It is to the credit of Clinton’s mayor, its City Council, its staff and the downtown business owners that the first and second phases of the project were completed without any glitches, producing a remarkable transformation that has brought new businesses to the area and improved the visibility and workability of long-time mainstays.
That is why last week’s approval of Phase III of the revamp is so important and so appreciated.
What will happen in Phase III will be breathing of new life into Vance, Connesstee, Sampson and Beaman streets, and will likely — with the help of a very giving community — for an art project to be completed later on.
Our downtown has become what Mayor Lew Starling envisioned early in his tenure — a viable, thriving district, clean and inviting. It is the same vision that City Council members, some that preceeded those currently sitting on the city board, and Downtown Merchants Association members had when working toward winning grants and low interest loans to complete the first phase of the project.
Now the second part of that vision is about to begin and everyone should be excited and supportive of the efforts that will now be extended to stretches of Fayetteville and West Main streets, areas badly in need of a facelift themselves.
Like phase one, the newest revamp project will bring renewed interest in the downtown area, draw businesses into its fold and help existing businesses grow and gain more clientele.
Our downtown is already a place people want to come. No longer just a place where people come when they have to appear in court, the downtown sees a beavy of activity at local shops and restaurants.
Putting finishing touches on other areas of the downtown will only increase the traffic and the potential.
As part of the second phase of the facelift, some 1,600 linear feet will be retooled, and will include everything from new curb and gutter along each street, new sidewalk and eyecatching landscape, including the removal of electrical and utility poles.
The second phase of the project will mimmick the first phase, providing a pleasing and workable area that will meet the expectations of downtown merchants and city officials.
Residents of Clinton, and visitors from across Sampson and other counties, should be pleased to know we have city officials and downtown supporters who had the vision to see what our downtown could be. And we should be just as grateful that no one looked at the downtown and said none of this would be impossible.
It was both possible and workable. We are reaping the benefits of the first phase of the facelift and we are sure, once the second phase is completed, that we will reap many benefits from that vision as well.
Kudos go to all those who believed our downtown could be a viable business district again. That belief helped to make it so.
Too bad there'll be no improvement whatsoever on the "colored" section of Sampson Street. The increase in traffic will only increase the potential for collisions at the intersection with Johnson Street. The "colored" part of that intersection has no lane-divider line. The curb and sidewalk extend no further than where the last white folks used to live back around 1970. Well, the good white folks in government did see fit to pave the street. Now, other good white folks can speed up and down Sampson Street, without regard for endangering residents, pedestrians, etc. Don't want to spend any more time there than they have to, but it makes such a good shortcut to 421 North.