Closing of Washington St. Causes a Stir Among Locals
By Stacy Daill and Martha Bass
Resolutions to close portions of south Washington St. were adopted by members of the City Council on August 6th. While many citizens were opposed to the idea of closing the street, the end result yielded a 4-2 vote.
The movement to close part of Washington St. was first proposed by Jarvis Memorial Church about five years ago, and a serious discussion regarding the issue started in the Fall of 2006 before it was proposed to the City Council.
The closing will benefit not only Jarvis Memorial Church, but also Sheppard Memorial Library. The church purchased land surrounding areas of the library and Washington St. in order to facilitate for their growing congregation. The church will connect their new and old building by way of the closed part of Washington St.
Plans have also been made for a parking deck to aid both the library and the church’s parking needs.
“Jarvis Memorial Church is an important organization downtown. They do good work in the community and participate in many outreach programs so the City Council thought it their responsibility to help the church in any way that they could,” City Manager Wayne Bowers said.
Although the votes are in and the construction to close Washington St. has already started, many locals still remain sensitive about the issue.
“This isn’t ‘revitalization,’” said Katherine Wetherington, owner of Dulcinea, located directly on the closing portion of Washington St. “It’s devitalization because it will move all traffic patterns in the opposite direction of all businesses on the street.”
Wetherington, whose clothing boutique has been in business almost a year, expressed her dismay about the closing of Washington St. to the City Council, saying that it “would severely affect her livelihood as an independent business owner.”
Many other businesses in downtown Greenville, as well as members of the Uptown Greenville committee agree that closing the street will lead to negative impact on the stores and historical character of the area.
They expressed their disapproval to the City Council, but in the end the Council voted 4-2 to close a portion of the street.
“The City Council listened to each side of the story, and they considered what each person had to say. In the end they did what they thought was best for our community,” Bowers said.
Even though part of Washington St. is closing, there will still be access to each business around the area in which the street is closing. “This change will not affect business owners. Their stores will still get the same business that they did before,” Bowers said.
“This change is good. It will improve parking conditions, and will certainly cut down on traffic of people going and coming from work,” he added.
While some agree with the decision and many do not, Urban Development Planner for the City of Greenville, Earl Rees, knows that things will look up for downtown’s business owners.
“Change can be hard and it’s as difficult as it is important. It’s about compromise and looking at the big picture in order to see what’s best in the long run,” he said
Filed under: Convergent Community News