I recently visited Poughkeepsie where I grew up.  I found it very depressing shopping in the Arlington District and later after riding my bike across the Hudson to Highland. In both places, pictures of smiling dead soldiers were looking down at me, hanging from poles like specters at the gallows.  The Arlington District has a great bookstore and good restaurants.  Highland Hamlet has art galleries that I would have liked to explore.  But the dining and shopping experience was really made negative by the giant war posters.  Instead of making me feel like I was in a quaint hometown, I was creeped out.  

Do merchants really support this?