Downtown lowdown
We held a roundtable discussion today with five local folks: downtown residents Sue Young, 28 (a relative newcomer from Milwaukee) and Jerry Leimenstol (68, a local architect who has lived on South Elm Street since 1987); developer Milton Kern (who owns 22 properties downtown); former Mayor Jim Melvin (the driving force behind the new ballpark); and Downtown Greensboro Inc. President Ray Gibbs.
It was a lively, entertaining and informative conversation.
And although not everyone agreed on the everything, they all agreed that downtown Greensboro is coming back strong.
They also had some pointed comments for local government leaders.
You'll get to read about it a soon-to-come Sunday Ideas section.
The center city has come a long, long way since the windswept ghost town of the late 1980s.
Comments (1)
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I went to Natty Greene's last Saturday for dinner with a friend. By the time we left, it was about 8:00 PM and dusk was falling.
I had already noticed in the last year or 18 months how busy downtown had become during the *day* on the weekends, but I was surprised and pleased to see how busy downtown was at 8:00 on a Saturday *night.*
And it isn't all just the ballpark, either, because I was seeing this develop before the ballpark opened.
One of the main keys seems to be getting people to *live* downtown. If people live downtown, then business open to serve them. As the new businesses open, they in turn draw people downtown from other parts of the city and suburbs.
After living in Charlotte from 1994 to 1999, I had become accustomed to a vital downtown (excuse me, they call it "uptown.") Great to see it happening here in Greensboro. And in Winston-Salem, too!
Regards,
Tony
Posted on September 9, 2005 9:18 AM