Downtown Idea Exchange

• With many office workers still staying home, downtowns try to woo them back
• City uses pandemic pause to encourage bicycling
• Cities sacrifice ownership of City Hall for downtown redevelopment
• Downtown merchants ask for surveillance cameras, but some worry about privacy issues
• Three ways to offer more shade downtown
• Three strategies for helping micromobility programs achieve their promise
• Matching funds boost downtown businesses
• Idea Exchange: Quick Tips and News from Around the Country

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Dogs bring new life to underused park This summer, the City of Jackson, MI, opened its first dog park. The downtown has seen a housing boom in recent years, with hundreds of new apartment units added. The park, which is located a short walk from downtown, will give local dogs a place to roam off-leash…To read more — login/subscribe

 

The federal government is directing hundreds of billions of dollars to states and cities, a windfall that has downtown leaders nationwide positioning themselves to get a piece of the pie. In March, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan (ARP) into law. The initiative calls for $1.9 trillion in economic stimulus, including an infusion…To read more — login/subscribe

 

New Orleans’ French Quarter once was the rare entertainment district that allowed revelers to drink while they strolled public streets. However, many small cities not known as party towns are getting in on the act, a trend that has been accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic and the new reality of outdoor dining and drinking. In…To read more — login/subscribe

 

Starting in July, diners and shoppers in downtown Nashville, TN (est. pop. 692,587), will pay a bit more for burgers and T-shirts. Tennessee lawmakers and the Nashville Metro Council approved an increase in the downtown sales tax rate to 9.75 percent from 9.5 percent. The tax increase will generate $2.4 million to be spent on…To read more — login/subscribe

 

The coronavirus pandemic gave downtown leaders an opportunity to rethink how streets are used. In many downtowns, streets were closed or narrowed to make way for sidewalk dining and pedestrian traffic. Those are the sorts of changes that urban planners Danial Iacofano and Mukul Malhotra have long championed. In their book Streets Reconsidered, they lay…To read more — login/subscribe

 

The little town of North Bend, WA (est. pop. 6,983), enacted a form-based code for its downtown in June, making it the latest municipality to embrace this type of zoning. Earlier this year, Fort Smith, AR (est. pop. 87,895), approved a form-based code for its downtown. That city’s zoning changes, which aim to make downtown…To read more — login/subscribe

 

For delivery driver Matt McCullough, finding a place to park in downtown Aspen, CO (est. pop. 7,431), was often a challenge. But a new curb-management system has made his workday much easier. Aspen is one of four cities of varying sizes testing software from Coord, a New York City-based company focused on parking programs for…To read more — login/subscribe

 

Might air taxis someday soar over the congestion in your downtown? Skeptics will scoff at the Jetsons-like improbability of the concept, but several well-funded transit innovators say that the next step in ridesharing is just around the corner. In one noteworthy development, Joby Aviation, a California company building a fleet of mini-helicopters, recently partnered with…To read more — login/subscribe

 

Welcome back to work Working downtown has many benefits and in Milwaukee, WI, this includes the annual Downtown Employee Appreciation Week. The event includes something for everyone from morning meditation and lunchtime giveaways to music and office challenge games. In 2020 most of the events were virtual, but downtown workers and the event will be…To read more — login/subscribe