Empowerment Overcomes Winter

 

Who'd think that on a grey snowy morning after storms left New Hampshire in a state of emergency, that people would have the energy or interest to go out in the weather to a Winter Farm Market? But here we were, about a hundred cars strong and two hundred or more attendees, enjoying the indoor Winter Farm Market at Coles Gardens in Concord NH.

This is a great case of empowerment. Joan O'Connor, of Joan's Famous Composting Worms, so enjoyed the summer farmer market in Concord that she wanted to continue it. She solicited friends, and sought a location that would work in January through March.  Cole Gardens looked like a great spot. Locals are familiar with it, Cole already does things with and for Concord, and they had lots of indoor greenhouse space.  Here's Joan hard at work with her composting worms.

What a match made in heaven! With all the Cole Garden infrastructure (cut flowers, garden tools and ornaments, great collection of herbs and indoor plants and more) adding color, the local merchants shop their goods.  The list includes artisan and organic breads, pastries, cider, honey, apples, syrup, jerky, jams, jellies, garlic, body-care products, fresh healthy meat–beef venison, lamb, pork, chicken, all types of eggs, fresh seafood and a huge pile of dog treats. The pizza vendor sets up and cooks just outside the door, and the lady fishing captain drives up her truck, opens the back and sells fresh local fish. And don't forget Joan's Famous Composting Worms!

Concord being the food-loving town that it is, and the blog- and Twitter-conversant population that it is, word spread, and now the three Farmers Market days are social as well as shopping events. Hats off to Joan.  

Put Your Town on A "Road Diet"

"Crimes of the Heart," a Health/Prevention article in the February 15, 2010 edition of Newsweek magazine, covers the waterfront of heart health. "Warn about cigarettes," "Reduce salt," "Subsidize whole grains," and...."towns should start a 'road diet': slim down roads a lane or two and substitute a sidewalk."  Whoa, run that by again? Dan Burden, executive director of the Walkable and Livable  Communities Institute makes the point that when sidewalks are built in a city, people start walking. When people start walking, they get healthier. And another benefit is that anything built to a walkable scale leases out for three to five times more money than non-walkable properties: more tax revenue on less infrastructure. 

Dan Buettner of Blue Zones Vitality Project has successfully implemented these theories with a huge project involving the 18,000 citizens in Albert Lea, Minnesota. The idea is to get a whole town to adopt healthy habits so painlessly, they don't realize the radical changes in their lives.

Dan changes the thinking about transportation and gets the whole town engaged. The town added sidewalks and built a five-mile walking path. Biking and walking are up, restaurants are making changes, people attend "purpose workshops" and get motivated. One creative idea is a "walk bus." Adults cover a route from homes to school, picking up pedestrian students along the way. The kids get exercise, socialize, breath the nice Minnesota air.

Over a 6 week measurement period, more than 700 people joined walking groups; nearly 1,000 people took workshops to help find purpose in their lives; and two-thirds of the restaurants added healthy offerings to their menu.

Here's a thought--maybe now we can get medical grants for downtown infrastructure improvements!

Making Matrix Management Work

Cities and towns today are managed by a conglomeration of entities. The city, of course, but also the downtown marketing organization, any Authorities managing Improvement Districts, Chamber of Commerce, Visitor and Convention Bureau, BYPs* Network, Historical Preservation Society, Block Grant managers, and more, more, more. In the Dark Ages, it was called Matrix Management, meaning that nobody had control, but anybody could get in a lot of trouble when things didn't work out.We used to deal with it by going on retreats over a weekend at a secluded B&B.  Good food, lots of wine, interminable Pictionary games and major late night discussions. Our spouses must have wondered when we returned on Monday totally wrung out.

On the other hand, if every entity involved in a city just did their job, WOULDN'T it work out? If someone has studied the variables and created a vision, we all should be able to progress independently. Unless, of course, there aren't enough people or isn't enough money for any specific entity. And there's the rub in a city the size of Nashua. Seldom does the marketing arm of a small city grow beyond two people...it's just a matter of how much you can tax the stakeholders. Bigger cities have a bigger tax base. And there's only so much that two people can do.

Or unless the downtown is not a priority for some of the entities. Here in Nashua, the Greater Nashua Chamber includes all of Southern New Hampshire, and the President is a legislative lobbyist who works both New Hampshire AND Massachusetts, doing quite a job of it (see Advocate Archive). And he takes education seriously, but not for his business membership. Other Chambers have on-going marketing and financial programs for their members, powerful committees for government, ecology, networking, young professionals, events, peer to peers and more. Isn't that all about education and communication? Nashua has just one committee, Advocacy. Events are limited to a few social hours, awards meetings, and legislative updates, none of which are held downtown. So that leaves one big stack of work for the other entities to pick up if the whole downtown balance is to work.  It should be noted as well that the Chamber has great funding, just from memberships. With each of the 750 members paying at least $300, their base budget is at least a quarter of a million dollars. With the resources, knowledge and experience that the Nashua Chamber has, it could be a real player in downtown revitalization. Maybe they could add one more committee: Lesser Nashua.

Of course, different cities handle the process different ways. Some have enough money to do it all with City and downtown Marketing employees. Some excel at recruiting and managing volunteers. And some of the most successful seem to do it with "buy in". They paint the vision in such vivid technicolor that all involved can work quickly and neatly with a minimum of mixup. And if they have done their homework by getting a lot of input from merchants, residents, shoppers, and other downtown participants, they'll have lots of people keeping them on track. It will be time soon for Nashua to pick a model to proceed by;  I wonder if that B&B is still books retreats?
  * BYPs - Beautiful Young Professionals

If You Don't Tell Me, I Won't Come

I've been cruising through Downtown sites on the net, looking for strengths and weaknesses and there's one thing that drives me crazy. A whole bunch of cities and towns just don't get marketing! "With-it" cities have lots of events and tell you about them all - on Downtown Web, Twitter, Facebook and Blog sites; on the Chamber of Commerce sites; in email lists and RSS feeds. But Rookie cities don't have many events or promotions.  And what's the worst? Those cities who have events, but don't tell you about them!

How do these cities think customers will find out about events? With today's rich choices in media (printed, web, email, social networks, radio, computer broadcasts, podcasts, video) promotion isn't hard, and doesn't have to be expensive. I made a couple of random Google searches to see how cities stack up:

"downtown raleigh nc events" - top reply is main site, event information is comprehensive and easy to read; just social/entertainment events, no meetings, conferences, Downtown committees. Easy to see Twitter and Facebook icons.
"downtown phoenix az events" - 1st two sites are irrelevant, third looks right, but it is an "About.com" column that says, in summary, "Phoenix has cool events."  It doesn't even link to a calendar somewhere, even though the article includes 26 links. The apparently real downtown Phoenix site appears 4 entries further down. All events are social/entertainment. Banner for Twitter and Facebook at bottom.
"downtown kansas city events" - goes right to the Visitor & Convention Bureau (are these passee?) with good information. Includes social/entertainment and special events, no promotional events. Icon for Facebook.
"downtown nashua nh events" - the first 6 items are downtown Nashua pages, but all for out of date events. No link to their Facebook page but if you get there it has Downtown Nashua promotional events, but no entertainment or other activities.
"downtown concord nh events" - Main Street Concord comes up first, and "Upcoming Events" is right on the navigation bar. But all the events are meetings and promotion oriented; there is no link to an entertainment or other activities calendar.
"downtown pittsburgh events" - goes to a calendar page with social/entertainment, educational, exhibition and other displays. Pittsburgh has a Facebook site, and with the feed you get many many promotions and events, as well as blurbs about closed roads, pothole reporting instructions and more. There is no Facebook link on the events page, however.

So you can try the same dipstick with your favorite cities and see who is on top of the information game. Meanwhile, let's all be empowered citizens: if you learn of a class, concert, art show, committee meeting, mrechant promotion, trade show or any other event after the fact, send a Tweet to your powers that be and remind them "If you don't tell me, I won't come!"

Nice Place to Visit; But You Can't Live There

On any given Downtown plan that you might read, there will be a casual mention somewhere of converting buildings or upper floors of downtown buildings to residences. I had no idea how many buildings sit with retail on the ground level and nothing going on upstairs. And, it's a well documented fact that downtown residents are an important thing in making downtown work: having people out and about increases safety, retail purchases, culture attendance and more. So, cool, let's populate those puppies.

Not that easy. A comprehensive article by Jeff Mucciarone at Hippo Press in Manchester NH points out that it is very hard to rehab a building economically.  Bringing old construction up to zoning standards is often difficult, sometimes impossible and always expensive. Whether it's safety, the ADA requirements, or just space for an elevator, it's going to be a challenge.

Another big hurdle is parking. Most urban dwellers have a vehicle, and they want a safe, convenient location to park it. Usually, historic buildings don't have dedicated parking, and it is difficult to get long-term leases on public garage space. Deal breaker.

Also, bank loans for the large amounts of money needed are very scarce. Some grants or incentive funds may be available, but those haven't been too helpful in stimulating developers. Successful developers have learned to go to 5, 6, or 7 different sources to help finance the project. The good news is that when you do build it, they do come.

The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy in Pittsburgh has an interesting take on the issue: when government steps in and provides a gap loan, it may help help the project happen. But it may also inadvertently defeat the law of supply and demand. And keeping the market price up means that the construction probably won't be in the affordable range that city dwellers are looking for, so units end up costing $300,000 to $1 million.

Not surprisingly, some projects creating artist studio space have been successful. Nashua NH has one apartment conversion success story, the Flanders Building on West Pearl Street. Just off Main Street in mid-town, the Flanders is in a perfect location, surrounded by fun shops and good restaurants. The developer owner now has it up for sale. Manchester has had the Opera Block, Historic Chase Block and the Dulap Building renovated.

Maybe we need some creative thinking here. Reuters reported that budget hotel operator Travelodge in London is creating a "recyclable" hotel from container crates stacked and bolted together. Check it out here.  Okay, something more traditional, but is there a less expensive way to make these conversions? Can we go up and get more units in the same footprint? Can we rough units out and let the owners complete them? Let's figure something out!
    

The Flanders Building at 116 West Pearl, Nashua NH has two retail units on the street level and 13 one or two bedroom apartments above.   Currently for sale.

Setting Sustainable Dominoes

Concord Re-Thinks Main Street

Time for a re-think in Concord NH this week! A series of meetings sought citizen input on a downtown project titled "Re-Thinking Main Street." The Main Street Concord marketing organization and the Concord 2020 transportation catalysts are ready to help Concord move to the next level of economic development downtown.

Concord's a funny place: it is the state capital; it's located nicely in the center of the state on major freeways, conveniently between Massachusetts and New Hampshire ski areas; it has many attractions of all types, and it has a fabulous set of shops and stores. But downtown is not attractive, or workable. Main Street is four lanes of Highway 3. Just standing on one side, peering w-a-a-y across to the other side and thinking about crossing will take a couple years off your life. And you get the feeling that because of the accessibility and aesthetics issues, many residents don't actually understand what a wonderful city they already have. Who can explore?

The slide show presented by Jennifer Kretovic of Concord 2020 (left) and Jessica Eshleman of Main Street Concord (right) was outstanding, with many options and neatly illustrated "before" and "hypothetically after" photos. They did a great job of soliciting ideas from the attendees, and answered many technical questions easily. Interestingly, the wonderful meeting room was at Red River Theatres in the heart of downtown, neatly tucked into a basement corner of the municipal garage. The theater complex is itself a success story of many dedicated volunteers who took seven years to turn a dream into a reality - and a beautiful reality at that!

New Hampshire is known, and rightly so, for its long history of successful entrepreneurs. While most people think of technical entrepreneurs, or medical entrepreneurs, or energy entrepreneurs, another entrepreneurial group deserves some recognition: New Hampshire merchants. The room was full of merchants and residents who shared their thoughts and concerns with the facilitators and it was fun to see how many could see a handle labelled "Change" and not be afraid to grab it and turn it, at least a little ways.

The Re-Think working paper weaves together new freedom for all types of transportation- bikes, pedestrians, public transport, automobiles–starting with trimming the highway down from 4 lanes to three: one each way and a median/ turn lane The greenscape with some wide sidewalks, pedestrian scale lighting, welcoming trees and flowers, pocket waysides, banners and median strip would go a long way toward enhancing Concord downtown. There are even possibilities with "gee whiz" factor: warmed sidewalks which never ice, and median plantings that get put away for the winter.

More importantly, the plan puts in place a structure that will serve well future "neighborhood" type urban growth: young professionals with their apartments, lofts, entertainment spots, and trendy boutiques centered here; the upscale empty-nesters with their quiet restaurants, jazz club, fun home decor merchants and cultural venues centered there, all walking and sharing downtown. There's no way this important economic transition can even start until changes are made on Main Street Concord.

Some Concordians have heard these stories several times before, don't really buy it and make good points about the problems. Most, however eagerly embrace the opportunity. Mayor Jim Bouley is enthusiastic and motivated to put a better infrastructure in place for the future. With all these hardworking heads together, they're sure to craft a solution that Concord will celebrate.

Successful Concert or Not?

I headed to a concert at the Keefe Auditorium at the Elm Street Middle School in Nashua early this evening and sat in the car waiting for the doors to open. Finding a parking place is iffy at best, and knowing that seems to push drivers over the deep end. Drivers pull "U-eys" in tight traffic, swoosh into the wrong lane to scoop someone on a parking spot, ignore fire lanes, snow drifts and "No Parking" signs to get close. Some attendees just give up and park at the shopping center 3 blocks away – a long walk on a cold New Hampshire night.

Patrons arrive at a tiny lobby which quickly fills since the auditorium doors remain closed until 30 minutes before the performance, so most people end up waiting outside. The auditorium, until recently, had no rails anywhere on the stairs up to the front door – a serious challenge for most senior citizens and a number of others. 

"The Yeas are right, we need a new Performing Arts facility." I thought, as I sat in the car waiting. "This is a hopeless, out of date building." I remembered the last concert I attended. Inside the auditorium, a fan continuously blows cold air,  so nearly everyone enjoyed the concert with their coats, and sometimes hats still on. A little of the ceiling paint is peeling. And the bathrooms are the ones that the kids use, few in number, far from the auditorium and low to the ground, to say the least.

But tonight, as I continued watching the pageant of crazy drivers and people arriving, I slowly realized that the block that the school sits on offers adequate space to build out a larger lobby, with room for restrooms – and maybe even a refreshments counter. The auditorium has minimal ornamentation inside, so perhaps electrical and audio upgrades would be pretty easy. There also would be space alongside the auditorium for a small parking garage, a facility that might be valuable to the community as well. The auditorium is at the end of the school building, so access to it for construction should not be a problem.
 
I wonder what the cost difference between a remodel and and new facility is. Tonight's concert was one in the Nashua Community Concerts series. The house was nearly, if not totally sold out – 1500 seats. The beauty of this program is that the series ticket (for 6 concerts) costs $50 ($15 for students). If you want a ticket to only one show, it costs $25.  Stroke of genius. So people buy season tickets, and holding the tickets, they go to the shows. This is their 79th season, which by anyone's definition would have to be called successful.  At some point, a new facility, (or an expensive remodel) would make this program unaffordable, and that surely would disappoint 1,500 patrons. Let's be careful what we wish for: maybe we don't have to give it to the Yeas just yet.

Entertainment -- at what cost?

Here's an issue that Nashua NH seems split evenly on: should we have a new Performing Arts Center? The Nays point out that we have the 1500 seat Keefe auditorium at the Elm Street Middle School (which was the High School back when Hector was a pup...) and the smaller 14 Court Street Theater right downtown with a couple hundred seats, a facility cleverly fashioned from a Fire Engine building dated 1847.  The Yeas counter that we have two workable venues that need some updating and that a new facility will be VERY expensive. What we all can agree upon is that we currently have a lot of arts in Nashua, even if all of them aren't right downtown: ballet, symphony, chamber music, flute choir, excellent theater companies for young people, as well as visiting productions from outside the city.

Almost all of us can picture the new Performing Arts facility, even before any architect renders it:   it will be dramatic, beautiful, inspiring, luxurious, high quality, in short, wonderful. A real asset to the City. But where will we put it? How will we pay for it? Whose responsibility will it be? And how will it tip the balance of arts as we now know it?

Not too long ago, the city of Daytona Beach achieved its long-standing dream of a glamorous arts center perched at water's edge in downtown Daytona. It was a creative partnership with Daytona State College (base for a Dance program and company), the City of Daytona, and the town philanthropist, Tippen Davidson of the Daytona Beach News Journal.

The first thing people noticed was that the prices for performances went up - WAY up. $15 - $20 shows were now $40 to $60 or more. The second thing that happened was that the small theaters and theater companies started to wither. They couldn't afford to present at the new facility, and sources of support for their smaller theaters were now redirected to the big show in town. The last I knew, the death of Mr. Davidson and legal issues at the News Journal threatened to put the facility into bankruptcy and the community college took it over.

Maybe this is a case of "Be careful what you wish for."  A palatial facility that has been funded with bonds or ongoing high mortgage is not ideal. A functional facility that we can afford will simply compete with Manchester's Verizon Arena and Lowell's Memorial Auditorium.  Maybe an assortment of smaller venues - a jazz club, a trendy boutique movie theater/meeting facility, a branch museum, would do just as much to draw people to downtown and encourage dinners and a night out. And these could be projects in the private sector. We already have creative businesses like Studio 99, a music venue, studio and lessons source, along with the many restaurants and bars offering live music.

Is the big Performing Arts Facility a "must-have" to cement a city's reputation as "vital" and "successful?"   At what cost?

The Essence of Discovery in Downtown

Part of the fun of a small city such as Nashua, NH is the ongoing discovery of the the goods and services available downtown. Being from a family with a retail shoe background, I felt I'd reached shoe Nirvana when I went into Alec's Shoes on Main Street. At almost any time there is a full boatload of commissioned sales persons ricocheting about, which would normally be a turn-off for me. But there are shoes and accessories (does your shoe store have alpaca socks?) everywhere and two boatloads of customers and the sales people are simply getting to all and satisfying their needs. And if you want to shop for some Nashua Downtown Dollars or other downtown promotional item, Alec's has the time to help you. It's a fun experience, and you feel great walking out with a slick new pair of shoes in an Alec's bag. 

Another example is the cozy shop with an understated name, Canal Art and Framing. In a great location on Water Street, 30 feet off Main and across from the linear Parc de Notre Renaisance along the Nashua River, Canal Art and Framing just keeps surprising. Yes, proprietor Samantha Thompson provides expert framing, framing advice, art classes and consultation. She also curates and promotes a monthly artist showing, and has a wonderful gallery of original local art, greeting cards, and jewelry. Her space is arranged to accommodate caring for her youngster on site. AND she organizes her leftover matting from picture framing and sells at reasonable prices - a crafter's dream. Here are two handcrafted greeting cards from Canal Art & Framing:

What brought these two examples to mind was an article in Fast Company magazine (Nov 2009) on Noreena Hertz - a previously under-the-radar economist from Cambridge University who popped onto the international economic radar by calling the current financial crisis before it hit. Hertz wants the human social context put back into economics and business, and has world politicians, economists and yes, activists like Bono listening.  I don't know how much success Hertz will have at the top level encouraging sustainability, social responsibility, or more adaptive "co-op capitalism" among world leaders. But, down here in the trenches, when you look at entrepreneurial businesses like Alec's and Canal Art you see the flexibility, adaptability, social awareness and creative solutions that Hertz is looking for.  Maybe Nashua could start an internship program for Economists and CEOs...

When we think about "improving Downtown," we often think of increased promotions,  more focused tactics, major infrastructure changes. When we think about "increasing Discovery" we may think about prettier interiors, products in more colors, stores open additional hours. All of which are good things.

But isn't discovery about the difference, the delta as a scientist might say, between what you expect and what you find? Stepping up to a counter at a big-box framing store, handing over your art, pointing to a desired mat and frame is one experience. Entering Samantha Thompson's atelier with custom framing solutions, wonderful art and local products, the opportunity to return for classes and enjoy the environment AND the chance to tell your crafter best friend about the treasure trove of matting, now that's a discovery.

Is it about Empowerment?

We've been spared a lot of weather this winter - which is good since this is my first winter here and I'd rather phase in gradually - but today we're getting a nice deep snowfall. Maybe 8 inches by tomorrow morning. I made a loop around the Riverwalk just before the storm hit this afternoon.

Top of the Falls and south side of the Riverwalk below Library parking lot

The Riverwalk is a work in progress of trails around the part of the Nashua River that runs through the city of Nashua. From my condo by the Main Street Bridge, I can walk down the north side, over the river on the old railroad trestle bridge, continue past the new Senior Activities Center, then the Crosby Bakery (yum!) and back down Main Street back to the bridge. Today, I took my alternate path to stop at the Nashua Library. They do a great job of community outreach with a lot of interesting programs for people of all ages. Their auditorium is the most active meeting place in the city, with groups from Condo associations to Photography clubs to speakers of all types.

In New Hampshire, each city is responsible for its own library. In Florida where I lived, libraries are a county-wide operation. While that allows sharing of resources (all the books in each library are available to each county resident), it seems to inhibit initiative. Libraries here are motivated to provide REALLY interesting activities for kids after school; to help unemployed residents get back into the swing; to bring the community together over common interests such as health, nature, hobbies and music. The libraries here are keeping up with new technology, too. No clinging to the printed word as job security!

The Nashua library is a big part of the vitality of downtown Nashua. The library touches people and adds to their whole...What drives this organization? Is it about empowerment? Maybe I can find this elusive ingredient in other successful downtown organizations...

Does Great Dining make a Great Downtown?

No doubt, having great restaurants downtown is a big part of being successful. LOTS of great restaurants. But what makes a restaurant great?  If you are a city-dweller, and eat out almost every day, your ideas might differ from those from a couple in the suburbs looking for a magical place to celebrate their anniversary. Or, if you are a young professional, living downtown in a hip loft over the haberdashery, you might think that dining hours should run later than the affluent empty-nesters that are moving into the city think. What's a restauranteur to do?

Here in Nashua, we have small cafes and coffee shops that provide for our early to mid-afternoon needs. You can't beat the breakfasts at Jackie's Diner and City Room Cafe; the lunches at The Seedling Cafe, Norton's Classic Diner, Thousand Crane II, Vietnam Noodle; and lunch buffets at San Francisco Kitchen and Cafe India.  Our coffee houses, including Riverwalk Cafe, Bonhoeffer Cafe, Express Cafe and Patisserie Bleu serve up ambience as well as good brew - often locally roasted.  Martha's Exchange hangs in 7 days a week for lunch, dinner and drinks while our trophy restaurants, Michael Timothy's, Surf, Saffron Bistro and Stella Blu provide wonderful "dinner experiences," for a price.

My personal favorite currently is Fody's Tavern. Housed in a historic building in Railroad Square, Fody's is personable, lively, welcomes diners of all ages and has excellent food, although pricey. What's cool is that Fody's offers a $4 Burger Sunday evenings, and a variety of specials during the week including 2-4-1 entrees on Tuesday, making it practical for us daily-diner-outters to eat there.

Does that sound like enough dining options to make a great downtown? Well, there IS room for more: the efficient quality sandwich/soup provider that caters to our downtown workers and shoppers short on time; the dinner restaurant that opens at lunch to offer small plates and lighter entrees; the restaurant that offers a place for reasonably priced morning meetings and quick, affordable catering options for lunch meetings.  . . .And does anybody know WHERE in New Hampshire you can find a superb German restaurant?

What makes a successful downtown?

The first time I walked downtown Nashua NH end-to-end (from historic Railroad Square on the north to City Hall on the south) I felt at home. Add the availability of a new condo building on the Nashua river at the north end and a walkability score in the 90's and I was sold. I bought a condo, went back to Florida to pack and moved to New Hampshire.

I have driven all over the US and visited many large and small towns. Some have found the right formula to create a livable, walkable, fun, vital, safe downtown. But many others either have missed by a mile or don't even understand the concept. Some cities are sure they have it -- and don't; other cities think they don't have it, and do.

What makes the difference in having or not having a successful downtown? Is it history? an aggressive downtown revitalization program? money? dumb luck? I wonder if there is a common thread among the cities with successful downtowns....