Commentary: Williamsburg is ripe for innovation, if we could invest in intergenerational solutions – Daily Press

Williamsburg is an absolutely fascinating place to live, and the dichotomy of history and modernity is one of our most obvious challenges. But once you settle in here, you begin to see beyond the contrasts more clearly than just giggling at a person wearing breeches while pumping gasoline.

We are a well-educated, affluent, older community. Years ago, I wrote a column for the Daily Press’ Williamsburg section titled “Land of a Thousand Mercedes” about how well-off Williamsburg seems to be. It has only become more affluent, although not to all pockets. Because of my community connection work, I see that we need both innovation and investment, and a focus on generational demographics at play here, which are truly unique.

Here are some questions that I hear leaders grappling with continually:

How do we give tourists a memorable experience? How do we provide sophisticated experiences while also considering the labor force we need to do it? How do we create a place where we can retain students after graduation? How do we keep this area’s cost of living low enough for people to invest in a future here?

How do we balance the needs of the community with our marketability as a tourist destination? How do we serve populations with wildly different needs? Where are the areas where things have changed significantly enough that we need to develop new ideas and new solutions? How do we convince people that it’s time to change now so we can be in a better position in the future?

These are all great questions, and while I don’t have the answers, I do talk to enough people in town to have some insight. Here’s something I heard last year that really stuck with me: “People move to Williamsburg because they think it’s healthy, wealthy and white, and then are disappointed when that’s not true.”

Is our public tourism persona misleading people who want to move here? It’s not all golf, roller coasters, carriage rides and outlet shopping. It’s a real town with real problems, too.

We have historical issues with race, not only from the Colonial era, but the Restoration era as well, interwoven with our national discourse over the past few decades. We are working on it, and the health and wealth aspects are absolutely critical to address for our neighbors in order to have equity.

The wealth is sometimes locally grown, but more frequently, it’s attracted by the notoriety and quality of life that visitors experience. We should, then, have a strong tax investment in our community (but we have very low taxes here, another part of the appeal) — or we should have an abundance of volunteers, donors and supporters to invest in our community.

But yet, local nonprofits and social services are continually strained, and the gaps are not being filled by generous community efforts. Perhaps many people who move here as retirees feel that they have “put their time in” elsewhere and don’t want to get involved in the nitty gritty work that community life entails. They may volunteer for something light and fun — say, the garden club or a charity golf tournament — but when it comes to the serious community issues of poverty, substance abuse, racism and mental health, they stay a safe distance away. Surely, that’s not everyone, but it’s a theme I hear from nonprofit staff, and what I see in board leadership around Greater Williamsburg — mainly a musical chairs scenario in which the same people participate and fundraise. What does this have to do with innovation and investment? Well, it’s all tied together.

We have increased average housing costs as people move here and don’t mind paying $500,000 for a house (the current median listing price) because it costs less than their house they just sold elsewhere. But that makes it hard for young families to stay. We’ve got an occasional opera, and lots of live music (thanks to some hard work by people like Shirley Vermillion and Steve Rose), in addition to art museums and the world’s largest living history museum. Our amenities are amazing, and I believe most people here are grateful for them. But it does sometimes put us in the position that innovation is either actively fought against or gets beaten down by a lack of support, a bunch of stonewalling or gossip that goes unaddressed in order to avoid conflict. Innovation, by its nature, requires change, and that can be challenging in a place so rooted in the past.

Where we are investing today will have very real consequences for the area, in particular as the silver tsunami hits us here before other places in Virginia. (James City County is already there!) Next time, I’ll explore the demographics of aging in the area, and they come together in a very unique way here in the Historic Triangle.

Side note: If you want to volunteer but don’t know where to start, I recommend signing up for William & Mary’s GivePulse platform where nonprofits post opportunities for community engagement.

Natalie Miller Moore is the CEO of Moore than Words, a communications consulting business. She has more than 25 years of experience in writing and journalism and two decades of participation in the Greater Williamsburg community. You can reach her at [email protected].