Descripción

As a former resident of Asheville, NC I see a lot of potential in downtown Huntsville. Asheville did not always have a vibrant downtown. 20 years ago Asheville’s downtown was boarded up with dilapidated buildings. Now it is a vibrant place to live, work, and play. The job market in Asheville can’t compare to that of Huntsville, yet people still move to Asheville for its quality of life and college educated individuals work multiple part time jobs in the service industry just to pay the bills to live in that city. I moved to Huntsville because it was time to start focusing on a career and not a day goes by where I miss something about Asheville, like a locally owned specialty shop or restaurant. Instead of letting the buildings in downtown continue to fall into disrepair and be an eye sore to the community, Huntsville needs to invest in downtown to renovate buildings to create retail and restaurant spaces, affordable housing, and office spaces—a mixed use city center that attracts the creative class and young professionals. Provide incentives (such as discounted/affordable rent) to individuals that are willing to start a locally owned, small business in one of these vacant spaces.