Big-box stores have proven to be a failure especially when receiving TIFs or other taxpayer funds. Communities that have kept the big-box stores out seem to have better local economies.

I never understood using taxes from the mom and pop stores to fund the opening of another business. Which bankrupts the mom and pop stores. I always shop at locally owned stores whenever possible.

Isn't there a plan to do that?
If not there should be.

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher)

"X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

The City has focused its first efforts in Downtown North on Central, especially in the Happy Holler area. The first stages of implementation - with changes on the street itself should be visible by the end of the year. The City's support for projects like N. Central Village (using TIF financing) and the facade program throughout the Broadway-Central area are starting to show results.

There has been extensive discussion and public process regarding Downtown North and we will follow this weekend's discussion with interest. A conscious decision was made to work with existing businesses, neighborhoods, and the public to begin our work on reworking Central Street, beginning implementation with the road diet / complete street approach recommended in MPC 's I275 Central Street Corridor Study conducted in 2007.

The same study also identified the I275 corridor as having “vacant and severely underutilized land immediately adjacent to the Interstate system." We have done some preliminary functional work to assess the feasibility of connecting Blackstock to Marion St. to give a continuous connection between seventeenth street and Baxter Ave. The concept looks promising.

At this point it has not gone any further. The next step would be to engage various local agencies, stakeholders, and the public to see what is desirable and doable along the entire second street corridor. This is a long--term project that will involve major open public process before decisions are made. This study also recommends a greenway along the second creek valley corridor. If you would like to see this study, along with all other material related to Downtown North please see (link...) .