communities were exactly the same last year. One community had a poverty rate of 14%, the other 10%. One community had population growth of 1.8% from 2020 to 2023, the other 1.9%. One town has a median age of 37.9 years, the other 38.2 years. Believe it or not, there are a lot of similarities.

So, why do the two communities feel so different? Well, two reasons.

Primarily, Troy does a better job of hiding its problems. Many people, who visit Piqua, enter the city on County Road 25-A. Enter the city on that road, and disinvestment tends to stick out. South Main Street from Clark Avenue to Water Street on the city’s south side is dotted with rental housing that seems tired and past its prime. County Road 25-A on the north side of town, isn’t much better. It is full of outdated retail and industrial uses that are prime for redevelopment.

In many respects Troy isn’t much better, County Road 25-A still has a few commercial spots, both north and south of town, that are ready for reinvestment. But Troy’s most troubled housing isn’t on the city’s main drags. As I told the Rotarians, I can give names of streets in Troy that look the same as South Main Street, or South Downing Street in Piqua. It’s not that hard to find those places, if you know where to look.

But perhaps that most pressing reason the two communities feel different is that the two communities have different mindsets. In the eight years I worked in the City of Piqua, those residents consistently looked at Troy as if they were a pretty girl at the dance, jealously fawning over the Homecoming Queen.

Back when I worked in the town, Piqua talked about Troy consistently and not always positively. The town’s residents always compared their town to Troy and ended up feeling bad about it. Troy on the other hand, rarely talks about Piqua. It’s not that Troy doesn’t recognize Piqua exists, there doesn’t seem to be a drive to compare themselves to their northern neighbor.

I asked the Rotarians to recognize that it isn’t healthy to compare the two communities. Piqua will never be Troy; Troy will never be Piqua. While the two communities are very similar, they are different. They have different histories, they have different businesses, they have different challenges. If Piqua wants to play the comparison game, it’s much more healthy to compare Piqua in 2024 to where it was in 2014 or 2004. If the community is in a better place now than it was then, the community is on the right trajectory.

I enjoyed my time with the Piqua Rotary Club and thanked them for their time and attention. This was a wonderful group of neighbors, and I am grateful that they extended an invitation to allow me to speak.

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