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After all these years, there is this report that something is actually going to be built soon on the Horace Williams grounds. It would be the first building in the Carolina North project. 

Will it be a good start in terms of the principle that CN should be a transit, biking and pedestrian oriented development? This is what was called for in the Horace Williams Citizens' Committee report.

Transit-oriented development and the like does not mean that there is a mention of bus stops and bike racks. It means that it includes something like this. Will these new plans indicate anything of this nature? I am hopeful but not optimistic.

James Coley

Recently, I’ve gotten to know a lot of local business owners. Many of them are running retail shops selling products and services, but there are also a lot of people working in offices both downtown and in their homes. A large number of them use the Internet to make a living. The primary difference between these two groups is market size and how it makes or breaks businesses these days.

Many retail businesses have a finite market size, while an Internet business can have a global market size. Traditionally, a small retail business that sells physical products out of its building on Main Street can only sell to whomever walked in the door, meaning its total potential number of customers, or market size, is the number of people who live in the area plus a small number of tourists. However, not everyone in that group is interested in purchasing from a local business. The number of actual customers can be quite small, especially in bleak economic times like these.