“Ghost town, my eye,” said Andy Millard about the 33% vacancy rate for commercial property in downtown Tryon. Millard was facilitating a brainstorming session on how to revive the town’s economy. Remember, economies have nothing to do with individual initiative and drive, but rather derive from the positive energy and momentum of the political party in charge. (Is there a JD Jackson in the house???) Almost 200 people showed up to the meeting, to which only about twelve were expected.

One clown said he thought the high rents downtown had something to do with the vacancy rate. Ha ha hahahahahaha. More creative people suggested the following might be holding the town down:

the lack of sidewalks and bike trails, downtown businesses being only on one side of the street, the lack of small industry, lack of marketing, turnover of town managers in government, no sense of community between the wealthy and lower-income residents, lack of lodging, lack of children’s activities, residents not buying locally, lack of affordable restaurants and in-fighting among residents and business owners.

Suggestions for improvement included:

creating a marketing plan and vision for downtown. Some said the town should “dress up” vacant buildings by displaying art in the windows with other ideas of using vacant spaces as incubators or pop-up stores for small businesses that need a start. A Nina Simone festival was mentioned for worldwide attention, as well as the possibility of creating a book/literary/writing festival. Other ideas included painting all the buildings’ trim the same color and creating zoning for main buildings downtown to be for retail-only stores.