Five wishes to change downtown
If the magic Downtown Genie stopped you one evening while you were strolling past Robinson Film Center and told you that ve wishes to change downtown could be yours, what would you ask for?
Put on the spot like that, you might ask for some time to consider the best use of your requests or maybe you would just jump right in, fearing that if you hesitated, DG would oat away up to artspace to view the newest exhibit, taking your opportunity along with him.
You might ask for all the buildings in the 600 block of Texas to be open and filled with people (remember to wish for parking for everyone), for Robinson Film Center to have the money needed for a desired expansion, for more residential opportunities, maybe for the Caddo/Shreveport Common Park to be completed.
Stop right there: Those are your five wishes!
They’re all wonderful (and several are on a short list to happen), but would they be the best possible wishes for our downtown?
That’s a tough question. It’s also one we ponder daily around the Downtown Development Authority/ Downtown Shreveport Development Corporation office as we look at budgets, partnerships, what other cities are doing and listen to the many desires and requests that come our way. We know that great downtowns around the country depend on residential offerings to spark a 24-hour economy, so that would definitely be one of our wishes.
If a downtown is solely about office space, at 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and on the weekends, the sidewalks roll up.
Once people go home, you may or may not be able to encourage them to come back.
When downtown IS their home, getting them out onto the streets, into stores and restaurants, theaters and galleries is easy. From residential, many great things follow – such as increased retail and quality-of-life offerings to service that critical mass of downtown residents. Office space gets healthier, too.
Who wouldn’t want to be able to walk out the door of their wonderful open-concept loft apartment and across the street to their job?
We’d love to hear your input on innovative ideas for downtown on Feb. 14 at Robinson Film Center, 617 Texas St., at an event called “Making Cities Sing.”
The event, sponsored by the Community Foundation of North Louisiana, is part of the Aspen Ideas Festival and focuses on the things cities and downtowns are doing to attract emerging industries and the next generation of entrepreneurs – how cities, philanthropies and arts organizations are looking to promote a “creative” economy and the collaboration that is taking place. The event is free, and you can reserve a space at 221-0582.
That so-called “Creative Economy” is at the front and center of a number of downtown efforts. The Main Street Program, a division of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is putting a lot of time into something they call the “Big Bang” – the collision of heritage tourism, the arts and entrepreneurism.
Much of that bang focuses on the marketing and promotion of the authenticity found in downtowns. Authenticity is a key for our downtown. As faux Italian and French-themed apartment complexes and shopping outlets pop up around the area, we love our historic, authentic downtown buildings with their big beams, 100-year-old brick and stories to tell even more.
So back to the ve wishes. We’ve got a list of what we would like to see. What speaks to you?
Liz Swaine is the executive director of the Downtown Development Authority.
She can be reached at liz@downtownshreveport.com.
