The City of Raleigh announced in April that it has put aside $3 million to tidy up the University’s front door, Hillsborough Street, and make it safer for pedestrians.

Raleigh plans on making roundabouts and overall, just make the street more aesthetically appealing.

But the only way the renovation will be successful is if there are enough businesses that survive these hard economic times.

The plummeting stock market has trickled down into local businesses, as owners of businesses on Hillsborough Street feel the hit of slow sales.

But don’t go to Hillsborough Street because you feel obligated to give these businesses money or pity them. After all, only visiting stores and restaurants that you like will weed out the ones that don’t fit, kind of like Darwinism for businesses. Go there because of the convenience and because you like those restaurants.

For students who live on campus and don’t have vehicles, Hillsborough Street is almost all they have. 

Western Boulevard can be a death trap for pedestrians, and most of Cameron Village’s businesses close  around or before 9 p.m., much earlier than college students’ midnight hunger pangs. These places are great if you have transportation to get there, but for others, Hillsborough Street is the best place to get to.

If you’re going to spend money on food, clothes or whatever it may be, why not spend it on Hillsborough Street? It’s a stone’s throw away from main campus, and some restaurants take AllCampus cards, such as Melvin’s Hamburger. Fountain Dining Hall may be a buffet, but the pasta bar and the ice cream machine can’t give you all of the vitamins and minerals you need.

The University should show it’s support of Hillsborough Street businesses by allowing more of them to accept meal plans, board bucks or an AllCampus account. This is a great opportunity for the University to partner up with local businesses and grow a stronger bond. After all, it would reciprocate the generosity they have shown the University in the past, such as donating food for events like Homecoming Week’s Wear Red, Get Fed.

The Hillsborough Hikes have begun to gain notoriety, and if we want events like this, such as the Hillsborough Street Renaissance, then we must come together and support the businesses you like. If you want to keep a variety of restaurants and businesses nearby campus, we have to show that future businesses can prosper by supporting the ones that are around now. 

Also, the University should extend a hand to them and allow them to accept campus-based accounts. This will help students venture outside of the dining halls and support Hillsborough Street and its relationship with the University. Students must help out Hillsborough Street, because if it can’t survive through these tough times, it never will, even if it has a facelift.