For our paper two weeks ago, Mike MacMillan wrote about downtown Durham’s struggling small business community and what the city can do to make things better for business owners and residents. We heard from lots of readers and are excerpting some of their letters here:

From Stephen Janning, via email:

I have lived in Downtown Durham for many years and certainly lament the forced closure of some of the early adopters that opened the door for the area becoming a destination for work/eat/play. This is a complex issue and I appreciated the analysis and perspective of this article

There is one obvious shortcoming of living in Downtown Durham that is always overlooked in these articles: the lack of full service grocery store reasonably reached on foot. Every time we need supplies, we have to get in a car. I’m sure I’m speaking for thousands here—it’s very frustrating to want to support a walkable neighborhood and not have the basics within reach. North Hills has it, Downtown Raleigh has it. Why don’t we?

From Josh Fulan, via email:

I think I speak for many in downtown Durham when I say that we’re tired of surveys, we’re tired of focus groups, and we’re tired of hearing about “potential solutions.” We want to see progress! What is the City doing to make downtown better for small businesses and residents in 2024 or in 2025?

The problem is not that Durham lacks an adequately sized convention center. The problem is that life for a downtown Durham pedestrian is treacherous and uncomfortable. People are unlikely to stay and shop when the heat radiating off Durham’s sea of unshaded pavement tops 120 degrees. They are unlikely to cross the railroad tracks to visit another business when there is zero separation between the sidewalk and the road, with speeding vehicles missing them by mere inches. They’re unlikely to cross the five busy lanes of Roxboro Street, even though they’re interested in checking out that new jazz bar on the other side.

I understand that change doesn’t happen overnight, but there are a multitude of quick win solutions that the City has thus far failed to implement or even propose in a meaningful way. These include:

Closing small, underutilized streets on weekends. The reclaimed space could be used for outdoor dining, street festivals, pedestrian plazas, cooling stations, etc.

Invest more in urban forestry, especially in areas that can or do see significant foot traffic.

Provide safe pedestrian railroad crossings that are separated from vehicle traffic.

Force developers to provide a safe walking path for pedestrians when the sidewalk is closed due to construction. “Cross the street” or “go to the next street over” are not acceptable solutions.

Allow and encourage more temporary road closures for events like the Streetery.

Without a doubt, bigger long-term changes are still needed. However, the City needs to show its small businesses and residents that it can and is taking immediate action. Without that, small businesses won’t have the support they need to stay afloat, and downtown risks losing more culture-defining small businesses than it already has.

And from Anselmo Lastra, via email:

First let me say that a few of the restaurants that closed should probably have closed even earlier. … That said, while there are still restaurants we like there, we have not been going downtown as much because of the difficult and expensive parking. I guess the plan is to entice visitors to a new convention center, but keep ignoring locals. 

Comment on this story at [email protected]