A Strong Downtown is Something We Should All Support
I wrote this before the official news of Nova’s closing broke but I can already predict which public figures will use the news to fuel their own narratives.First off, downtown Fargo is not why Nova is closing. Although we felt strongly about our concept, it turns out we missed the boat on this one—the concept, the timing, the execution. That is what being an entrepreneur is all about. The risks, the rewards, and in this case the failures.
Our rent is fair and this is not a story about the cost of doing business Downtown.
What has come at great cost to us is the role that fear-mongering and downtown-bashing have played in making an already difficult situation worse.
In today’s downtown Fargo, there simply is not enough foot traffic after dark. The streets go quiet when the sun goes down.
I can’t count the number of people who told me they hadn’t tried Nova yet because they were afraid and while I am not here to tell you that things are perfect, we did not experience a single issue after dark in our time there. The work being done to make those streets safer is evident.
Do you remember when the HoDo, Monte’s and Zandbroz were at their peak? Those were not the safest streets but we all showed up anyway, to be a part of something super special, that didn’t look like the boring Fargo many of us grew up with.
Unfortunately, in recent years downtown has become the target of some people currently running for local offices. Michelle Turnberg, Dave Piepkorn, and Tony Gehrig have all made a point to broadcast fear and failure as all that downtown Fargo is about.
Turnberg’s disdain for the most vulnerable members of our community has perpetuated the idea that the unhoused are to be feared, not helped. Piepkorn has called downtown a “craphole”—on the record, at Fargo City Commission meetings. Gehrig openly celebrates every time a downtown business closes. This is not leadership and this “concern” comes at a real cost to real businesses and real people.
Nikki Berglund
Fargo, ND
