The local Knight Ridder outlet’s very own Paid to Party girl gets right to the heart of the problem with using publicly-funded attractions like the Uptown arena to “boost” local economies. Writing about the post-Rolling Stone nitelife scene in Uptown, Jameson makes some important observations:
Hey, Rolling Stones fans, where did you go Friday night?
I looked for you after the concert and you were nowhere to be found. It was as if someone sent out an e-mail ordering Stones fans to leave uptown immediately after the concert.
I was uptown last Friday before the Rolling Stones concert, and the cittaay was jumping.
People filled restaurants, parking lots and the streets. A cover band blasted from the Charlotte Bobcats Arena’s plaza and women and little boys danced along. After the concert was over, uptown felt as if someone had let the air out.
I thought the center city would be brimming with people hanging on Tryon and College Street and darting in and out of nightspots until 2 a.m. Didn’t happen.
Of course it didn’t happen because such venues and events cannot create disposable income, merely shift it around. Stones fans who spent money before and during the show doubtless numbered among the folks who normally populate and spend money in Uptown sans Stones. Building a $265 million arena didn’t make them any richer.
Plus, as Jameson notes, events at the arena will inevitably push some people away from going Uptown as parking spots and traffic lanes are finite. Despite Jameson plea, however, Charlotte Center City Partners cannot fix this. Oh, we know they’ve already started telling people to take CATS Uptown to party. That’s a good one.
But Jameson is exactly right when she concludes that if even the Rolling Stones cannot jump-start nitelife deep into the night, “the arena won’t have the kind of impact on nightlife that bars and restaurants thought it would.”
Yeah, maybe the owners of those spots would like to repeal the city’s tax on meals and…oh, wait can’t do that. We’ve got an Uptown arena to pay for.
