Downtown K-town
This is an older piece from the St. Pete Times that I want to put here mostly for future reference:
City officials acknowledge they have no grand plan for downtown beyond preserving as many of its fine old buildings as possible. To that end, they credit Martha and Chuck Craven for their revitalization efforts. Although Arcadia's population of 6,800 has remained relatively flat, City Administrator Ed Strube agrees with the couple that the area is on the verge of a boom, one that will inevitably drive up real estate prices and affect the character of downtown.
There's some drama going on around here about the character of Arcadia's downtown - it's now almost exclusively antiques, and the dealers like it that way. Unfortunately, many of the store owners are also really shortsighted, and staunchly oppose anything downtown that's not, well, an antique store. Everyone now is kinda just waiting for the population boom - it's like a massive boulder perched on the edge of a cliff, teetering unsteadily, waiting for the right wind to send it careening on down.