Todd Paris, Associate Editor and Attorney
♦ A recent main street media editorial in Salisbury extols the virtues of two downtown businesses having survived over ten years. The editorial recognized that both businesses (sales) have been adaptable to change over the years and that their products sold now are entirely unlike the products they started with, as those products have “gone out of style.” This has allowed them to exploit a niche market for certain specific types of items and thus survive the recession. Congratulations to the honorees. Both owners worked tirelessly to survive in the municipal service tax district and should be applauded.
We note this main street media editorial was written within a few weeks of Uncle Buck’s and Romo’s Pizzeria abrupt closings. No doubt downtown needs a positive story right now. In the “stiff upper lip” category of writing, the piece does as intended. “Don’t panic and carry on”.
The difference is that food does not “go out of style.” Folks have to eat. Recently a savvy veteran realtor was quoted as saying that a saturation point exists for downtown eateries and that Salisbury’s downtown can only support so many. At present, with zero population growth and extremely modest economic growth, a stagnant pie can only be sliced so far. This sounds correct, but tastes defeatist.
Wrong. The City Government, RowanWorks and DSI are supposed to be baking a larger pie. We certainly pay the bakers enough. An early plan with incentivized apartments at former Bernhardt’s was a good start and it’s great news the Wallace apartments above former Cooper’s Restaurant (in the works for several years) are finally taking off. Council needs to re-visit old ideas about urban renovation and planned housing near downtown to bring folks into the area to live. We can’t just sit back while wellmeaning folks with a dream continue to fling their equity lines and life savings at our downtown.
RowanWorks and Fibrant need to partner to market Fibrant specifically to the Charlotte area where IT start-ups are paying considerably more for 10G fiber and real estate rents then we charge here. We also best make government entities pro development without these potential new businesses being channeled to private site selectors in exchange for a majority percentage of their incentives.
The owners of Romo’s Pizzeria and Uncle Bucks were smart, hardworking folks who turned out good product. The existing restaurant pie just wasn’t big enough. The off-street parking was a problem. The sign ordinance was too restrictive. Get baking people! If we don’t, we will end up as dead as Lenoir.
