2 Piedmont cities vie for Main Street award

Davidson and Salisbury are among six finalists for a People’s Choice award in a contest intended to recognize North Carolina’s best Main Streets.

The contest, organized by the state chapter of the American Planning Association, is part of the chapter’s Great Places in North Carolina initiative.

Residents submitted more than 40 nominations in the People’s Choice category, organizers announced Wednesday.

An expert panel picked two finalists each from three regions: Davidson and Salisbury in the Piedmont, Mount Airy and Waynesville in the mountains and Roseboro and Southport in the coastal plain.

Other nominees from the Charlotte region were Albemarle, Catawba, Lenoir, Shelby, Statesville and Waxhaw. See all the nominations here.

Online voting began Wednesday at www.apa-nc.org/greatplaces. The finalist with the most online votes April 30 will be declared the winner.

“Through this program, we hope to celebrate the great places that make North Carolina special,” chapter president Fleming El-Amin said in a news release. “We invite people across the state to help us by voting online for their favorite main street.”

The contest has two other categories:

• Great Main Streets. The panel will recognize one place in each region.
• Great Places in the Making. The panel will recognize one place on its way to becoming a great Main Street but is still being planned or is only partly built.

All winners will be announced in late May. Each will receive a framed certificate and will be featured in the chapter’s outreach efforts.

Panel members:

• El-Amin, a transportation planner for the City of Raleigh.
• David Owens, professor of public law and government at the UNC School of Government and author of “Land Use Law in North Carolina.”
• George Chapman, former long-time Raleigh planning director and a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
• Sue Schwartz, director of planning and community development for the City of Greensboro and a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
• Rodney Swink, former director of the Office of Urban Development and the N.C. Main Street Program at the N.C. Department of Commerce and a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
• Elizabeth Hudson, editor of “Our State” magazine.