Let’s be candid. Much of Franklin Street is simply not attractive. It was recently described by an urban planning expert as “blighted”. How can that be in a town that is otherwise so dynamic, vital, and let’s face it – affluent?

The simple answer is that there isn’t enough downtown to attract enough people… enough of the time. Ask any long suffering retailer on Franklin Street (I have) and they will cite two problems which have not improved for at least the last decade. We all know them – panhandling /loitering and insufficient parking. We can’t afford to let another ten years go by without fixing those two problems. While there are obviously longer term initiatives underway such as the Lot 5 development and the “ten year project to eliminate homelessness”, it will still be years before those initiatives begin to have any impact (if they do at all).

Overall, we must create an environment which is a mix of residential, retail, innovative businesses, and community activity. None alone is sufficient but with very limited town funds, we must prioritize where we can get the most impact for the lowest cost and where we can benefit from collaboration with the university, entrepreneurs, and sources of capital. I will apply the same rigorous analytical discipline and methodology I have applied in my work for over twenty years, as we create our alternatives.

We need a four prong approach and we need to start it NOW!

First, once the Inter-Faith Council has been relocated, we must direct the Police Department to have officers on foot on Franklin Street. Every merchant would welcome them – as would many residents and students. It would be a statement that we are finally addressing a major problem on Franklin Street in an effective manner. The Town Council must also authorize the Police to enforce the existing statutes regarding loitering and panhandling. This is in no way meant to supplant the current initiative with social workers – rather to supplement it!

Second, we need to consider creative short term solutions to parking. One suggestion is allowing residents coming downtown to get one hour of free parking when validated by a merchant. Another is to have some parking spaces in the town’s lots reserved for vehicles carrying multiple passengers (HOV). There are no doubt many other creative solutions that we can find. While short term measures may alleviate matters modestly, the ONLY meaningful solution is to add more parking. Put in blunt terms, the town needs to find a way to build a parking deck NOW. Indeed, now is the ideal time to do so as plans for UNC North are developed and University owned space downtown potentially becomes available.

Third, we must find every way possible to give reasons for Chapel Hill residents to want to go downtown. Unfortunately, we have chosen to place virtually all of the community activity centers (e.g., the library and Senior Center) in satellite locations. Yes, restaurants are a meaningful attraction and there are a few retailers but there is nothing compelling beyond that. In the short term, we MUST use the Post Office and the Interfaith Council buildings when they become vacant for community activities which draw the broadest group of residents as possible downtown.

Fourth – we need to convene the same type of coalition that has created the American Tobacco Campus in Durham so successfully. That coalition included city officials, entrepreneurs, sources of capital, and potential tenants. Surely we can do as well! We have the resources. We need them to believe that we are eager to work collaboratively toward a larger goal than any of us can accomplish separately.

We must succeed – and we must start to show results very soon – or Chapel Hill will not the be community we all know it can and should be!