N&R reports about on ‘economic development grants and loans’ the City of Greensboro is pondering. And look who’s asking for $5 million? None other than Roy Carroll, who sparked Greensboro’s proposed downtown noise ordinance because Greene Street Club keeps him up at night over at his Center Pointe condo.
Now while a lot of people question John Hammer’s motives for calling out Greene Street, in the end he concludes the city would be cutting off its nose to spite its face with a noise ordinance.
But N&R ed page editor Allen Johnson proposes an entertainment district — which Winston-Salem is pondering as it deals with its own noise issues:
The advantages: Noise is concentrated in one area. A village within the larger downtown that could even brand itself like Bourbon Street (well maybe not) or River Street in Savannah.
Not that any of this is easy. Many locals consider rezoning laws and building regulations onerous and complicated enough, especially downtown. And downtown merchants are an independent lot who hate being told what to do.
Even in Winston-Salem, the head planner is no huge fan of the district concept. “We have far more zoning districts than we need, city county planning director Paul Norby said.
More bureaucracy isn’t the answer, either. Best solution would be just for Greene Street to be a better neighbor, though not necessarily for Roy Carroll’s sake.
