In the meantime, check out Location, Location, Location. I think you'll like what you find.
About The Area
Full disclosure: I live 0.3 of a mile from the chosen site.
There is a branch of the Greensboro Public Library in the southwest corner of the Bessemer Shopping Center parking lot.
Directly across Phillips Ave from the library is a community center complete with indoor pool, ball fields and an indoor basketball court. Next door to the community center on Sykes Ave is a boarded-up home.
Directly across Woodbriar Avenue from the City owned site for the East Greensboro Performing Arts Center are 5 empty houses on almost 6 acres that is currently for sale.
Two tenths of a mile west of the shopping center, behind the used car dealership on the corner of Phillips Ave and Lombardy Street is the site of an abandoned rock quarry that is now owned by the City of Greensboro. The used car dealership is for sale. There are 2 abandoned houses along Phillips Ave between Sykes Ave. and Lombardy St.
Across Lombardy from the rock quarry site stands 2 abandoned houses. One has been empty for 20 years or more. There are a total of 4 abandoned houses and two empty lots where houses once stood within the green circle on Lombardy Street. As a matter of fact, empty houses litter the entire area. Even Greensboro's slum lords seem not to be interested.
The south side of Phillips Ave from Lombardy to Woodmere Drive is commercial property with some vacancies. The north side of Phillips Ave from Bywood Ave almost back to Woodbriar is Patio Place Apartments, a City owned public housing project that has been growing for years.
There is one empty house on Elwell Ave that lies within the green circle. So far we're up to 13 empty homes within 0.3 of a mile from the chosen location and I've only surveyed 1/4 of the area.
There are no less than 3 child care businesses within the green circle indicating the 0.3 mile radius of the proposed site. It is in-fact, an area dying for commercial and municipal investments.
All the streets in the area are wide, even by Greensboro's standards, with ample room for metered parking. Parking meters are among the highest sources of revenue for any well run city. Now if we only had a reason for people to park there. Sykes Ave, Elwell Ave and English St further to the west all lead directly to Wendover Avenue.
Sorry, while I used to go fishing in the 2 bodies of water shown within the circle, both have since been filled. But I guess they could be dug back out again if performing art lovers thought it a good idea. While they're not rivers, both have year 'round streams of water and remain full even in droughts.
Update: Feb 2, 2012.
The empty home count continues within the green circle. On Lacy Ave there are 2 empty homes. On Engleside Drive there is 1, another on Sykes, 4 on Willard Street and 3 more on Phillips Ave to the east of the chosen site bringing the total number of empty homes to 24 empty homes and only 1/3 of the circle surveyed. And just so you know, the majority of these houses were all empty before 2007.
Update 2: Feb 2, 2012.
I found 7 empty houses on the 1 block of Easton Rd and 2 more on Sykes Ave., bringing the total up to 33 empty houses so far.
Update 3: Feb 7, 2012.
I completed my survey of the area today. On Patio Place there is 1 empty house. I didn't attempt to count empty apartments. There was 1 empty house on Lancer ct, 2 more on Westhampton Dr. another on Textile Drive and 2 more on Sykes Ave bringing the total number of empty houses within 0.3 of a mile to 40 empty houses. Most of the empty homes are either abandoned or are substandard rental properties and several have been condemned by the City of Greensboro.
Continue to article #8 Performing Arts As Economic Stimulus
