Something important is happening in downtown Greensboro right now, and I think we need to pay attention to it.
Downtown Greensboro Inc. is going through a major transition. The city is proposing to reduce its funding from roughly $1.6 million last year to about $1.32 million this year. DGI has also stopped offering some of its economic-development grants, including catalyst and façade grants. At the same time, the organization has new leadership and says it is rethinking what its role should be.
Now, you can look at all of that and say, Uh-oh. Downtown Greensboro has a problem.
I look at it differently.
I think we have an opportunity.
Because this gives Greensboro a chance to ask a question we probably should ask every few years:
What exactly do we want our downtown to be?
Not what was downtown 20 years ago. Not what worked five years ago. What does Greensboro need downtown to become for the next 20 years?
DGI’s interim executive director, Rob Overman, says he wants the organization to become one of the most trusted organizations downtown. He talks about transparency—showing people where the money goes and how decisions are made.
That’s important.
Because we’re talking about public money and money generated through the downtown Business Improvement District. According to the article, about $1.1 million of the proposed funding comes from that district, with another $200,000 contract connected to the Fun Fourth Festival and Festival of Lights.
So taxpayers, property owners, businesses and residents ought to be able to understand what they’re getting for that investment.
But I think the conversation needs to go beyond the budget.
We’ve got to talk about the mission.
DGI says its ambassadors will continue working the streets, helping maintain a clean and safe downtown. Events will continue. Promotion will continue. And DGI says it will still help connect developers with city resources, even though some economic-development functions are shifting elsewhere.
Fine.
But here’s the bigger question:
What would success actually look like?
Is success more people living downtown?
More businesses?
More restaurants?
More visitors?
Fewer empty storefronts?
More families?
More music and art?
More pedestrian activity?
More development?
Or all of the above?
Because if we’re spending more than a million dollars a year on downtown, we should establish goals that ordinary citizens can understand.
And then publish the results.
Maybe we create a simple downtown scoreboard.
How many storefronts are occupied?
How many new businesses opened?
How many closed?
How many people live downtown?
How many people visit?
How much private investment came in?
What happened to crime?
What happened to pedestrian traffic?
Then next year, we don’t have to argue about whether downtown is getting better.
We can look at the numbers.
There’s another interesting part of this story.
DGI says it has only seven employees.
That’s a small organization being asked to play a pretty big role in the center of a city of more than 300,000 people.
So maybe this isn’t simply about asking DGI to do more with less.
Maybe it’s about deciding who should do what.
The city has a role.
DGI has a role.
The Chamber of Commerce has a role.
The Convention & Visitors Bureau has a role.
Developers have a role.
Downtown businesses have a role.
And residents have a role.
Get everybody doing what they do best instead of duplicating each other’s work.
And then there’s something else we sometimes forget.
Downtown isn’t just an economic-development project.
Downtown is our living room.
It’s where Greensboro comes together.
It’s where we hold festivals.
It’s where we eat.
It’s where we hear music.
It’s where we protest.
It’s where we celebrate.
It’s where visitors form an impression of our city.
And increasingly, it’s where people live.
That’s why I don’t think the question should simply be:
“How much money should Downtown Greensboro Inc. receive?”
The better question is:
“What kind of downtown are we trying to build, and what is the smartest way to build it?”
This moment gives us an opportunity to rethink the whole thing.
Bring the city together.
Bring DGI together.
Bring business owners together.
Bring developers together.
And—this is important—bring ordinary Greensboro residents into the conversation.
Ask them.
What would make you come downtown more often?
What keeps you away?
What do you love?
What do you hate?
What’s missing?
What would make you bring your kids downtown on Saturday morning and come back with your friends Saturday night?
Those answers could tell us more than another consultant’s report ever will.
I’m interested in Greensboro because I think this city has enormous potential. Downtown should be the beating heart of it.
So I don’t see what’s happening at DGI simply as a funding cut or a leadership change.
I see a chance to hit the reset button.
Define the mission.
Open the books.
Set measurable goals.
Listen to the people.
Then build the downtown Greensboro wants to become.
That’s not a crisis.
That’s an opportunity.