Where We Live: A chance for a reality TV makeover

When I heard that some of our local towns were entering a contest for a whole-town makeover, I was happy for them.

I’ve been writing about the Panther Valley for four-plus years and I know that communities like Lansford could use a break to help fill some of the storefronts which made it a destination for shoppers decades ago.

I just wonder if the towns competing have as much to gain as the contest organizer.

When I looked for details on what would be involved with the makeover, I found very few.

I heard that the contest was tied to an HGTV home makeover show, I began to wonder if the contest was more about helping a small town, or getting a free, viral promotion for Home Town.

I’ve never heard of the show, but admittedly home improvement shows aren’t my thing.

The whole idea reminded me of another recent beauty-pageant style contest which went viral — Amazon’s search for HQ2.

When the world’s largest retailer said they were looking for a city to host their second headquarters, cities across the country offered every free real estate and every other possible incentive for them to apply.

The tax incentives offered to Amazon would have given them an effective tax rate so low that you or I would be thrown in jail for paying so little.

Several cities offered tax incentives which totaled more than $2 billion. Pennsylvania offered Amazon $4.5 billion in performance-based grants.

In their bid, New York offered to let Amazon skip the process which gives neighbors a chance to comment on development projects.

In the end, Amazon didn’t even choose one city for HQ2. They split the project between Northern Virginia and New York.

More suspicious people than I might say that Amazon was just looking for a way to locate in two of the most expensive regions in the country without having to pay the taxes that every other business or citizen would.

Now I don’t believe any of our local towns are offering to lower the tax rate for HGTV, but I am sure that towns will offer them incentives which they wouldn’t normally give to developers.

All that said, I don’t want to discourage local towns from participating. The process of putting together an entry video could help build communities.

I look forward to seeing Lansford’s completed entry, which volunteers have worked hard to complete.

And reality TV hasn’t been too bad to Lansford. In 2013 American Pickers visited and featured a person who owns two warehouses filled with antiques in Panther Valley. The day that the crew arrived, word spread quickly and people from all over the area brought their most treasured antiques despite snowy conditions. When the episode aired a few months later, it got a lot of good press for the town.

So while the odds are not great, Lansford making another appearance on reality TV could raise the town’s profile.