Not on Northgate

For longer than most can remember, Northgate has been the place for Aggies to congregate.

The district has become synonymous with A&M, developing traditions for vendors, eateries and watering holes, ranging from flashy clubs to scaled-down bars like the Dixie Chicken. But this might change, and fast.

A recent resolution unanimously passed by the College Station City Council will bring sweeping changes to Northgate, under the guise of public safety. The city plans to permanently close a portion of College Main, similar to the roadblocks students see Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. The city will also create a pedestrian mall for the Northgate area, with parking restructuring as well as safety and aesthetic improvements. 

This plan has been in the works for 11 years. While all of those improvements sound great, and the City Council is cooperating with Texas A&M and TxDOT for support, two important groups have been left out of the discussion, merchants and patrons of Northgate.

“No one up here is against safety, but the issue does not exist during the day,” said Robert Forrest, the owner of Army surplus store Sarge’s. “No one can argue Wal-Mart’s parking lot is safer during the day. My question is why close College Main 24/7 when we only need it closed four to five hours a night. The same money could be used, and service vehicles and other cars could use the road, but the way it is now it makes it harder for our customers and our businesses.”

This plan for will prevent passing cars from seeing these stores, a critical draw for the retail industries.Retailers rely on walk-in business that will be denied if the road is closed.  The city seems intent on creating a nightlife-focused environment that forces out retailers and even restaurants.

The city council wants to ruin what makes Northgate a unique blend of business that caters to students and nonstudents alike. And if the city continues to ignore the people it affects most, an unwanted entertainment venue will emerge. No street traffic and constant construction set to start June 2011 will be the death knell for local institutions like Sarge’s and Loupot’s. And, of course this means more bars will take their place.

“More bars brings unwanted competition with current establishments,” said Chris Scotti, head of the Northgate Merchants, an association of Northgate stakeholders. 

The bars, which stand to benefit the most from these improvements, are against the plan. Retailers and merchants on Northgate are against it as well. This leaves the city with no hands to garner support and no leg to stand on.

“The council brought this plan as an all or nothing deal, so we, as a group, were compelled to oppose it outright,” Scotti said.

The head of Northgate Merchants and the businesses he represents are right to say the city’s using the council as a bully pulpit to give Northgate a makeover. The city council is only justifying its complete overhaul of Northgate with safety, which mostly applies to nighttime operations, while simultaneously trying to shut out the complaints of those who have personal and financial stakes in Northgate. Aggies need to ask the city that depends on them for everything about these plans, because clearly they will not ask us.