That's the excuse being pitched by proponents of a downtown Greensboro Performing Arts Center-- that spending taxpayers' dollars on building another building in downtown Greensboro will attract visitors to the city and stimulate the downtown economy.
But what about the rest of Greensboro, shouldn't we share in the "wealth" too?
Look, I don't know if this economic hocus-pocus is true or not but if it is true then every neighborhood in Greensboro should be in the running for this kind of economic stimulus-- not just downtown Greensboro. Over and over, our downtown has been getting economic stimulus, revitalization, rebuilding or whatever you want to call it since the 1950s. Did it work as they claimed? Again, I don't know but if it did work as claimed then the rest of the city deserves the same.
Instead of stimulating a neighborhood that has lots of restaurants, things to see and nice places to go, why not stimulate a neighborhood that doesn't have those things so that those things can come here? What if we spent half of that proposed $72 Million Dollars on an East Greensboro Performing Arts Center and put the rest of the money into helping establish locally owned restaurants, stores, museums, galleries and whatever else folks would like to see?
Heck, we could even dig out the holes and rebuild the lakes that used to be inside the green circle.
Continue to article #9 The Randall Jarrell Performing Arts Center
