How will turnover in High Point’s City Council election affect efforts to revitalize downtown? Hard to say, especially since a new city manager will be in the mix:
The top at-large vote-getter in the council race, Cynthia Davis, is not a proponent of the type of city-initiated revitalization efforts for which the City Project and others have long lobbied.
…(Mayor) Jim Davis said candidates for the city manager’s job have shared interesting insights about revitalization efforts they’ve been involved with.
“Their experience has been that revitalization is a very expensive thing to do,” he said. “It costs millions of dollars, normally. So, the question becomes, does council have the appetite to spend that kind of money? Because, if that’s what they want, it will require a tax increase. I certainly don’t have an appetite for that.”
The election of Guilford County Commissioner Bill Bencini as mayor certainly indicates a desire for council with a more conservative makeup. That said, it will be interesting to see their for revitalization— desperately needed in HP —- without government initiated efforts such as a road diet for Main Street.
