A fine first step: Paramount and Community Building could change future

At Friday’s Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. annual awards banquet, Mayor Al King announced that the City Council’s decision to fund both the Paramount and Community Building projects would change the face of the city.

And, he added, the development could also change Goldsboro’s future.

And he is right. The news that there will be two new additions downtown is a spark that could mean a shift in the future viability of the downtown area. Those projects, combined with the work that has already been done, are the catalysts this community needs to move forward, briskly, to create a downtown that attracts new businesses and the customers who will support them.

There are still concerns to discuss. There is still a lot of dilapidated housing and crime in some of the areas surrounding the downtown area. Cleaning that up will be a priority if families are going to feel comfortable coming into the area again. But there is aggressive work being done already in those areas, too.

This is a first step. There is much work still to be done to change the direction of downtown Goldsboro. To think this decision is the magic bullet that will turn potential into gold is naive. To make this work, this community has to buckle down, participate in the planning, support the construction and patronize the result.

And when that happens, the sky is the limit for Goldsboro — and, in turn, Wayne County.

Changing destiny often takes little more than one step forward. This could be that critical first step.

Published in Editorials on September 25, 2006 11:08 AM