$2,500 for architectural services or other professional fees.
Perkins says the artist colony has helped foster a new atmosphere of community in the city. “It’s a very close-knit neighborhood, very community oriented,” she says. “They’ve kind of created their own culture, so to speak. It’s just given us something quirky and cool to bring visitors to.”
Paducah now boasts 1,000 new jobs, 234 new businesses and only 14 percent vacancy. Though Perkins says the city’s success is due to an assortment of different efforts, the artist relocation program has been a big part of the revitalization.
“What made it successful was having political leaders and community leaders who believed in it and were willing to take a risk,” Perkins says. “They had a lot of foresight and wisdom in being able to look beyond the here and now.”
Springfield developer Carolyn Oxtoby says she’s been advocating for a downtown artist neighborhood for several years, but the challenge has always been rent costs. Many empty downtown buildings are set up for office space, which commands higher rent than apartments, she says, but the empty offices are unlikely to find renters soon.
“Right now, people are paying property taxes and insurance on empty buildings,” Oxtoby says. “They’ve got negative cash flow, when they should be turning those buildings into apartments. I get calls every day seeking apartments, and I’m always full.”
Oxtoby says development must begin sooner rather than later, because the Downtown Residential Assistance Program, which provides loans and rebates to encourage development of residential units downtown, will expire in 2016 because it is tied to the downtown tax increment finance district (TIF), which ends in six years. If an artist community is created here, she says, it would likely thrive.
“Right now, I’m watching people go in and out of the Prairie Art Alliance (at 221- 223 S. 6th St.), and it always seems busy,” she says. “There seems to be plenty of interest in art here.”
In San Francisco, ‘open source’ means you can find out anything fast
In software, the term “open-source” refers to a community effort to solve a problem or develop a new idea using shared information. Apply that principle to government, and you’ve got a powerful new concept that can increase efficiency and public participation by making information easy to access.
The City of San Francisco is a model of open-source government. Mayor Gavin Newsom is connected to his city via Twitter
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