A Letter From Don & LeAnne
To our friends and neighbors,
Just wanted to copy everyone on a letter we wrote (see below) to Samantha
Smith, who writes the Retailing column for the N&O regarding the ongoing
changes taking place in Cameron Village. If you share our concerns, please
write to Samantha and voice your opinion, too.
Don and LeAnne Sharp
----- Original Message -----
From: Don Sharp
To: samantha@newsobserver.com
Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2001 9:19 PM
Subject: Mandarin House latest casualty in Cameron Village
Dear Samantha,
We learned tonight that yet another business has been forced out of Cameron
Village due to its inability to pay substantially increased rent.
The Mandarin House restaurant (821-2641), at 422 Woodburn Road, has been a
part of Cameron Village's history since at least the mid 1970s, to our
knowledge. The owner, who we've come to know only as David, lives in the
neighborhood, and has many loyal customers in the community.
We are becoming increasingly concerned that Cameron Village is becoming more
mall-like and losing its charm and uniqueness that many of us who grew up in
Raleigh have come to love and value in this community. We hear that the
Public Library branch there may be in jeopardy, as well.
We've written you because we thought you might be able to write a current
piece about the state of Cameron Village, maybe interviewing affected
business owners like David (he's very interesting in that he brought his
family and business to the US years ago and really seems to have embraced
the American Dream).
Has anyone surveyed people in the neighborhood to find out what kind of
shops are really desired in Cameron Village? Has any marketing research been
carried out to find out how the people (who are, of course, the customers)
around here feel about the evolution of Cameron Village into a Crabtree
wanna-be?
Don and LeAnne Sharp
1104 Glenwood Avenue
Raleigh, NC 27605
(919) 832-7525
