A New Vision for Downtown
In a Your Voice contribution on February 25, Andrea Klena sums up her post about Downtown by stating, ” I enjoy my grown-up excursions downtown and hope that it doesn't become more family-friendly if it means sacrificing quality for quantity.”
I agree with what she states, but Downtown must become a more economically viable asset for this community. Our city has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars there and we deserve a return on that investment. Downtown must become an area that all of our citizens can enjoy.
We definitely don’t need a Wal-Mart downtown. It would be an infrastructure nightmare trying to adapt the roads leading to downtown to fit a megastore. But, we definitely need a variety merchandise retailer there as a draw and other businesses besides bars, restaurants, and boutiques.
The main issue I see is that we are going to have to expand our vision of “what construes Downtown?” Downtown has to be more than just Union Square. That was acceptable when only 10,000 people lived in Hickory, but now there are over 80,000 people living within 5 miles of Hickory's Epicenter.
It is time to quit addressing the same ole issues involving Union Square. The Downtown vision has to be expanded to include Ridgeview, Green Park, Kenworth, Frye Regional, The SALT block, and eventually Lenoir-Rhyne. In order for our Downtown to be economically viable, we must develop and enhance other areas near the core of this city.
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