Local Officials Insist "People Are Coming Back" Despite Population Decreasing

In the wake of a COVID pandemic back in December of 2020, a Venango County commissioner stood in the center of Oil City during the Light Up Night event declaring "businesses are returning and people are moving back." Five years later, and the population of the county has decreased by nearly two thousand people.... You can't make this stuff up.

Only two thousand you say? Since 2017 it has decreased by roughly eight thousand people. So no, it is not a case of a minor dip that we will recover from. It is a case of increasing losses year by year. In 2017 Venango County had a population of fifty-seven thousand people. Now, it has roughly forty-nine thousand. If "people are coming back" then it is not enough to make up for the thousands who are leaving yearly.

This is the problem with Venango County optimism. It often assumes that we have to deny the reality of what challenges we are facing in keeping people here. There is nothing offensive about the fact that keeping businesses requires keeping a population to justify the business. If the population is at zero, then there are no customers to visit your small-town diner. Am I mistaken? Do waitresses serve pancakes to non-existing customers? Or does making cash actually require people coming in to tip you?

Try talking about this reality on a public platform. People get mad when you cite the fact that the population is going down. This site has existed since April and we have already been banned from two local Facebook pages all because we joked about how local craft stores can't last a month in the mall.

Do we want Venango County to succeed? Yes! But we are also not too proud to address the issues that are plainly right in front of us. Venango County has two common attitudes: people who love it here that don't want to hear about the struggling businesses, and people who hate it here so much, they are desperately trying to leave. We fall in the middle. We aren't pessimists acting like this is the worst place on Earth. But we also aren't too proud to acknowledge that the Northside of Oil City is welfare haven.

Opening up a local restaurant is not grounds to claim that "businesses are coming back." Especially when several businesses have closed over the last decade. One example is the Venango County Co-op which had huge potential before the hype died. Why do you think that business didn't last? Because it was just a central location for local craft vendors to rent a space. We're not trying to diss craft vendors. But if the biggest thing you have to draw people to your mall is a craft store, hype is going to die down.

We try to squeeze in positive business reviews on this site when we get an opportunity. In the process, we come across people with mixed feelings about this site. Some business owners love what we write, others are against us, and then there are those who are uneasy but still afford us the chance to review their business. Those uneasy about our site often request that we get away from the negative satire and focus on positive satire that doesn't insult the county.

Just think about that for a moment. Comedy is supposed to make fun of irony, but local businesses are so afraid of Venango's ironies, we would rather avoid the subject than acknowledge what barriers we need to overcome.

I don't know.... Maybe there is something to this thing about positive satire.... Let's try it!

"Oil City is so rich. No businesses are leaving. We are twice the size of New York. There are no drug problems. Nobody is on welfare. This is a paradise. Now let's tell some fifth-grade jokes that adults roll their eyes at."

Do you people honestly think we could get laughs by only focusing on Venango County's high points? That's the problem. Not only is positive satire lame, but Venango County doesn't have enough high points to talk about. There are so few of them, we have to pretend the real issues don't exist just to make it seem like there are some. Disagree? Fine. We have a perfect example.

Why is it that in order to take my four-year-old anywhere fun in the winter, I have to drive an hour and a half? "Yay! We can go to the library! They have a kids section consisting of toys and books. The exact same stuff they have in their bedroom..." Lame! Give me a SkyZone for goodness’ sake! It's open seven days a week and I get to dive in the foam pits while my kids are risking injury doing flips. It's the best trip ever!

Unfortunately, Venango County has nothing in the winter on weekdays. There is a bouncy castle place in the mall open on weekend evenings. That works great when your job requires those specific days and you don't want personal outings with your kids. Unfortunately, I do want outings with my kids because I'm one of those rare kinds of parents who wants my kids to enjoy their childhood. Also, I want to observe my kids having fun without having to drive to Pittsburgh or Erie. As much as I would like to be a terrible parent, unfortunately, I'm not.

It's not just the kids. It's also the job opportunity. When I worked for the radio station, the most common phrase I would hear in our PSAs was "keep money in the community." Do you think people talk that way in New York City? "Our businesses are thriving. CEOs are making billions at the Freedom Tower with the inflow of cash from around the world. Do your part and keep money in the community. Please do not shop Amazon!"

How poor is your county that you have to tell people on the air to not spend money past the Venango County border? It's a wonder we didn't shame people for wasting a Jackson on gas in Butler. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have just received word that our local Karen spent money because her car ran out of fuel. Experts predict she will be back in Oil City at 6 PM. Residents are encouraged to bring rotten tomatoes to the pillory (medieval shaming device) where she will be made an example."

Ironically, I was not allowed to say anything about businesses struggling because I had to make it sound like Venango County "is a paradise." One year, my boss made me cover a community event in Clintonville that drew, get this..... NOBODY! And the biggest attraction was cornhole! Try hyping that on the radio!

"Come on out to Clintonville this Saturday where you can spend your time tossing a bean bag into a hole. Enjoy the luxury of walking past a table with a few craft items that interest nobody. Then go back to throwing the bean bag into the hole. While we're talking about it, let's interview this random guy about his experience of throwing the beanbag into the hole. How was your experience sir?"

"Oh.... I didn't do it because I'm not even here."

"Oh! I forgot, nobody is at this event and my life is depressing because I am running a broadcast in Clintonville trying to hype up cornhole on the radio. We'll be back in ten minutes to talk about the beanbags that haven't been touched all morning."

Welcome to Venango County!

Bottom line, you cannot fix a declining population by pretending it is not declining. You cannot justify bringing in more businesses when your potential customers are leaving. Finally, tearing down a gas station to replace it with another gas station is not what it means to "create more jobs." Especially when you ended a business to make another one.

The cheapest rent for most apartments in the county now is $600 a month. These "created jobs" won't even pay enough to cover that. So unless someone finally brings in a business that is paying livable wages that keep people from moving away, it's time we cut this nonsense about "businesses coming back." It is a flat-out lie and only shows that we are unwilling to acknowledge the real issue keeping local businesses from thriving. You want to fix a problem? Admit what is going on and stop taking offense to reality. The population is going down and not enough career-based jobs are coming to the region. That is a problem. Wthout population and livable wage jobs, your local businesses will eventually have to pack up and leave.