Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the pros far outweigh the cons on this topic. With an absence of old school awnings and canopies that covered the sidewalks all the way out the curb, there is a need for not only shade but also protection from the elements for those using the sidewalks. Customers using sidewalks deserve this. After all, our sidewalks are very different than traipsing through a parking lot dodging moving cars. Sidewalks are designed for pedestrians. Parking lots are designed for cars.
Trees and landscaping add to the property values and the visual appeal. People relate well to greenery.
Prior to the specific types of oaks lining Queen Street in downtown Kinston, NC, we had holly trees for years. They were draped in lights during the Christmas season. As soon as the new trees are strong enough, we expect to add lights to them. Unfortunately, like everything else in the world, the holly trees reach the end of their lifespan. At that time, Queen Street was receiving new subsurface infrastructure before this DOT highway was reduced from 4 lanes with parallel parking to 2 lanes with diagonal parking, new trees and landscaping, programmable LED up-lights under each tree, benches and trash cans and other improvements at an overall cost exceeding $3M.
Upon completion in 2019, this Queen Street Project took the American Planning Association’s North Carolina Great Places “GREAT STREET IN THE MAKING” Award. Envisioned and begun by Mayor B J Murphy and completed under the administration of Mayor Dontario Hardy, this was a majorly transformational project for downtown. The new image with the traffic-calming influence of a road diet to 2 lanes and the diagonal parking that added upwards of 40 on-street spaces helped reinvigorate interest and reinvestment along Queen Street.
Overall, since Kinston’s downtown revitalization began in the mid-1980’s, investment downtown has been conservatively estimated as being far north of $150M dollars; O’Neal Hotel, 1903 Building, CSS Neuse Museum, Community Council for the Arts, Art 105, Kinston Enterprise Center, Tands/Bojangles, Kinston Community Health Center, Dunn & Dalton building, Lovick’s Café, Additive America, Middle Grounds Coffee and many other buildings on Herritage, Mother Earth Tap Room/brewery/outfitters, Beauty Box/Leon Thomas Treasures/Hometown Exchange, Queen Street redesign and infrastructure, Realo Drugs, Laughing Owl and Jay’s 108 buildings, Chef and the Farmer, the Farmers Market, the Rotary Gazebo, Queen Street Deli, Barrister Irish Pub, various law offices, Pearson Park, and far too many others to list here. The point is, that is a significant amount of real reinvestment that does not include tenant improvements and investment in leased spaces. To says nothing has happened or is happening with revitalization downtown, the actual reality is, well, quite real actually.