THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 12, 1995 TAG: 9503100211
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
Being small-town Portsmouth in the Hampton Roads region in not a very easy position. People here are not isolated into nice little suburban marketing groups that determine what kinds of retail businesses will move into the city.
ZIP codes and indicators used by marketing folks to decide where to put a business or a development don't break out as cleanly as they do in suburban areas that are more homogeneous.
Consequently, it is very difficult to attract business to Downtown, where the demographics fluctuate wildly. For instance, the Effingham Corridor Study found that while 45 percent of the residents of the area had annual incomes of less than $10,000, there was another side of the coin: about 35 percent earned $35,000 or more a year and 16 percent earned $50,000 or more annually.
In the context of Hampton Roads, Downtown is not an area that appeals to business even though the actual number of those who earned more than $50,000 or more than $100,000 may be greater than the number of people with similar incomes in a smaller town, where they would not hesitate to put a business.
Marketing folks seem to notice one statistic: 45 percent of residents in Downtown area have very low income. They never get beyond that and we don't get the goods and services to attract more visitors and residents whose income exceeds $100,000.
It's a chicken-and-egg situation that adds importance to declaring Downtown ``upscale'' and to continuing to seek businesses that will attract not only tourists but also residents. by CNB