by Knightrider » Sat Mar 09, 2013 3:09 pm
I agree Liv. Education is our strong point and we dont leverage it like we should. While manufacturing and logistics are great, they dont attract the kind of jobs and that creative class that we are seeking. We need to become more of a white collar business town and we can only do that through education, not trucks and warehouses. This is what leads to great things like performing arts centers, high end retail and high density urban development. Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham's economic success didn't come from performing arts centers, arenas and professional sports teams. That was a result of what those cities have done to grow their economies. Some question if we even have the demographics now to support a 3,000 seat performing arts center. Maybe we are trying to put the cart before the horse. I don't know. Baseball stadiums and performing arts centers are great, but thats not going to lead to the economic success Charlotte and Raleigh are experiencing today. If we increase our tax revenue in this city through job creation, particularly high paying jobs, we'll be able to build more great things that will improve the quality of life here.
The question is will our leaders have the vision, desire and political will to take the university concept as far as I have proposed? Or will we just be satisfied with an 80,000 sq ft building? We need to start putting a vision and plan together. That's what Winston-Salem has done. While some may think my ideas are pie in the sky, Winston-Salem and their educational community came up with a plan for a 200 acre urban research park with housing, retail, park space and water streams. (That is certainly bigger in size and scope than what is depicted in my drawings) The city is planning to return streetcars to the downtown streets. Sure none of this may be feasible today but that's not the point. The point is they have a vision and a game plan. They are looking 30 years down the road, not just 8 years down the road. They are planning for things they can't support today. Its never to early to start thinking big. Quite frankly, We may be a little larger than Winston-Salem in population, but their forward thinking mentality exceeds the mentality of this community. We need to have a 20 or 30 year plan for our downtown. What should our downtown look like in 20 or 30 years? Do we even have a plan in place once available downtown land becomes scarce? If we don't have a vision or a game plan, downtown is going to change very little in 20 years and land opportunities will be wasted on mediocre development projects.
The university district is something we should really jump on because it will not only attract development in our downtown, it will help attract companies to our city. This unique collaboration will lead to partnerships with the business community. It also sets Greensboro apart because while other communities in the state have research parks, none of them have a joint campus and university district as I have depicted. It gives Greensboro a chance to lead in something instead of following what Charlotte and Raleigh are doing. This is the kind of thing that gives Greensboro national attention and thats what we want. Its about time other cities start using Greensboro as a role model.
