It’s a new year, and looks like the city will be forming a new Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority board.
As most have said for some time, the entire board needed to be replaced in order for the public to have any confidence at all in their actions.
We feel Jim Taylor, the interim downtown director, should remain in that position, until some real progress is made in a positive direction. There is no need to re-hire a replacement for Don Buie until we have a clear plan and something concrete to manage.
What has really changed now? The same two or three people own all the buildings downtown, holding out for a huge profit. Are there any real prospects who will locate downtown if we do produce available locations?
City leaders should hear loud and clear that there are many who do not want another penny spent downtown. That represents the level of distrust for what’s going on. They are correct to ask, “What’s in it for me? How is it going to move us forward?”
We agree there must be a vibrant downtown for our city to make progress.
But where is the renovated master plan for work downtown?
Where is the leadership, meeting with groups around town, rallying support for a new start? Until you get voter buy-in on why a downtown investment will work, you will not succeed.
Written by Jim Wilcox, general manager of WALB.
