Daniel Rubin: Cast your vote for Chestnut Hill as most distinctive

I'm not sure why we're losing a popularity contest to Marquette, Mich., a rehabilitated mining town in the Upper Peninsula that gets 144 inches of snow a year and is home to world's largest man-made wooden geodesic structure - something called the Yooper Dome.

But we are.

The clock is ticking on an online survey to name the most distinctive destination in America - a place that combines a well-tended past with a vibrant present - and Chestnut Hill is one of 12 finalists in the competition, run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Folks, we need to stuff a few more ballots into the box. Fortunately, this skill should be old hat to many of us.

At a ceremony on Germantown Avenue this month, Mayor Nutter observed with a wink that Philadelphians "love to vote all day and all the time." They will need to. Last time I checked, the quaint, cobbled neighborhood in Northwest Philadelphia was getting its clock cleaned by the cast of Northern Exposure.

A promotional video for Marquette kicks off with "Downtown Phil" Niemisto testifying: "It's like having a big family. You come downtown every day and see your buddies. Everybody's talking to you back and forth." He says he loves to clean other people's windows.

Here, that could get you hurt.

Marquetters seem to be an open and hardy lot. Frida Waara touts her area's dog sledding and ski marathon. "Snow is our favorite toy," says Waara, a member of the first all-woman expedition, in 2001, to the North Pole, which from Marquette may have been a day trip.

How can a city of only 20,000 be garnering nearly 35 percent of the vote, while Chestnut Hill has less than 5 percent? And it's not just Marquette that's appealing to voters more than Chestnut Hill. We're also lagging behind St. Louis; Cedar Falls, Iowa; Rockland, Maine; Fort Collins, Colo.; and Bastrop, Texas. (Ah, sweet Bastrop.)

"It's a small town with a very urban feel," says Mona Lang, head of Marquette's Downtown Development Authority, the weekend's big dog-sledding event fresh in her mind. "You can be snowshoeing in the day and stay at a historical hotel where you can enjoy an elegant gourmet dinner."

She's originally from Pittsburgh, and concedes that Philadelphia "is nothing to sneeze at." But she's never ventured up to Chestnut Hill, never strolled through Morris Arboretum, never wolfed down a Schmitter at McNally's.

Chestnut Hillers say winning a contest like this would be a shot in the arm. The place needs one.

The recession has been brutal everywhere, but it's delivered a head shot to the Hill: Border's has closed. TLA video is consolidating. High rents brought national chains, which when business went south were replaced by banks, which aren't the stuff of guidebooks.

The commercial vacancy rate, usually between 5 to 7 percent, has doubled to 11 to 12 percent, according to Greg Welsh, president of the Chestnut Hill Business Association.

The locals are anxious about what comes next, says Pete Mazzaccaro, editor of the Chestnut Hill Local. So when Border's closed due to corporation-wide troubles, a survey of readers showed their choice for a replacement: an art movie house. Others opted for an Apple store. What they fear, says Fran O'Donnell, owner of O'Doodles toy shop, is something less distinctive, like a Walgreen's.

So Chestnut Hill is looking at the National Trust competition as a potential moneymaker, says O'Donnell, who has changed his cell phone's ring tone to "Happy Days Are Here Again." He and Welsh, who owns the Chestnut Hill Grill & Sidewalk Cafe, say more attention could lead to more tourists and maybe attract distinctive new business. And that benefits the whole city.

"I know there are a lot of people who didn't like Chestnut Hill because it had a perception of [being for] rich, white WASPS for many years," Welch says. "It's changed. To keep putting money in the city's coffers, it's important that we keep this place vibrant."

The polls close Sunday at www.preservationnation.org/ddd

Vote early and often. Even if we don't have a Yooper Dome.