by Rhonda Kemp
I
grew up in a small rural town in middle Tennessee where the only
restaurants were hamburger joints, barbecue shops, or a catfish fry. So
it was a real treat to be invited to participate in a Mother/Daughter
lunch road trip. Most of the time we headed south to Huntsville, but in
the late 1970s we began to make the drive to another Southern town that
was trying to capitalize on its history instead of bulldozing it under
for a strip mall. That little town has since become my hometown of
Franklin. Back then, the hot spot in Franklin for Southern ladies out
for the day was Miss Daisy’s Tea Room at Carter’s Court. Her location
seemed perfect as it was directly across the street from the historic
Carter House. But as time went by, the Carter’s Court location couldn’t
hold its own against the “strip mall” atmosphere of its neighbors. Miss
Daisy moved out, and the Columbia Pike historic trail slumped further
into its aura of orphaned neighborhood. In 1986 when my husband told me
we were headed to settle in Franklin, all I could envision was that
tribute to 1960s expansion that is Columbia Pike. I wept.
Fortunately,
as early as the 1980s the Downtown Franklin Association, the Board of
Mayor and Aldermen, and the Heritage Foundation recognized the need to
preserve the historic flavor of Franklin and to provide the foundations
that would draw businesses, locals, and visitors back to the historic
heart of town. These far-sighted individuals sought the advice of many
historians and economists, including the National Trust for Historic
Preservation’s Richard Moe and economic policy advisor Carter Wilkie. A
major component in their battle against unrestricted urbanization and
the accompanying loss of individuality and history is the project we
now know as the Streetscape Project.
According to Streetscape documents
presented to the aldermen, “as recently as 1990, Franklin’s historic
downtown district had a 35% vacancy rate, and its deteriorated
condition was having an adverse impact on the value of adjacent
neighborhoods. Economic development in the core area of the city was at
a standstill due to the negative image stemming from the deteriorated
condition of the downtown district.” Now, in 2009 we who call Franklin
home see a beautiful, welcoming downtown coming into existence, one
that invites locals and visitors to park their cars and walk on the
brick sidewalks under the soft shade of the trees. For Streetscape
brought level sidewalks, shade trees, smooth streets, curbs, and
gutters, level paths for ingress and egress from the streets – in
short, Streetscape provided a Yellow-Brick Road of continuity that
leads locals and visitors into the heart of Franklin. Those very
sidewalks, smoothly surfaced streets and openings, sheltering trees and
walls offer a tacit, “You are safe and welcome here in this part of
Franklin.”
Yet, imagine my disappointment when I read Mindy Tate’s article
in the local paper that, after all the work in the immediate downtown
area, the very corridor that left such a blighted impression on my mind
30 years ago is to be shunned by the aldermen once again. Even though
the Streetscape project for Columbia Pike stands ready to commence, I
read that the aldermen are considering “delaying” this facet of the
Streetscape Project in favor of the Hillsboro Road arm of the project,
even though absolutely none of the preparatory work has been done for
that phase of Streetscape. All preparations have been completed for the
Columbia Pike phase, and the project is immediately ready to bid. The Columbia Pike project could be completed while the paperwork is being organized for the Hillsboro Road facet. The
estimated cost for these infrastructural improvements to the roads, the
curbs and gutters, the uniformity of ingress/egress, the addition of
safe sidewalks, and the remaining elements of Columbia Pike Streetscape
is somewhere around $4 million – that is, for 2009. Can you imagine how
that figure will balloon if the project is cast aside for the 10 years
it will take to complete the Hillsboro Road facet of Streetscape?
Alderman Ann Petersen is quoted in the Williamson Herald as noting, “I … realize we are spending $4 million on something that has an appraised value of $10 million.” A
wise economics professor once told my class, “Never handle any project
more than once. The additional costs of laying it aside and returning
to it will be cost prohibitive.” Alderman Petersen must understand this
economic truth.
When
friends and family come to visit me, they always ask me to show them
our historic sights. I usually devote a couple of hours to a Battle of
Franklin overview. We go to Winstead Hill and look over the land that
once felt the footfall of tens of thousands of men on that bloody
November day. Then, I drive them over to Carnton and subsequently
follow the back roads along Lewisburg Pike over to the Carter House,
strategically avoiding Columbia Pike as long as possible. Inevitably,
these visitors ask why Columbia Pike languishes in its state while the
other corridors into Franklin have benefited from infrastructural
improvements. They ask what’s so wrong with this neighborhood that it
is cast aside.
Next
Tuesday, May 26, the Board of Aldermen will meet to vote to stay the
course and proceed with the Columbia Pike facet of Streetscape or to
cast Columbia Pike aside. I entreat the aldermen to extend the Yellow
Brick Road (of sidewalks, of curbs and gutters, of trees and level
roads) down the historic corridor of Columbia Pike. Connect the
historic downtown with the Carter House. Imbue
economic confidence into the infrastructure of this thoroughfare.
Continue the thoughtful vision of the aldermen of the past. Give this
neighborhood the infrastructure it needs to become a viable facet of
Downtown Franklin.
