Goldsboro's Pedestrian Plaza renamed Cornerstone
By Anessa Myers
Published in News on July 9, 2008 1:45 PM
The Pedestrian Plaza off of Center Street will soon have a new name -- Cornerstone Commons.
The plaza, which has been used for small events in the past few years, needed some sprucing up, Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. Director Julie Thompson said. So the DGDC and the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce teamed up to honor Cornerstone Award winners and create a new purpose for the space.
"We have been looking for an opportunity to activate that space, and one of the ways to achieve that is to honor the Cornerstone Award winners," Mrs. Thompson said. "And that will build a community tie to the space."
Goldsboro City Council approved the name change Monday night.
Mrs. Thompson told council members that the space, since it opened in the 1980s, "has never become what it was meant to be" because of a shortfall of funds in previous years.
"It doesn't have a sign stating what it is, and we don't feel that it was properly named," the director added.
But now, the DGDC has found a way to reinvent the space.
The plaza will soon be adorned with granite plaques stating the Cornerstone Award winners names and the specific reasons they received the award.
The total cost of the plaques will be $5,100, and the money will come from municipal service tax district funds already available. For each plaque thereafter, the DGDC and the Chamber will split the cost.
Since 1997, the award is given out to one person each year by the Chamber in recognition of the service they have given to their community throughout their lifetime, and the winners have been David Weil, Dr. Edward H. Wilson Jr., William P. Kemp, Jimmie L. Edmundson, Troy W. Pate, Ollie Toomey, Bertha Shepherd Wooten, Hal K. Plonk, William A. Dees, Clarence W. "Icky" Peacock, Hal H. Tanner Sr. and Richard B. Moffatt.
And to start off the newly named plaza with a fresh start, the DGDC will sponsor an October Music Series where local bands will play every Friday of the month from 7 to 9 p.m.
The series will be different from the Center Street Jams in that it will be a more leisurely-type of musical event, and there will not be food or drink for sale. No alcohol will be allowed at the series.
"Bring your blanket or your chair," Mrs. Thompson said.