Two North Carolina communities face different challenges downtown.
Greensboro’s center city, after years of decline, recently has become an after-hours hot spot. With the new-found popularity has come increased vandalism, with which the city is dealing. Chapel Hill, meanwhile, faces the opposite problem, a flagging downtown that attracts fewer visitors and business. A new public-private plan to help revitalize the center city is encountering unexpected difficulties before construction begins.
Starting about five years, a series of successful bars and clubs began opening in downtown Greensboro. Previously the area was more noted for its blight than its bustling entertainment district.
“Yes, it is true,” Joey Medaloni, who owns several downtown Greensboro clubs, said to the News & Record of Greensboro. “There’s a lot more vandalism. There’s a lot more trash. There’s a lot more people downtown.”
Police statistics bear Medaloni out. Vandalism is up 58 percent compared to last year. To help combat the problem, Greensboro City Council created a special downtown tax district this year that should generate $350,000 to $380,000 a year to pay for extra trash collection and street cleaning. Police patrols in the area also are being increased.
Despite the presence of thousands of college students within walking distance and a growing permanent population, Chapel Hill’s downtown has been in decline for several years. Numerous storefronts sit empty along Franklin Street in the heart of the city as shoppers increasingly head to Durham to make their purchases. There is a scarcity of parking spaces in central Chapel Hill
In an attempt to revitalize its downtown, Chapel Hill and a developer are working to redevelop four lots.
The proposal calls for additional retail and office space, condominiums, and a transit transfer station.
A key element of the plan is adding 1,289 parking-garage spaces; a lack of parking is often cited as the reason why people go elsewhere to shop. The town’s share of the plan comes to $14.7 million.
The public-private effort has encountered potential crippling cost increases before work begins.
One element involves putting a four story condominium complex on top of a parking deck on Rosemary Street.
The deck’s architect has, however, recently said that the deck can support only one or two stories.
“If we can’t go four stories, or if going four stories requires a substantial additional investment,” town consultant John Stainback said to the News & Observer of Raleigh, “we might have a problem.” Additional surveys are under way.
Plans to construct an underground parking deck on Franklin Street are also likely to cost more than was originally projected. Bedrock has been found on the site; blasting through it could add as much as $2 million to the cost of the parking deck.
Gaston defeats sales-tax increase
Gaston County voters rejected by a wide margin a proposed one-half-cent increase in the sales tax in a referendum Nov. 2. Had it been approved, the tax increase would have made Gaston only the second county in the state with a 7 1/2-cent combined local-state sales tax. The other county is neighboring Mecklenburg.
Government and business leaders had attempted to persuade voters that the tax increase was a key element in bringing jobs and increased prosperity to county residents. Money from the tax could have been used only for economic development or tourism-related projects. The tax increase was projected to raise $56 million over the eight years before it was set to expire. Gaston County would have used its half of the tax proceeds to build a convention center.
“Maybe this thing was just not winnable,” Gaston Chamber of Commerce President Bob Morgan said to The Charlotte Observer. “The result was very definitive.”
The sales-tax increase was defeated by a 72 percent to 28 percent ratio. Morgan thought a general distrust of local government was a critical reason for the outcome.
“It is not a benign opposition to taxes. It is an anger about the current property taxes, and it is distrust about how funds have been spent over the years,” Morgan said.
Former state Rep. and Gastonia resident Michael Harrington offered a different take to the Observer. “People recognize that government is not the creator of jobs,” he said.
Charlotte potholes grow
Charlotte motorists will face a bumpier, pothole-filled commute to work unless the city finds additional money to pay for street repairs. While several of Charlotte’s key arteries are state roads, maintaining the bulk of the city’s streets is a municipal responsibility, which has increasingly been underfunded in recent years.
Charlotte’s goal is to repave all 2,175 miles of its city-maintained streets every 12 years. To do so, Charlotte would have to spend $14.6 million per year. Spending this year, however, is adequate to repave only every 20 years. The situation gets bleaker next fiscal year, when the city, after depleting its resurfacing reserve account, has only $5.1 million budgeted for repaving — enough to resurface streets only every 34 years.
“What we’re doing is penny-wise and pound-foolish,” City Councilwoman Susan Burgess said to The Charlotte Observer.
City officials cite a number of reasons for the longer times between resurfacing, including higher asphalt prices and less state money to help pay for municipal street maintenance.
City-paving standards also contribute to the problem. Charlotte spends $1 million a year resurfacing streets that are less than 5 years old. The city’s construction requirements for streets that developers create in new suburbs and later turn over to the city are less stringent than what many other area communities require. Charlotte officials are considering tightening up the standards.