Downtown

 

                Why do some downtowns thrive, while others die? What can we do to improve our own downtown, so that it remains vibrant and healthy? Mark and I tossed these questions back and forth as we drove across the country in July, wandering through desolate and deserted places, followed by booming towns with the latest building codes.  We formulated and tested theories and this is what we saw.

A functional downtown has:

1.       A solid economic base. This is the most important aspect of a thriving downtown. Towns that had at least two of the following were thriving: a county seat, a college or university, a hospital, or manufacturing with middle class wages. If there is no solid economic base, there is nothing.

2.       A small block grid makes it easy to negotiate downtown on foot or in a car.

3.       Fifty percent old buildings help by lending charm and variety.

4.       Slow moving traffic.

5.       Not a tourist economy—practical businesses.

6.       A mixture of uses—food, clothing, drugstore, offices. There has to be a reason to go downtown on a Tuesday afternoon, not just to buy a tomato on Saturday.

7.       Far enough away from a big city that it cannot pull economic development out of town.

 

So, towns can build bioswales on streets were every business is empty (Tucumcari) and nothing will change. We can make our downtown pretty, and people will come down for a summer afternoon, but that won’t help keep businesses alive. Or we can have a vibrant economic base, not based on the interstate, and naturally support our downtown.