Downtown Must Avoid Corporatism

While Chapel Hill undoubtedly has a downtown area that benefits from the close proximity of thousands of college students (many of them car-less), local business and government leaders are keeping a close eye on its economic pulse. After all, Franklin Street is the linchpin of the town's economy.

With competition from mega-malls and theme park-like shopping centers, small businesses are under constant competition and are looking for ways to keep Franklin Street viable.

And, in true Chapel Hill style, there is a community workshop this week to discuss improvements to our well-known thoroughfare.

On March 23 at the Town Hall, the town will host a design workshop to brainstorm ideas for town Parking Lots No. 2 and 5. This workshop follows one held Feb. 16, which produced a computer model showing how four downtown sites might look with different building structures.

The latest round of community input was spurred by the Town Council's Downtown Small Area Plan, adopted in 2000. The plan picked downtown areas that could be put to better use.

So are we seeing a downtown decline?

Doubtful.

Kenneth Kauffman, a consultant with the University Retail Group, toured Franklin and Rosemary streets last week to give the council some ideas about how to improve the economic climate surrounding them.

Kauffman noted a need for a large bookstore and the absence of chain stores along Franklin. He criticized gaps in store-front space, saying they produced "constant breaks in continuity."

One of his suggestions: Cluster similar stores together, such as upscale clothiers Julian's and Uniquities or restaurants like Ham's and 23.

Of course, he conceded the town could not force businesses to line themselves up thematically but could try to persuade them.

This idea seems far too artificial. Franklin Street's hodgepodge of shops provides charm and vibrancy. If there was a chain of restaurants side-by-side, I would feel as though I was walking down a creepy Walt Disney World "neighborhood" instead of a college town's main street.

Franklin Street should avoid cookie-cutter chain stores. Instead, focus on keeping quirky small businesses that you couldn't find at a mall. And please, please -- integrate more parking into the downtown vision.

If you want chain stores and an artificial community atmosphere, go to the newly opened mega-mega-mall the Streets at Southpoint.

This complex is a capitalist orgy. Its ribbon-cutting last weekend also was a supposed death-knell for Franklin Street. After all, Hudson Belk fled University Mall to go there.

Speculation that Southpoint's opening will hurt businesses on Franklin Street is overblown. Despite the fact that Orange County is only 15 percent commercial, its retail sales were up 12 percent from last year. The town has been advertising itself on radio and in The (Raleigh) News & Observer in hopes of luring shoppers to Franklin St.

There are always areas to improve. No matter what ideas flutter out of the design workshop this week, Franklin Street's future will continue to be bright.

Columnist Jonathan Chaney can be reached at jhchaney@email.unc.edu.