Weir sees First Impressions report

The Choctaw Plaindealer

What a person sees, feels or experiences when entering a town for the first time may be the deciding factor of whether or not they will continue through the town or ever come back.

A "First Impressions" team from the Mississippi State University Community Action Team visited Weir in November 2008 to observe the town from a visitor's viewpoint.

Mayor Lee James said he was happy for the opportunity for the team to visit Weir.

"Happy for opportunity. Small towns have challenges both legally and financially," said James.

Chance McDavid, MSU Community Development Project manager, said First Impressions is designed to help communities, especially with curb appeal.

"Weir is one of the smallest communities we have done," said McDavid.

He told the group, of about 10 people at the presentation, that it's important for a town to sell itself and asked, "How does you community stack up."

He said a town never knows who is in your town and why. McDavid suggested for Weir to think about what assets they, how they wants others to experience it and what kind of community do you want to become.

Providing an emotional experience with great visuals is what people want to experience, according to McDavid.

He described the report as a snapshot of a tourist perspective of Weir.

When the team visited Weir they visited many places including downtown and the school.

In their report, it discusses the positive and negative aspects of community entrances, downtown, retail shops, healthcare, housing, religion, residents, public infrastructure and tourism/recreation.

Some of the team's highlights of Weir, from the report, include:

¥ Rural character with a compact Downtown of a 1/2 square mile.

¥ Good highway signs leading into Weir and street signs in Weir.

¥ Good anchor building at the first 4-way stop sign.

¥ Vacant buildings with entrepreneurship opportunities.

¥ Streets in good condition.

¥ Plenty of sidewalks that could be repaired and used. McDavid said sidewalks are a great asset to have in a small town.

¥ Safe schools.

The "First Impressions" team suggests the following as obstacles/challenges facing Weir, in their report:

¥ Litter along the highway and in town on some of the streets.

¥ Need to renovate the main building at the first 4-ways top sign in Weir. The group attending said this building used to be a grocery store and Masonic lodge.

¥ Many vacant buildings and some that are eyesores.

¥ No striping on some of the streets in Weir.

¥ No health clinic and could not tell there was a dentist in town.

¥ Limited tax base.

McDavid listed the businesses in town and was impressed that Weir had a grocery store.

"Ya'll are very fortunate with 550 folks to have a grocery store," McDavid.

The team noticed a lot of green space but no parks or anything similar. McDavid said creating a park would be a good asset to the town. James said the Town of Weir has tried to make a walking park across from Town Hall but the land is locked.

McDavid said having good structural sidewalks is an asset to a small community and suggested fixing the sidewalks.

Alan Bates, executive director of Choctaw County Economic Development, suggested connecting the existing sidewalks to make a walking track.

On tourism, McDavid suggested capitalizing on the Col. Weir Home or Weir House as community members call it. He said he did not know that Col. Weir is buried in the Weir Presbyterian Church cemetery until he found it online. McDavid suggested using that as a tourism tool for Weir.

Housing in Weir is very established with a variety of homes, according to McDavid. He said the apartments looked nice but the team did notice junk cars and areas of overgrowth.

Some of McDavid's ideas to "bring life into town" are to add curb appeal by new paint, adding benches, flowers and decorative trashcans and using decorative street signs.

He said the town could start small and tie the element s together to work on bigger projects.

McDavid said some bigger projects are restoring older buildings and painting murals on empty walls of buildings that are open to the eye.

He said community improvement requires vision and community support.

"You have to have help. It takes a town to do it," said McDavid.

Lila Chandler, of Weir, issued a challenge to the Town of Weir.

"I have $5 or $6,000 left from renovating the Weir House. I've been saving it for a project. I'll challenge the Town, if they will match it, we'll get started," said Chandler.

After the presentation, James said Weir does not sell itself. He mentioned that Weir has a 1980 Miss America, Roy Oswalt- a major league baseball l player and a couple of NFL players. He said Weir used to have parades and festivals.

"The challenge is to motivate the people," said James.

Before leaving, McDavid challenged the Town of Weir.

"If you can rally the troops and have a minimum of 50 people at another (First Impression) meeting, I'll have Jeremy do rendering of the corner building," said McDavid.

With that challenge, McDavid said if they can get 50 people to come to a meeting, then he will have a landscape artist at MSU to a rendering of what the two-story building, at the 4-way stop in Weir, can look like if renovated and landscaped.