Long-Time Hope Merchant Greg Martin Shares His Opinions On Growth and Redevelopment
Editor’s note…Long-time Hope retail merchant Greg Martin recently shared some thoughts he had about redevelopment and ideas for potential growth in our town. We ran this in the Hope-Prescott News in three installments. We had several requests that we run this on hopeprescott.com. We have never in the past offered opinion pieces on the website; however, Greg Martin’s family has maintained a retail store in our town for 66 years. We greatly the appreciate the Martin family’s dedication to our town and feel like these thoughts deserve to be heard…
In reference to downtown, contact those who own empty lots in the downtown area. Empty lots are not good for any retail area. The buildings in downtown are probably as attractive as at any time during my lifetime. Honestly, an empty lot next to your building DETRACTS from your building. See if the owners of empty lots would be willing to donate those lots to the merchants or the city of Hope (the editor also thinks the Hope Downtown Network might be a possible recipient). Then, put them up for sale for a nominal fee such as $5,000. This money would be refunded provided the new owner builds on the property within a specified period of time. Should the new owner NOT build within this period, they FORFEIT the $5,000. Also, prior to any new construction, a building plan would have to be approved by the entity that holds the deed on the property.
In some instances, the downtown areas have certain advantages. Some of the lots have existing concrete foundations. Also, there are parking lots adjacent to many of the buildings. Not having to construct a parking lot means big savings for a business building a building.
Here’s where I will probably step on some toes. We have some buildings downtown Hope that are no longer sound. I think these buildings need to be condemned, torn down, or repaired if possible. These buildings, if the owners do not plan to fix them or take them down, could be donated to the Downtown Network or the city (if they would accept them). This would save the owners property tax as well as relieve the owners of the liability of someone possibly getting hurt on the property.
I’m not trying to be negative, I’m just sharing ideas.
Another idea for the downtown merchants would be an event once a quarter in conjunction with the Flying Pig Flea Market. The antique stores could go in with the Flying Pig and purchase advertising in near-by towns. Possibly the stores could serve refreshments and offer other promotions to attract customers.
These are just my ideas. Again, my intent is not to cast blame or be negative. These are just some ideas that, hopefully, might help to improve the downtown area both as a shopping district and an attraction to our town.
I would now like to make some ideas for the city to consider.
It is not a secret that virtually every city south of I-40, except near Little Rock, is declining in population. To me, that means we must be different and better. I suggest the city officials meet with the builders in one session, with the merchants in another session, as well as other interested groups. This would not be for people to air their grievances but for ideas to move forward. Leave your complaints at home. We need fresh ideas.
There were vibrant towns around us that are now becoming ghost towns. We need ideas that will make us better than other towns. Maybe we need to replace some of the ideas that may have worked in the past but no longer seem to be working. We have good people in charge, but I think we need to rethink some of the ideas that have us where we are.
Just a thought….
Hempstead County just turned down a tax to be used to help pay for efforts to attract new industry to Hope. I may be wrong, but wasn’t this tax open ended? I don’t recall there being a stop date on the tax. It appeared to me if we collected a million dollars from this tax and did not attract a single industry, the tax would go on. Please correct me if I am wrong here. Give me tax choices that I know exactly why I need it and with a date I know it will end and THEN let me decide. When the tax expires, if I deem it worthy, I will vote to renew the tax.
Again, please don’t think I am trying to be ugly to anyone. I don’t know of anyone in authority in our city or county who does not want to do a good job. Sometimes we have to stop and ask ourselves are we on the right road. Is the direction I am headed going to take me where I want go?
One more thought…We don’t know why a company that looks at Hope doesn’t COME to Hope. I know we cannot divulge the name of some of these companies, but it would be nice to know why they don’t come. Then, the average person on the street would know what the problem is. How can the average person be expected to vote for a tax increase if they don’t know what the problem is? Tell us why a company doesn’t come to Hope and what we can do to address the problem.