After the grand opening party two weeks ago at PE Lofts at 6th and Main, thirty - count them - 30! - police officers lined Main Street last night to welcome the Mayor and Councilwoman Jan Perry along with a small group of invited guests to another grand opening of the building. The officers turned out to be the recent grads of the police academy who start their tours of duty by walking a beat downtown to break them in.
Now as for the important news. No buffet tables, but lots of excellent finger food and lots of networking; by 4 PM anyone who was too busy to talk on the phone that afternoon just said - I'll see you at the party.
And everyone did.
But with the speed at which downtown is growing - with as many as 50,000 new people projected in the not too distant future, I wonder how long it will retain the small town feeling it still has where everyone knows everyone else.
I saw coverage of this event on Channel 2 News last night and wondered if it wasn't just an old report dug up from 2 weeks ago. I thought maybe the piece originally had been preempted by that newroom's often ridiculous saturation coverage of police chases, and only now was being broadcast to kill time. But good to know the report actually was current and that positive stories about the town will be featured by local TV newsrooms on a few occasions.
ReplyDeleteI think it's about time and long overdue that the city have a worthwhile urban core, and your postings about what's going on there make this blog really good.
I noticed the large number of police officers downtown on Saturday. I believe these were the new minted cops being sort of introduced to their "beat." Maybe those 30 officers were part of that.
ReplyDeleteAs a resident of the PE lofts, I can assure you there was another grand opening event. And I'd just to say to all who attended: I hope you all enjoyed yourselves immensely. Now stay out.
ReplyDeleteNo. Seriously.
These events have all been promoted by management as "one-time only" happenings. But here's what we've had recently:
1) Private party for members of the Jonathan Club. You plebian residents, stay in your lofts.
2) First grand opening. You residents can come to the party, but don't think about inviting anyone from outside the building.
3)Second grand opening. You residents, you stay up there on the ninth floor, away from the important people. There's isn't enough room for the Mayor and the people that matter.
4) Just yesterday, some rental party for some product launch/giveaway thing. Eurotrash in white robes draped all over our pool and hot tub. You residents are not invited.
But, I'm probably being too harsh. I must be overreacting. It's not like I pay rent here or anything.