East Market District
Community Planning Assistance Team Report
In October 1995, the City of Greensboro, North Carolina, became the first site visited by a Community Planning Team (now the Community Planning Assistance Teams program). The team visited Greensboro to assist in the identification of alternative solutions for economic development, urban design, and community empowerment in the East Market Street District.
The team had three basic goals for the project:
- Bring significant economic development to the East Market Street District as a means of increasing employment, services, and resident ownership of businesses.
- Develop planning and urban design concepts for a major roadway: East Market Street.
- Help build coalitions and partnerships that will see the revitalization of the district through whatever period of time required.
The team produced an initial report and a follow up that provided information on the implementation of a Community Development Corporation. With guidance from the report, the community formed a development corporation and hired its first executive director to implement the suggestions in the plan.
More than 20 years later, Greensboro reports over 175 million dollars in new public and private investment in the area.
Details
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Economic Development
Historic City-and-Institutional Neglect and Public Perception
Creation of Lead Agent
Lack of Adequate Financing Mechanisms
Market Street as a Community Divide and Barrier
Sense of Security
Unattractive Private Commercial Development
Diminishing Strength of Housing Resources
Student Academic Achievement
Lead Agent Options
Introduction
Approach
Structural Options
Case Studies
Broadway Corridor Equity Development Project – Gary, Indiana
South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation – Bronx, New York
Shorebank Corporation – Chicago, Illinois
Recommendations
References
Addendum: East Market Street Lead Agent
Introduction
Desired Lead Agent Characteristics
Membership Pattern and Nominating Strategy
Job Description/Characteristics of Executive Director and Search
Action Agenda for Steering Committee
Early Action Agenda for Lead Agency