Bri Simpson Talks About Community Support for the Greensboro Downtown Greenway

My name is Bri Simpson, and I’m originally from Seattle, Washington, actually a little bit south of Seattle, in Tacoma.  I moved to North Carolina about 18 months ago, initially to Asheville for work with REI.  Just recently, about two months ago, I moved to Greensboro to take the manager position at the REI store here.  I did a lot of research on Greensboro when I applied for the job here.  I have seen greenways, but I’m really, really impressed with the greenways here.  I think that they have a great long-term plan, and they have groups and organizations in place to make that plan a reality—a reality in a pretty reasonable amount of time!

I think when you get the community involved in a project like this, it’s not just one or two people that have to be really invested in it.  It seems that a lot of the community has been invested in the Greenway—with the art pieces and with the excitement around it.  And that’s probably one of the reasons why these greenways that they’re looking to connect and this master plan is going to become a reality.  Talk to anybody in the area, and they are familiar with the Greenway.  They know the Greenway, and they’re excited for it to be completed.  A lot of people are already using it prior to completion.  I think when you get the entire community involved in a project like this and local businesses, then it is going to be successful.  And you know it’s going to be successful because it’s not just one or two people with a big idea—it’s a lot of people who are in this idea.