College vibe absent on E. Market Street

Greensboro is a really great college town, but you wouldn't be able to see that from looking at the East side.

While A&T boasts one of the most vibrant campuses around, our campus surroundings are a far cry from those at UNC Greensboro, Guilford College and Greensboro College.

The East side has all the familiars. Fast food chains, churches, convenience stores, barber shops and salons but missing are the things that make college towns their own living, breathing communities.

Independent businesses are few and far between on the E. Market corridor and the ones that are present aren't exactly popular. Let's just compare. In a recent conversation I had with a UNCG student who was envious of our campus life but the reason our campus life is so active is because the second you take a step outside the friendly confines of A&T, your options for activity are hardly diverse.

If you're a student who doesn't spend your a lot of time clubbing, what is there for you to do around here other than spend nights in Bluford Library? And while a first date on campus may be cute to some, there is hardly an ideal spot for a casual, non-threatening connection to happen on the East side.

CitiTrends and Foot Locker aren't exactly quaint coffee shops or college hangouts where you can have a nice little outing. Maybe the problem is A&T is so intertwined with the East side.

The fusion of the students and outside people here can be a beautiful thing but lost is that bubble that college provides. Insulating you with people like you and not meshing your lives together. College is supposed to be a different world right? Riding around the city, I'd kill for a Tate Street environment on the East side. Where other than Subway, almost all the restaurants are independent.

You can get the Summit Avenue fare anywhere. Seriously, anywhere! But you don't get a selection like a Sushi Republic, Indian Palace or New York Pizza around here. We don't even have a Starbucks! And I've seen those within shouting distance of each other.

Take a look at the Guilford College area. It offers those familiars but tastefully splices your usual banks, grocery stores and eateries with local charms like record stores, intimate restaurants and cool local businesses.

I commend Tasty Grill and Bar-B-Que Palace for trying to nurture the independent business around A&T but two aren't enough and our students don't seem to mind. They don't mind driving across town to Edward McKay or Addam's to look for books that are cheaper than our bookstore, ignoring the fact that a bookstore on E. Market could easily offer the exact same thing.

They don't mind that there isn't a casual dining restaurant within a mile of school other than what? Pizza Inn? They don't mind that we don't have a movie theater or deli or that Tuscana's is the only bar within reasonable distance you can go to and catch the game.

I'm sure those lifelong Eastsiders would like the experience those inherently collegiate things the other side of town see as daily norms.

Many of those who've grown up in the shadows of the university, have had their family work for or educate themselves at the university for generations deserve to have more than just a visual makeover like brick sidewalks and a new bridge but the real change that comes with revitalizing an often ignored part of the city.

Whether it be with the city of Greensboro or Guilford County, those in charge need to address the issue of allowing A&T to continue our unique relationship with the E. Market corridor but allowing us to have the college lifestyle as well.