Dear Commerce, that island of a town in a sea of Blackland prairies with cedar and post oak trees….

We Need to Talk.

And we wouldn’t need to chat unless I didn’t like you. I spent almost 3 years living in your town back in the mid-late 2000’s, and I have been back many times since. You grew on me, and I saw so much potential in you then, just like I do now. However, you have kind of settled back and stopped progressing to your full potential. Sure, you have made some progress in some areas, but the same issues that keep you from becoming all you should be and could be keep cropping up.

Here’s the deal. Texas as a whole is exploding, and specifically, the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, which you are a part of, even if you want to admit it or not. You are a leisurely 50–60-minute drive into the heart of Dallas, 15 miles from one of the fastest growing cities in Texas in Greenville, 25 miles away from a neat and growing town of Sulphur Springs just to the east, and 30 miles from the beautiful upscale city of Rockwall, right on a beautiful lake overlooking the Dallas skyline. Just two highways take you there and might as well be a freeway, because there are no stoplights between the Bois d’arc capital of Texas and Big D. You are set up my friend. You also have a major university, one of the oldest in Texas, and it is growing. Faster than you think, and one day you won’t be able to catch up.

So let’s talk about the issues.

Town Appearance-Let’s get this out in the air. A lot of Commerce, especially south of Loop 178, AKA Culver Street, is a nice and dare I say, upscale area. Not all of it, but most. Manicured lawns, safe neighborhoods, quiet, tree lined streets, and new housing developments going up. There is just one problem, most people who come into Commerce to either see the school or visit for any other reason don’t see that area. They see the dilapidated shacks that have either been abandoned or are being used as glorified trap houses, or people who have no pride in the appearance of their homes and sit on their front porch in an old recliner while the paint chips, the dogs run free, and the front yard looks like a mini tornado has blown through there. Then there are the houses that are just run down and a complete lack of pride is taken in the appearance, and let’s not even get started on the streets. The first things people see are the homes that people live in, and when the more appealing half is hidden away while the not so great are easier to drive by, it doesn’t make a great first impression.

So, let’s start with the basics. The City Council needs to get a little radical, and basically make some stringent rules about homes inside the city limits. Yards must be clean. No junked-up cars in the front yard. No blasting music at all hours of the day or night, and this means code enforcement. Armed if necessary, and not only armed because of what happened tragically 2 decades ago, but with many people in all areas of society who just have a problem complying with the law and city ordinances, believing them to be optional. There are people who will try to resist codes and don’t feel it necessary to keep their homes and property clean and orderly. That’s not government interference, that is called living amongst civilized people, and if someone doesn’t comply over a period of time and it becomes so dilapidated that it becomes unsafe, you give them 2, maybe 3 attempts to work with them or make it clear than you can and will demolish their property and clear the lot. There are outliers, such as times where an older citizen or a disabled person cannot keep up their lawn or property. Times like this, the town needs to partner with churches and other organizations that are about community service to help these people. Allow college students to gain credit for graduation by doing some of this work since Commerce does not have that many houses, or also push for community service hours for student organizations, or partner with the school and make it mandatory for some degree programs. It’s that simple, and the law is on their side. Emphasizing that the metaphorical and literal broken windows of the town must be fixed is something that would give the town a great boost, and people will like the town they live in a lot better. This does not just apply to houses, but businesses as well. When a business either closes or moves, it’s time to pick up and leave and not just leave an empty building for all to see. Does not matter if it is a bank or a car wash, clean it up, and pack it up.

Housing: Commerce needs to reflect the three things in its homes. A town of 150 years in age in the bygone days of the Cotton Railroad and fertile ranching and farming lands that shows modest and aged houses that are taken care of, new homes that reflect a town that is on the frontier of great metro growth, and apartments that are feasible living for college students, young professors, and young professionals. Low-income housing needs to stay in an area that is zoned for low-income housing only. It takes away from the appearance and the safety when you build a McMansion only to have it right by a complex that has crime problems, and additional police patrol needs to be in those low-income areas, as they are often the citizens that need the most police presence for a safe environment. Low income should not mean low safety. Some apartments need to be for ONLY college students or college employees. Also, having affordable first-time housing developments are important. Finally, not all houses need to be new and huge. Some of the nicest homes in Commerce are simple older frame homes that are not big but are well taken care of and the property is as well.

Crime-Oh boy. Talk about a tale of two cities. In the areas in the southern part of town and the western part of the city, things are relatively safe, but that is the case in the northeastern part of town and eastern parts either. The main problem are drugs, and most of that is marijuana possession and distribution, and a lot of that demand is fueled by college students. I know that a lot of people want pot to be legal and that is a discussion you can have at the ballot box, but for now, illegal means illegal. Robbery, mainly petty theft is a problem, but that is fueled by the much bigger drug problem you have, which is methamphetamine. That stuff is pure poison that wrecks homes, lives, and entire communities, and the people who make it and get others hooked on it are so evil there is a special spot in hell reserved for them. I have seen what kind of damage that stuff does to individuals and communities. Law enforcement has to stamp it out NOW, but what needs to happen first is that you put together a police force so stringent that they are not out there to make friends, but protect the community. There is this new idea that cops have to be people’s buddies. They aren’t. I don’t want nice cops and Commerce can’t afford nice cops. That doesn’t mean NOT GOOD COPS, but you can be a great cop and protect the law-abiding citizens while making life very miserable for the trouble makers. They need the meanest and most proactive patrols in the entire area. The late Sheriff Buford Pusser once said; “A town is safest when the bad people either fear the police or hate them enough not to want to deal with them, so they stay as far away as possible, and the law-abiding citizens will love them.” A lot of the crime comes from apartments near the campus, and it’s time that maybe you look at prohibiting complexes from leasing to people who have felonies on their record, and doing some raids with Hunt County and the DEA if necessary. That means you also need strict municipal and county judges, because all the raids won’t mean a lot if your judges won’t toss people in jail for a long time for constantly stepping out of line.

Downtown: The Commerce Chamber of Commerce needs to look into seeing about making Commerce a Texas Main Street City. What the Main Street City does it takes a lot of state money and uses it to revitalize downtowns in Texas cities. Most of Downtown Commerce is occupied, but there have been some closings lately like The Spot, which had been opened for 20 years. Downtown Commerce has so much potential, but a bar and grill style restaurant right on the square that is a spot for college students and locals wanting to watch college sports would be a huge boost to the area. Let’s give a good example. Midterms are basically over, so a restaurant, right there on the square, with local college students working, drinking, eating, and hanging out would have had the East Texas/Oklahoma basketball game on and would have gone berserk running into Main Street after the final buzzer sounded that their college had just knocked out one of the best SEC basketball teams. Imagine if someone caught that on an Iphone sent it to ESPN? Cars honking, people yelling “Hail ET!” through the Downtown Commerce night. The town needs an independently run restaurant bar and grill in downtown Commerce. One more thing….a few years ago ET art students had painted alleyways and the sides of buildings in Downtown Commerce. There are tons of buildings that still could be painted with nods to the history of the school, the town, and so many other things. It has been done before. Bottom line, you need to form a group of people who will focus on downtown and making it the epicenter of the town.

Parks and Recreation: There are a couple of places that need some serious oversight. Parks, splash pads, and city pools need to be treated as hot spots because that is where the youngest kids can get into the most amount of trouble and cause a lot of trouble. I understand the city no longer has a public pool and due to that, the school allows kids to swim at the campus recreation center. Not a fan of that. You need a neighborhood public pool for local kids with all of the safety and order you can muster If you have cops patrolling the immediate area, you have a sense of safety, security, and order.

Healthcare-Since Hunt Regional doesn’t want to have a hospital in Commerce, contact Baylor, Scott, and White. The old hospital that was on Sterling Hart Drive was run by Presbyterian Health out of Dallas, and maybe you can replace the sponsorship agreement with them instead of Hunt Regional since they think Royce City is more important than Commerce. Thankfully, you have enough doctors and pharmacies in town. A family practice in downtown wouldn’t hurt.

Schools-Commerce ISD has wonderful facilities, a forward-thinking board, and a very pro-growth mindset. There is just one issue. The schools are failing and enrollment is way under what a town the size of Commerce should be. Commerce should be at least a UIL Class 4A Division II school, but they are not, and it is because a lot of residents send their children to Campbell, Cumby, Cooper, Fannindel, or a Greenville Private School. There are students are that bring down the test scores and cause the discipline problems, but how do you separate the good students who want to get an education and succeed with ones that want to cause issues? Tougher discipline, that is what, and holding parents accountable is the only way. Often times those parents need a visit themselves. It usually starts at home, not all, but many do. That said, some children, especially in public schools all across the country do not have the blessing of a nuclear family, and when that happens, you need to step in and make exceptions. My Great Grandfather was a teacher near Tyler when he first graduated college and he had a student that was a real troublemaker and every teacher could not stand to have in class. He asked the student before the school year if he wanted to graduate. He said yes, and he made a deal. He said if he attended every class unless excused, behaved, and completed his work and tried his best on all assignments and test, he would pass him at the end of the year. The next year, that same student asked to be in my Great Grandfather’s History and Civics Class again and because of the way he was treated, did not need to have a carrot dangled in front of him to do the right thing. Kids can be shaped and molded and all it takes is one person who cares.

Town/University Relations-You have to have spirit in this town. Every fall, you need to have the town painted with blue and gold crepe paper and Lion paws and heads and ET decals all over the downtown area and the city. That is what you have to have in order to get the blue and gold juices flowing. Commerce ISD is supported, but East Texas A&M needs to be as well.

Commerce, you have potential, and you have the ability, and you have the advantages other towns have. Time to take your town seriously and take it to the next level, even if it hurts a little bit, and chances are, changes will be made, because change is what the town needs. I know that a lot of these sound like pipe dreams, but why not be in the same pipe dream together? One day we might wake up it those dreams became a reality.

Sincerely,

A Guy who likes your town wishes to see you succeed.