Let's Look at What DIDN'T WORK

Maybe, instead of looking for easy ways to succeed with downtown revitalization, we should look at what hasn't worked.  Here's a short summary of what cities like Berkeley CA, St. Louis MO, Ocala FL, Sumpter SC, Des Plaines IL, Louisville KY and others have reported as unsuccessful.

*** Implementing change in "fits and starts" without an overall plan; generating policy that lacks purpose or is limited in scope, allowing public processes to deter private developers
*** Not involving citizen input, from overall plans to details such as adding tall skyscrapers to a mid-height city 
*** Failure to address stakeholder values, to muster stakeholder support 
*** Not planning for the right kind of downtown residences; attempting to segregate income levels, or simply plan only for upscale residents and customers 
*** Silver bullets: build very expensive large projects such as convention centers/ large upscale hotels, gallerias or downtown malls, huge museums, clear entire blocks to attract a developer



This list seems like a good map of land mines. The policy, and I would think, the vision,  has to be there first, and it has to be articulated somewhere: town halls, web sites, .pdf documents citizens can download and study.  If the city can't put the policy in place and get buy in, no amount of individual good intentions will get it where it needs to go.

Involving citizens is critical for a number of reasons: most importantly, it will help solidify where the downtown is going, "make it real." But also, citizens provide a number of insights that staff and contractors might miss. And without doubt,  they will give a preview of the problems or inconveniences that will need to be dealt with.

Stakeholders by definition make or break a project. If some stakeholders want to go in a different direction than the city or the consensus group, the re-education, negotiation or compromise should happen up front. When all are on board, the project will begin to build momentum.

Planning for residences is almost uniformly mentioned as important, and lack of planning for residences often is mentioned as a reason that a revitalization didn't "take." This is hard, as we discussed earlier, because the cost of housing often comes to more than downtown workers are willing or able to pay. But without the additional "regulars" downtown, shops, restaurants and safety are far less successful than with a full complement of residents.

It makes sense that soon after malls hit their stride, cities would try to provide that same environment downtown in a Galleria or indoor mall. Or that they would build a monument in the form of a museum or performing arts center that "would bring people in." Beautiful, glitzy, expensive, these projects never materialized  as great magnets. Fortunately, our economic times make this an unlikely problem in the immediate future.

So there are some of the things that have  tripped up cities, large and small, in their path to a new and better city. Lucky for us we have some history on these problems!

Okay for the HOW; What's the WHAT?

So we looked at a lot of excellent features that a city web site could use.  But that’s just the  HOW.  Here’s the more important question: WHAT do they cover? Let’s look at some cities that seem to have it together.

We’ll start by navigating back to Chandler, Arizona. Here’s  a city of just under 250,000 people, with all the issues that any city has. They divide their city information among four major organizations: the City of Chandler, the City of Chandler Economic Development Division, Downtown Chandler and the Chandler Chamber of Commerce. There is also a county site, and a separate site for their famous event, the Ostrich Festival (I do not make these things up), which attracts up to 350,000 people annually.

The Downtown Chandler website tracks events and the downtown businesses (including a nifty gallery of photos of business owners in their shops). With nearly one event a week, this is a sizable job.

The Chamber offers a “Sleep ‘n’ Eat” guide of restaurants and hotels, but mainly sticks to promoting and educating businesses. They offer a comprehensive business relocation package for $10.

The City of Chandler is mostly government oriented, with sections on leisure and lifestyle and on “our community.”  It's a very user oriented site; for example, they offer online brochures to help groups plan and fund special events.

The Economic Development department has a comprehensive section on the web with every piece of information I’ve ever heard about in this area. Demographics, property, relocation, industrial and techology initiatives, everything. They also have a basic website called “Visit Chandler” which is a lightweight but useful version of a Visitor and Convention Bureau type site.

Next, let’s look at Columbus, Ohio with a population of just over 750,000. They divide the information four major ways. The City of Columbus has a site centered on the city’s government activities. It is nicely organized and easy to navigate.

The second site is the Downtown Columbus site, which concentrates on living, doing business and experiencing downtown. This site is a livelier than the city’s and very marketing oriented. The Business section includes some information on real estate developments, new stores and homes, and market studies for Downtown.

The third major organization site is that of the Chamber of Commerce of Columbus. They feature all types of business networking and professional development information. There is information on the numerous active commitees and on Economic Development in Columbus.  GIS map tools and Business Retention and Expansion Research is ongoing. The Chamber also has a second fact-laden site called Live Work Play Columbus.

The fourth big web site is that of the Visitor and Convention Bureau. They concentrate on visitors, events and sections for professional meeting and tour planners.

Both of these towns seem to be doing a good job of organizing information so the people who need it can find it. There is minimal, and usually, appropriate overlap, although there are points at which one site could link to information rather than recreate it. In Chandler, the City’s Economic Development Department seems to be the driving force behind business present and future. In Columbus, the Chamber seems to be driving the Economic Development train. But in both cases, the information is there. These guys seem to have their WHATS together.

You're Pushing My Buttons Now!

Here is some great stuff on the "quality information" front...specifically, downtown web sites. In quickly checking out some of the most highly rated city sites, many excellent ideas popped up.
(Note: I didn't see any correlation between city size and web site quality; some big city sites are terrible and some small city sites are excellent. Achieving quality seems to be a vision thing.) 

Augusta GA is a clean-looking, easy-to-read site. Buttons on the mid-left are a customer's delight: Request a service (fix a pothole, traffic light isn't working); Online maps including real estate parcels; and Notify me (a way to get on an email list for any one of dozens of city meetings, threads about initiatives, etc.) There's a little "Spotlight" tease, some news items, and a plug for the city's award for being in the top 100 places to live in 2009, according to www.relocateamerica.com. Nice!

Fresno CA has a crisp, easy to navigate layout, with main menu buttons of For Residents,  For Businesses,  For Visitors, Government,  Discover Fresno, and News. On the For Business page, there is a complete set up to get started in business in Fresno, get your taxes and licenses set up, and to get business advice and loans. Many other great topics are on the pull-down menu.

Downtown Boulder is not the City of Boulder's main governmental site, so it concentrates on dining, shopping, visitors, events, and business. There is a page on downtown research–a compendium of studies done over the years. All in one place.  There is also a BID (Business Impovement District) in Boulder, and a page that compares the two organizations.

Downtown Wilmington NC has a lot of nice whistles and bells. They are not the official city site, but they do cover nicely Doing Business as well as living, working, events and others. They make good use of maps on many informational pages.

Louisville KY's main city site has simple buttons on the home page–Residents, Visitors, Business, Government, Online Services, and Programs / Initiatives. The latter button goes to a single page with links to all the major initiatives throughout the city.  Gold Star for this one!

A marketing guru got loose on the Alexandria VA city site. WONDERFUL! The Planning and Zoning Department page is a fountain of information, very well arranged by customer interests, not by the department generating the information. NOW we're talking transparency in  government. This page makes the reader think "this city is DOING things!"

Is it Stew Yet?

Time for a little recap: we've completed 20 posts, and looked into a number of different elements that make downtown tick (or not...)  Are we getting anywhere? We're stirring the pot and we are finding ingredients– a lot of ingredients!

Cooking up a city is like cooking up any recipe: any two different chefs will get two different results. And that's the beauty of it in terms of developing a unique downtown with a sense of place. We may use the same ingredients as many other cities, but with luck, our result will be perfectly suited to us.

Historically, downtowns started with the physical layout, and we are still enabled by, and hindered by, our infrastructure. But we've learned that by adding a big dollop of community and mixing well, we get an entirely different dish; one which holds together much better. However,  community won't set up unless you sweeten it with teamwork, an elusive ingredient which must be carefully hand-milled. And you have to cook the whole thing in a vessel of vision, or the ingredients will never get the chance to reach their full potential.

So this recipe is a far cry from what might be easiest: take a two-lane street with a median and turn lanes, add lights, seating and flower pots every 50 feet (or is it 25?), be sure the business windows are clean, and run a nice advertising campaign. Those are all tangible items, while everything we are finding important is intangible, and nobody can tell us how much is enough or too much. It's even hard to describe where to get some of these ingredients.

There does seem to be a commonality, though. All of these ingredients–community, teamwork, vision– only grow in a bed of strong communication. We'll need to know our market (tangible) and we'll need to decide who (City, Merchants, Chamber, Partners–tangible) is in charge of what (physical infrastructure, web site, recruiting, marketing–tangible). We'll need to decide who will nurture, grow and distribute the different kinds of information that we need (tangible). And we need to agree where we want to go (yes, tangible.) And at that point, we might be able to whip up those intangible ingredients and celebrate a culinary success.

The Power of Youthful People

Did you read about Youth Venture's latest projects in the Nashua Telegraph today? In a partnership with United Way of Greater Nashua, Youth Venture evaluates student teams who apply as a Venture Team to create, run and manage  a team that provides a sustainable community benefit. Approved teams earn a one-time grant of $1000 to launch their project.

Isn't this a great example of effective leveraging? United Way, who has funds and know-how, works with Youth Venture, who knows students and have know-how, and Nashua Community College, who have students and know-how, to recruit students to select a project and propose a solution. Hopefully, the insight that the teams have into youth problems and solutions will make them especially effective. Meanwhile, the students are learning entrepreneurial skills and making a real difference in their community. Most teams involve collaboration between high school and Nashua Community College youth.

What kind of projects? Well, 21 different teams have been approved in the past four years. In the most current group, Team Make A Scene is tackling cleanup of Nashua outdoor spaces, partnering with Nashua Parks and Recreation. Urban ABC's will provide alternatives to graffiti with weekly art classes and creation of public murals. These young people are really investing in our community. Thanks to the Youth Venture and United Way leaders for paving the path.  More information at United Way.

Community CO-OPeration in Action

 Manchester Food Co-op Steering Committee members Linda Purdy and Veronica Kamerman with guest Jeff Wheeler, President of the Littleton NH Food Co-op at the community meeting March 11.

What fun to see an organized, inspired community group going to work to achieve their goals! Such a group is the Manchester Food Co-op Steerng Committee, inspired by chair Veronica Kamerman (photo left). The group is in the first of three phases, organizing. Soon, they will move into a feasibility stage, then onto the implementation stage. Guest Jeff Wheeler described Littleton NH's journey along the same path, having just opened their co-op this past May.

At the very informational community meeting there were very valuable co-op technical details discussed, but there were three especially great take-aways for those of us Seeking Downtown. First is the great history of "pay forward" that co-ops have. Existing co-ops will go way beyond the call of duty to help forming co-ops. Littleton had great help from the Hanover co-op, for example, and Littleton is already helping Manchester. Co-ops are a BIG community.

Secondly, one of the reasons that Veronica gives for being so passionate about a co-op is that it will begin building a sense of community in Manchester. Co-ops are run by their members, and typically have a low share price - $25 to $100 with time terms available. The members make all the decisions for the co-op, and the store takes on the aggregate personality of the members. Veronica seeks to locate the co-op downtown (although the feasibility study will drive that train) to get a central, focused group of people achieving a common cause. Linda Purdy, a graduate student documenting the co-op's journey as part of a Masters Degree, is adamant about ensuring that the community is inclusive of all income groups; other members are looking forward to the diversity of ethnicity that a co-op can inspire.

And finally, Manchester Alderman Garth Corriveau (photo right) was in the audience and rose to encourage the group to do as much outreach as possible. Get on the city radar: introduce yourselves at a public comments section of the Aldermanic Board; go on Public TV; connect with InTown Manchester; connect with the Y; speak to Rotary, the Chamber and other Civic Groups.  Cast the next widely to include as much of the community as possible.

This takes us back to the "if you don't tell them, they won't come" adage. But it is more than that. I've seen innumerable hours of Nashua City meetings, and few organizations use the public comments platform to build community. What if the Board of Aldermen issued an invitation each week to an organization to come and speak for two minutes on "What are you doing that builds community in the city?" Veronica Kamerman would have an answer.

"Museum-This Way"

Sometimes, this traveler seeking downtown feels like the Energizer Bunny marching endlessly on a huge tabletop full of obstacles. Bumping into them, going around them, sensing the need to change directions are daily occurences. Once in a while, just as the Bunny teeters perilously close on the edge, a new concept--a new direction--calls and he is saved for the short term.

Okay, a little overblown, but it sure feels good when a solution to a sticky problem volunteers itself. For example:

Having arrived at the point of understanding that communication is a major component of putting the community back into downtown (hmmm, communication...community) the study group was analyzing how to get information out. Make specific tourist topic brochures. Duplicate a map of artist locations. Print a handbook of historic building walks. Distribute them to various appropriate locations.  Overwhelming–– when comes to the rescue, fanfare please: "Wayfinding."

Wayfinding has grown rapidly out of the burgeoning area of graphic spacial applications. Companies specialize in it, universities teach it, the government issues grants for it. Wayfinding begins with signage, and in my generation, the Dark Ages, that meant those shoe-leather brown signs with cream-colored type that say "Museum." Well, not any more. Wayfinding at its best is a form of story telling, and it can direct and interpret various threads in the fabric of our cities. (For an eloquent description, see Municipal Wayfinding and the Visitor Experience by Mark Denton of fd2s, a Wayfinding and Environmental Graphic Design Firm based in Austin, TX.)

This is not to say that it is easy. You have to have your branding and graphics in place, target markets nailed, historical and cultural attractions inventoried, and signage zoning updated. And then, you still have to storyboard what you want to tell. But what you don't have to do is depend exclusively upon paper brochures or elusive web sites to be kept in inventory and discovered for people to find their way. Wayfinding is woven into the fabric in the community.

Sounds like a plan to me. Just be sure to put in the RFP that it can't be shoe-leather brown.

The Invisibles Won't Be

Clearly, if you're going to be successful in a downtown revitalization project you must identify and collaborate with capable partners.  Everything is an overlap - take vacant floors and build affordable housing; use the City's empty waterfront as a site for a partner's recreational or retail project; turn an unused building into a downtown daycare and primary school with the help of a partner.

LISC (Local Initiative Support Corporation) builds healthy and sustainable communities. Since 1980 LISC has invested 9.6 billion dollars, which has leveraged 29.5 billion in total development. Everything––homes, schools, retail, child care, clinics, parks and facilities. Their money and a lot of partners. LISC is a professional partner, providing loans and knowhow for community projects all across the US in five areas:
    * Expanding Investment in Housing and Other Real Estate
    * Increasing Family Income and Wealth
    * Stimulating Economic Development
    * Improving Access to Quality Education
    * Supporting Healthy Environments and Lifestyles

 Bay Area LISC Native American Health Center
from the LISC site

This is the first list I've noted with the goal of "Increasing Family Income and Wealth." But–– why wouldn't it be a priority? Go head––do cosmetic surgery, add some new retailers and activities, build condos for empty-nesters near the restaurants––we still haven't spoken to the needs of many of the residents who live downtown.

Every town has an unemployed or underemployed segment of residents, especially in the current economic downturn. How would you feel living right in the middle of a city, knowing or sensing that many changes are going on, then realizing almost none of them apply to you? Being invisible is not a great incentive to teamwork.

Of course, solving this problem is not easy. Even LISC shows way fewer projects in this area than real estate, economic, education and health projects. Of course, they are a lending and real estate based group, so that would be what comes easiest.  They get points for taking ownership of the problem, but unless we do something about solving it, the Invisibles won't be.

If They Ask What You Think, TELL THEM

An open meeting for the purpose of citizen input doesn't sound like the most exciting way to spend a morning, but it turned out to be pleasant as well as educational. Nashua NH is a high-tech, entrepreneurial town with a higher than average family education and income, so citizens can be articulate and insightful. Add to that a passion for a subject–the arts, family values, history–whatever, and 2 to 4 minute snippets of personal reflection become little jewels.

The Board of Aldermen of Nashua are holding a series of four meetings, one in each quadrant of the city. Each meeting asks the same four questions and allows attendees to speak on the record about each one:

• What qualities of Nashua make it a great place to live?
• What qualities, services, or facilities would make it an even better place to live?
• On an average day, what things about the City impact the quality of your life?
• In the area where you live, what issues cause you the greatest concern?

At the two meetings that have been held so far, the participants expressed similar thoughts on the good qualities of Nashua, and the list got to be extensive.  Suggestions for additional qualities, services or facilities surfaced at least 30 excellent suggestions. Impacts and concerns were a little more predictable, but a few stood out as real insights.

The format was informal, so it gave people an opportunity to introduce themselves to each other and to compared ideas as each wrote their thought on a separate color-coded sticky note. It was, yes, the elusive "sense of community." Thanks, Aldermen!

The Aldermen have two more intake sessions to go, then a lot of work to assimilate the data and report it back to citizens. The consolidated information will be added to the city's baseline Strategic Report to update the 2003 document and new thoughts where needed.

The meeting was definitely not a yawner, even on a beautiful pre-spring Saturday morning. Several participants even asked if they could attend the other sessions. The Aldermen gave a resounding "YES! - Bring your friends!"  It will be fun to see if the number of attendees grows as the series progresses.

Brands Aren't Just For Cattle Any More

Nashua NH is ready to go through a Branding process. While the concept is easy to understand with cattle, toothpaste and tee shirts with a logo on them, the idea of a brand for a city is a little fuzzier for me. But one of the major problems with a downtown is that each visitor can come away with a different idea, and each merchant can emphasize different, maybe even conflicting qualities. And all of our ads and communications are radically different and vary in levels of professionalism.

City branding usually consists of creating a perfect tag line–"Alta, Utah: Way Up There!" (Just kidding, but you get the idea.) Add the right abbreviation for the city: Hendersonville is a long name to put on city banners, sooooo, "H" it is, in the right type font. And then a color palette, from which signage and banners will be chosen.

It's deceptively simple, but amazingly successful. The corker that puts it over the top is when the city encourages the use of the logo, tag line and palette, and it starts sprouting up all over. Voila! mission accomplished.

There are many books and web sites, and consultants, that specialize in Branding of cities. But, if you are looking for a good read while learning the ins and outs, check out downtownbranding.blogspot.com. Blogmeister Ben Muldrow IS a Brand designer and Partner at Arnett Muldrow & Associates in Greenville, SC. Ben says he has designed projects in over 130 communities.

What's fun is that when you see the illustrations on Ben's blog, the power of Branding comes into focus better. Here are some examples from the blog:
A photo shows the new Reidsville NC brand (sort of an "at" sign with an "R" in the middle) used on an intersection in the city. Very cool. I don't know if Reidsville NC used to be cool, but it is now.

A brief summary of the Opelousas, Louisiana project hit home for me, a closet Cajun accordion player and fan of Opelousas. The new logo, color scheme and tag line, "PERFECTLY SEASONED." are a perfectly seasoned gumbo. Good job!

Hendersonville, NC, will now be forever a special "H,"  with the tag "REALGenuine." And it works. I love the embellishments on the "H" and the tag over the seasons. Hendersonville has a CD with a style guide, templates for ads, color specs, printing instructions and the digital art that people can obtain and use. The whole town's graphic savvy and look just notched up about 5 points.

Well, I wonder where our Branding excursion will take us here in Nashua. Are we pink? Are we a serif font? Will we be able to come to agreement, here in the Gate City of the  "Live Free or Die" state? Mostly, I hope it doesn't take too long.

Now, go to http://downtownbranding.blogspot.com/ and check it out! Be sure to read the Wisconsin story.

Recruit Your Way To The Top

Many downtowns who have successfully revitalized have used the technique of recruiting businesses: planning the mix, looking for anchor "tenants", negotiating right of first refusal with landlords around town. One expert, N. David Milder of Danth Inc., wrote a thoughtful book, Downtown Business Recruiting, with many insights on other subjects as well. Moreover, Mr. Milder has published the book as a 117 page .pdf file on the Danth.com web site, where he consults.

Several of Mr. Milder's comments caught my attention, as they seem to be a little out of the mainstream. For example, many revitalizers swear by the practice of asking businesses and customers what businesses they would like to have fill empty storefronts. Mr. Milder says most of these plans do not work out. The mix of stores must be carefully planned around niches, or specialties that go together to make a whole greater than the sum of the parts. Never lose sight of the fact that finding tenants is about economic development, he admonishes.

Another interesting chapter in the book describes the personality of cities at various stages of sophistication in revitalizing. From the "Do-nothing" program, through Downtown Marketer, Deal Maker, Table Setter, and Targeted Program, Mr Milder describes the most likely actions and results, as far as long term success with the business mix. If you work in urban planning, you will find each person you know in one of these categories, and smile as you recall some of the meetings you have attended together.

Here in Nashua we'd be wannabes in the Table Setter category. Not a bad group to be in, but often unsuccessful in the end, Milder says, if they lack certain specifics such as large commercial spaces, and abundant pedestrian traffic. Oops...

Mr. Milder stresses that the recruiting process is a sales job, pure and simple. Sell the downtown as the right place to be, sell the property as the right place to buy or lease. Active, not passive, planning and recruiting is required. 

To read this book, go to Danth.com and click on the button "Business Recruitment Book" at the bottom of the home page.