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Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013 | 2:01 a.m.
Another view?
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The Henderson City Council is scheduled to vote Feb. 5 whether to continue the friendly, peaceful atmosphere at the District in Green Valley or make it into another strip mall where you can’t leisurely stroll around from shop to shop, have a cup of coffee with a friend outside or take your dog for a walk without fear of being hit by a car.
The District needs to be preserved as the unique place that it is so people have a place to go and relax. If the City Council does not make the right decision, it could destroy something that many people have grown to love just the way it is.
Start a peoples' petition to make it historical and tell the council: Keep your hands off.
CarmineD
I want them to keep the place as-is too but it is private property.
If they want to turn into a street then they should.
The stores are not getting enough traffic.
So they are desparate to change that.
I guess there are too many strolling and not enough going into the stores.
Perhaps they should charge a fee for the stollers.
Would you like that instead?
It's basically a street on the other side, with parking on all sides, and those stores aren't doing much of anything. As a retailer, I can also tell you that the rent there is prohibitively high per square foot for the amount of foot traffic they have. The prime front spot hasn't been leased out for years since Sharper Image closed. (other then temp christmas leases.)
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It is a nice leisurely place to wander around with your dogs and children, but my best guess is, that the people with dogs and children don't do much other than stop by that coffee shop.
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If you want to preserve this type of shopping, stop patronizing Walmart, Target, Marshalls, and especially the internet, and start supporting your local small business people who try to find different and unique items for you. Go buy something over at the district at one of those small stores and tell the manager on duty to tell their owner you'd like them to keep the area pedestrian friendly.
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This is just one more example of American's schizophrenia. We want to buy at Walmart or Costco, or Sams Club, etc., to get the product as inexpensively as we can. Then we want to have places like the District, that are nice places to stroll and look at what is offered. We don't buy much at the District because the prices are higher.... and the prices are higher because the District has all the amenities that Costco, Walmart and Sams Club do not.
I like the District and would like to see it stay as it is, but if the owners are forced by a public outcry, to cancel the proposed changes, I suspect they will just sell the property and this issue will just return at a later time.
WE cause most of this because of our own habits. I suspect that this same scenario may play out at Tivoli Village as well.
Michael
I agree Michael. And yes Tivoli Village is going down the same path. Whomever designed that monstrosity hadn't a clue. Its cumbersome, way over priced, parkings a joke, seperate structures with multi levels, no cover for outdoor strolling. My wife and I went once and it was the last.
The District is an example of the lack of prosperity, the lack of wage growth, the still lagging jobs market, the lack of businesses with and alternative plan for difficult times. This is an example of the economic fantasy of our culture.
The best indicator is the success of the previously mentioned discount stores. There success has been known even before the economic crisis. Lack of wage growth has required people to seek affordable products over those they might have preferred to buy elsewhere. This effects the other business community, who can't face the reality that they are part of the problem in the first place.
It demonstrates that the other businesses lived in a bubble because what happened to our economy was no surprise. It was bound to happen in time.
Conversion of the District to a strip mall will do nothing to change the economic reality.
Business much change it's paradigm and win back the market, not by offering cheaper products but finding ways to increase the wage side and raise the ability of people to afford better quality products.
You have to spend money to earn money.
Adding car traffic to venues with ample parking nearby makes zero sense. What would work in everyone's interest would be developing local events that attract new visitors and help returning clients check out new offerings. What if vendors teamed up for innovative meet-and-greet contests?
Ron, they have local events. Events create crowds, whom have a great time at the location. Sadly, none of these people actually shop there. They simply leave, and head back to Walmart or the internet. Only when giant cookie cutter massive importers of chinese imports are left, will people miss the innovators who actually tried to provide a unique and individual experience, albeit at a few extra dollars.
Yeah.....it you to go stroll somewhere how about tax each other and build something like the District.
We could even subidize the shops.
That sounds dumb but what is dumber is forcing this private entity to lose money because you want go strolling.
The district in Henderson, like a lot of higher end business stores, has also fallen on hard times.With the current unemployement rate at 10.8 percent in our state,people are spending less money in places such as the district.I'm not sure that changing things in the district is the answer.
The City of Henderson should consider that if people want an esplanade, they should create one in one of the large parks, tree lined, then lease some building space for coffee outdoors, some good art galleries, and small restaurant vendors with patio space.
Perhaps they could have a plaza with a stage for entertainment outdoors, with room for dancing. It doesn't have to be huge, just a nice place for events.
The money received from leases and events could go toward paying for the esplanade.
I know they have the Pavillion, but they could have another, smaller site as well.
Who knows, it might also make a nice site for events like Boulder City's Art in the Park.
Another use would be for events that raises money for organizations, like the Greek Festival with food vendors.
There would be lots of uses besides people just enjoying the walk and having a coffee and snack.
Then they can strip mall the District, while giving the people an alternative they would enjoy. The people can continue to buy at the the giant cheap goods stores. Everyone get's most of what they want, but the people get the most.
Build it and they will come!