No question that downtown GNV has had its…well…ups and downs
Businesses open. Businesses close. Something deteriorates here. Something’s renovated there. There are booms and busts and in-betweens seemingly ad infinitum.
But when you think about it, what makes a downtown resilient is that there’s always somebody ready to step in and try again where somebody else has failed.
So whenever I ride my bike around downtown I like to keep an eye on what’s new and different. What’s gone (but not forgotten) and what’s about to take its place.
My latest ride was no exception.
Yeah, City Hall is an eyesore right now. Fenced off while the old fountains are being removed and remade into something new and different.
But that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing new to see at the seat of GNV government.
Check out the just renovated MLK Memorial Gardens. New walkways, better seating, improved lighting. It’s just not a bad place to sit for a while and, well, contemplate.
Where we’ve been. Where we’re going. And how we as a city are determined to take everybody with us.
After that, take a stroll across University Avenue to the Bo Diddley Plaza for something else new and different.
All of a sudden the Kavagator coffee cafe is awash in bright umbrellas.
Dozens of them. All of them dancing merrily in the winter wind. Reflecting colors and light and patterns.
Sit and sip for a while and just watch the show. It’s spectacular.
Speaking of the Bo Diddley Plaza, something else new and different is unfolding at the old Bethel Gas Station building.
I stopped and talked to the workmen and they told me that Bethel is soon to be a yakitori restaurant. With fine wine and outdoor seating and a different kind of dining.
Yeah I know. The Bethel building has been a lot of stuff. An RTS ticket station, a taco garden, a lunch spot and on and on. What are the odds of yet another eatery making it there?
But when you think about it, that’s the magic of downtown GNV. Somebody fails…and then somebody else comes along and says “well, how about this then?”
Face it. Through good times and bad, downtown GNV is never gonna be finished. And how cool is that?
I love this town.
FreeGNV 