The Young Professionals have arrived!

And I'm happy to report that they're extremely nice.

I took the dogs for a long walk downtown this afternoon (avoiding housework), and wandered down South Elm, past the various demolition and construction projects, and into South Side.

A young couple was peering into one of the nearly-completed townhouses on MLK Boulevard, and I couldn't stop myself from striking up a conversation. They've recently moved here from Washington, D.C., and bought a South Side townhouse because they wanted to keep the "urban vibe" they enjoyed in DC. They love South Side, downtown Greensboro, and the new baseball stadium (though they like the "historic feel" of the old one, too).

They were very hip. He wore one of those stocking caps all the young men are wearing (people around here call them toboggans), rectangular, black-rimmed glasses, and an item of unthreatening pierced-eyebrow jewelry. She was wearing what looked like a high-end Gore-Tex shell.

In the background was the sound of saws, hammers, and a backhoe breaking ground for the last phase of construction; red clay and sawdust were everywhere. Quite a few other people like them were passing by as we talked, heading toward Natty Greene's or the Green Bean or Simple Kneads.

I joked with them that they were the reason for all of Action Greensboro's work and millions of dollars spent downtown; they were the cause of civil strife and a plebiscite over the baseball stadium; they were Greensboro's economic holy grail. And here they were!

They seemed to know that already, but they laughed just the same.

It looks like all our downtown boosterism is actually working. A lot of people should be patting themselves on the back. Jim Melvin is one of them.