Alex Rankin Letter To The Editor

This is a letter to the editor from Alex Rankin of Concord Engineering.

11 January 2006

Dear Editor:

I have had the good fortune to be able to continuously work in downtown Concord since graduating college in 1978. In that time doing business downtown has changed from merely being a matter of convenience being located near the Courthouse and City Hall, to being desirable to be downtown for its own sake, simply to enjoy the amenities that now exist here. For years we anticipated moving our business far out of downtown and close to the interstate, to shorten travel times for our employees that needed to travel each day to projects away from Concord. The fact that many more of our projects are in this area instead of in Charlotte has lessened that need. But more important than that, the presence downtown of quality lunch and dinner dining opportunities, an embryonic night life, and an evolving retail scene combine to make keeping our business in downtown desirable for the benefit of both our employees and the clients and prospects that we entertain. The prospect of adding a significant residential component to that mix only adds to the growing desirability of having a business located in downtown Concord. And the desirability of keeping our business downtown fuels our desire to invest in improving our property, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of improvement.

While I’m very pleased with the progress I have seen in the number and quality of amenities downtown, I feel that progress rests on a still-fragile base. I have many times noticed the patronage of downtown businesses substantially consists of attorneys, law enforcement, and the courts. That baseline of business is what has allowed downtown to develop and make progress. Someday that baseline of business may not be needed to sustain the downtown economy, but that day is not today. I respect the many friends who live near downtown that are opposed to the jail. I know that they value the amenities that have come to define downtown Concord. I know that we both share the desire to continue and build on that progress. My strong support of keeping the jail downtown is based on that desire. Having the jail downtown is one component that has allowed us to make this much progress. The community outside of downtown is rapidly growing and it is only natural that the infrastructure to support that growth should have to grow as well. Keeping that growing governmental infrastructure downtown sustains and adds to the economy that has moved downtown a long way from the sterile environment I found here on my first day of work in 1978, and helps perpetuate an eclectic and interesting mix of individuals as part of what will be a growing, and with the arrival of downtown residential, a permanent downtown street scene.

Sincerely,

Alex Rankin