Economy & Downtown
Chapel Hill's downtown has long benefited from its proximity to a captive audience of University students without cars. While downtowns around the country have been failing, ours has survived fairly well. However, we have seen an increase in the number of chain stores locating downtown, and instability in the Downtown Economic Development Corporation. In the near future, we will see new Town-directed development on two major parking lots have a big impact.
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Carrboro's downtown has also done better than many towns of comparable size, thanks largely to the presence of Weaver Street Market and progressive shoppers from the rest of the county. The Board of Aldermen has been addressing the evolution of the downtown, and have established a number of community resources in the downtown area including free wireless Internet access, and a low-power radio station.
On the heels of summer, while citizens are getting back from other pursuits, the County is poised to solidify an historic rezoning of a community that had the misfortune to be in an Economic Development District that was conceived of theoretically about twenty years ago. The Eno district, one of three, was generally identified as a place for future business zoning in the early 90's. Nothing was done for a couple of decades. People moved into the area, built community connections, and were unaware of the land-use designation that lay several layers deep in the County's casual planning scheme.
Nearly 80 participants leave for Bloomington a week from this Sunday. The discussions to be held during the visit should spark some interesting dialogue both during the event and once back in Orange County. The visit is split up into a series of Conversations with topics including: Community Branding, Economic Development, A Thriving Downtown, Student Housing, University-Community Partnerships,Innovations in Government, Community Colleges: Entrepreneurship and Workforce Development, and K-12 Education. There will also be time for one-on-one conversations with our counterparts. On the second day there will be field trips to a trail, theater, high school, museum, or art center (I hope to go visit the Bloomington Community Orchard).
The Twitter hashtag for the visit is #ICV2012. I plan to tweet during the visit (@mollsdemarco), and I imagine a number of others will as well.
The
last Jane’s Walk, One-Stop Living, will be led by Crystal Fisher of the Community
Home Trust. During the walk, we will tour the array of businesses, residences,
shops and restaurants in the Chapel Hill Downtown Area, focusing on the
benefits of living, working and playing, all in the downtown area – a
possibility made real in mixed-use developments.
Date:
Thursday, December 6, 2012 - 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Location:
University Baptist Church's Memorial Garden at the corner of Franklin and Columbia streets (100 S. Columbia Street)
This third Jane's Walk, Culinary Cultural
Richness, will be led by Jared Cates of the Carolina Farm Stewardship
Association. During
the walk, we will tour ethnic food restaurants and discuss the vibrant
residential communities surrounding the Chapel Hill Downtown Area to
demonstrate the benefits of a high density built environment as a place in
which people from different backgrounds frequently interact.
Date:
Thursday, November 1, 2012 - 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Location:
University Baptist Church's Memorial Garden at the corner of Franklin and Columbia streets (100 S. Columbia Street)
I
will lead this 2nd Jane’s Walk focused on ‘Inspiring Innovative
Spaces.’ During the walk we will tour the arts-related spaces in the downtown
area, drawing attention to the arts as a business driver in the Chapel Hill
Downtown Area to explain the importance of public space for the transmittance
of ideas and creativity.
Date:
Thursday, October 4, 2012 - 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Location:
University Baptist Church's Memorial Garden at the corner of Franklin and Columbia streets (100 S. Columbia Street)
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