A mile of speckled business establishments, not as profitable as they could be, guarded by a community of neighborhoods, some of which often make headline news, colored with culture and flashes of faces in passing from surrounding counties and the capital.
A misplaced pride that has dipped in the creek and driven to the pike has abandoned this side of town. The mile has accrued many notorious staples: a low income community, bombarded with crime and illegal immigrants, plagued with disappointment and an eye sore at its end.
Deemed unworthy of monetary allocation, a not so blind eye is turned. Ranting hecklers feverishly jump to express their disdain with the corridor’s condition. Believing the strip’s dying grace needs a savior from which to rescue, Frederick County rallies committees and professional planners to revive its estate.
The Golden Mile once experienced an era of bloom; people congregated and business boomed. It was a flourishing pot, where guaranteed prosperity for business owners and a breath of achievement for families new and retired was promised.
The gold of our mile has chipped away. What remains has tarnished and depreciated.
Through the grit and grime of lost profitability, changed demographic and fallen reputation, there is still raw beauty found in the dulled gem. The corridor has been stripped of all superficiality and remains naked.
If not measured by economic disparity or depressed aesthetic, Route 40 is of an aged artistry, incomparable to other stories of regressed communities. Let it be judged by not only its future outlook but by nostalgia and hope.
Waiting for the given opportunities from political promises, 40 remains full of potential. With golden remembrances and wishes, we stand for revitalization of our forgotten neighborhoods, the prematurely classified ghettos, stereotyped residents, and blackballed businesses. A spell of hopelessness captivates the town as pointed fingers, diverted eyes, for lease signs and front pages plague our communities. Onlookers distrust and don’t believe. Where there is no hope, there is no spur from the people to restore.