Why downtown matters in the upcoming mayoral election

Recently, I watched an energetic Facebook conversation about Shreveport’s mayor’s race unfold.

The question that got the chat started was a simple one: an inquiry of what topics should take center stage in the 2014 race.

This was not a Downtown Development Authority posting, and I laid low to see what others had to say. It was thrilling to see that 90 percent of the respondents talked about their hopes for downtown and their desires for a more thriving, energetic place.

Having a platform that includes a strong downtown is smart for mayoral candidates because an energetic city center benefits each and every council district. As former Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut so wisely once said, “You can’t be a suburb of nothing.”

He knew that his downtown, which during his first term as mayor was suffering from some of the same issues that downtown Shreveport is working to overcome, was a reflection on his leadership abilities, his city and, more broadly, the region. Republican Hudnut was the longesttenured mayor in Indianapolis history, serving 16 years, and his time in office was largely defined by downtown Indianapolis. His entrepreneurial policies attracted economic development, and he aggressively used tax incentives, infrastructure improvements and development projects to attract business to the downtown area, and in turn, all of Indianapolis saw improvement.

Hudnut realized before the “return to downtown” trend so popular in recent years that cities that mean something have successful city centers. It is a rare thing indeed to go to a place that is thriving but its downtown is dead, and when you think of those places that leave a real impression – Seattle, Chattanooga, Fort Worth or any city that you love – it’s the downtown that draws you in, that makes you want to know more about a place and maybe even live there.

The DDA and Downtown Shreveport Development Corporation won’t choose sides in the upcoming mayor’s race, but there are things these organizations will do. We will ask all of the candidates to give us a written response to questions important to downtown, and we will post those answers so you can compare apples to apples. We will work with whomever is elected to help turn the many dreams for downtown into reality by alerting the mayor to the game-changing opportunities that seem to be knocking on the door much more often than in the past. We will share those items of importance to our downtown property owners and business community, things like safety perceptions, very real parking shortages in certain parts of downtown and the urgent need for additional market rate residential options. The residential will help create the critical mass needed for amenities such as a market, drug store and gas station that downtown currently lacks.

“The way to have a really vibrant downtown is to have residents there who can support the businesses and provide that life on the street to make the area seem more lively and safer,” said Sheila Grant, editor of Downtown Idea Exchange and Downtown Promotion Reporter. Grant is right, and that is why having people downtown 24/7 is a high priority.

Downtown Shreveport already has a lot going for it. Developers from New Orleans, Dallas and Austin have purchased property and either have or will soon invest heavily in it. Downtown will soon have the opportunity for a new upscale residential project in a large, prominent building that has sat vacant for more than 10 years. A new retail store has purchased property based on the results of a “strong” market study and in doing so has sparked other interest.

The Caddo Parish Commission is making a serious investment in Caddo Common, and the nineblock Shreveport Common is now a destination for art and cultural activities. Buildings are being rehabbed, the Red River District is seeing new life, and downtown’s amazing festivals – from the Revel to the Louisiana Film Prize, the Aseana Garden Festival, the Shreveport Farmers Market and the Texas Avenue Makers Fair, among many others – draw tens of thousands of people to our urban core.

We at the DDA, DSDC and the many “friends of downtown” know Hudnut’s success in downtown Indianapolis can be replicated in downtown Shreveport, and we stand ready to help in whatever ways we can to make that happen!

Liz Swaine is the executive director of the Downtown Development Authority. She can be reached at [email protected].