|
Printable Version News
The revitalization of Broadway, once the center of Hopewell's thriving downtown, has long been a concern of the city administration. To that end, they recently began renovation on that street, redoing the sidewalks, adding parking, and taking out the street's trees, which had blocked the light and led to safety issues. But when the construction workers took down the trees, they also revealed some bad news: Those trees had been hiding a number of badly neglected storefronts which have long been in a state of disrepair. A lot of ugly facades with cracked and peeling paint are now fully on display without cover. Broadway will eventually have trees again, but smaller ones which will likely not cover up the street's flaws like they had in the past. Some on the street are hoping that the sidewalk improvements themselves will inspire the merchants and building owners to take better care of their storefronts. "[Broadway] is going to be gorgeous when it's all done," said Mary Shifflett, owner of Bas!c Skateboarding on Broadway. "But the building owners need to be more responsible. If code enforcement had done their job to begin with, it wouldn't have looked so bad when the trees came down." Meanwhile, Hopewell council members are looking to be more proactive in improving Broadway, with many talking about funding a facade improvement program to help out business owners. "I think the removing of the trees shows more of the character of the street, which I think is important," said Mayor Steve Taylor. "We're going to redo that street, and then come back in and look at ways of improving it." The proposed facade program, which is currently only a topic of discussion rather than an implemented program, would give money (or loan it at low interest) to the business owners to redo their storefronts. Assistant City Manager March Altman says that this program would likely not be possible until the construction is finished, noting that it wouldn't be smart to make improvements to a building during the dirty, dusty street renovation. Other council members are discussing other possibilities. Councilman Christina Luman-Bailey also suggested at the last council meeting that money from the Community Development Block Grant could be used to help clean up and repaint the stores. Councilman Greg Cuffey says he is going to attempt to work with state and federal authorities to find funding for more improvements. However, notes Taylor, the city can only do so much. "Ultimately, they are the business owners," said Taylor. "We did the improvements in front of the Beacon Theatre and they look awesome; I think we're going to see the same finished Broadway, and it's my hope that it will make the owners on the street makes some changes of their own." © Hopewell News 2007 |
