Downtown leaders face a parking conundrum. On the one hand, urbanists have long preached that cities underprice parking at the expense of pedestrianism. Yet visitors and merchants often hate any hint of rising parking prices and more expensive parking tickets. Add to the mix, hourly downtown workers, grappling with inflation, and it’s more difficult than…Continue reading
It’s no secret that Downtown Pittsburgh has a poop problem. The mayor has publicly lamented the issue, and downtown visitors and workers would be hard-pressed to miss the reality. Pittsburgh’s public defecation and urination have grown so extreme that the Building Owners & Managers Association of Pittsburgh hired a local college, Point Park University, to…To read more — login/subscribe
Kiosks in Santa Cruz, CA (top), and Denver, CO (bottom). Downtowns big and small grapple with the challenge of building a roster of successful merchants. Many have taken a proactive approach by offering pop-up spaces and kiosks for start-ups seeking a place to do business without a prohibitive upfront investment. Executed properly, pop-ups and kiosks…To read more — login/subscribe
Amid a wave of mass shootings nationally, downtowns have been the locations of a number of unfortunate incidents. On New Year’s Eve 2022, one person was killed and nine were injured during a mass shooting during a concert in downtown Mobile, AL. Earlier in the year, seven people were injured in a shooting in downtown…To read more — login/subscribe
Motorists in downtown Columbus, OH (est. pop.906,528), are being told to slow down. The Columbus City Council voted unanimously in February to reduce speed limits on all downtown streets to 25 mph, which reduced speed limits by 10 mph along many roadways. The move came after an increase in pedestrian fatalities and speed-related crashes. Matt…To read more — login/subscribe
When the tobacco industry left Danville, VA, decades ago, it left the downtown with massive inventory of vacant space. There was no easy solution, Danville lacked the population and wealth to attract national retailers. The city also lacked a core of local merchants. "There was a lot of infrastructure, but really not a robust business…Continue reading
Most of downtown Dayton, OH (est. pop. 137,581), has become an outdoor drinking district, a move downtown leaders say creates cultural vibrancy and economic vitality. The Dayton City Commission approved legislation in May that replaced the original Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA) in the city’s entertainment hub, known as the Oregon District, with a new…To read more — login/subscribe
Cities make big investments in streetscapes, parks, and other downtown amenities. But Roger Brooks, head of the Destination Development Association, says you can bring energy and life to your downtown with just a small budget. Instead of focusing on large scale public projects, he advocates for low-cost gathering spaces, or plazas, which can be programmed…To read more — login/subscribe
A century after two small towns in Oregon lost their trolley service, the transit option is back, in a modified form. Thanks to $3 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), Monmouth, OR (est. pop. 10,735), and neighboring Independence, OR (est. pop. 9,850), are now connected by a trolley. The trolley doesn’t…To read more — login/subscribe
Workers in downtown Grand Rapids, MI, will plant thousands of flowers and shrubs along with hundreds of trees this year. "It’s incredibly important for a lot of reasons," says Melvin Eledge, director of operations at Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. "We saw during the pandemic how important green spaces and beautiful places are to people. It…Continue reading
