Last week, the 5 Downtown Neighborhood Associations hosted a town hall forum with Mayor Foster and City Manager Pat West.  Over 250 residents packed the Courtyard Marriott ballroom to discuss retail recruitment, open space, port pollution and Downtown development.
 
The associations that participated were the East Village Association, the West End Community Association, Willmore City Heritage Association, St. Anthony’s Neighborhood Association and the North Pine Neighborhood Alliance.
 
This meeting was by far the largest gathering of Downtown residents in many years.  It was great to meet new neighbors and to connect with other community activists.  I served as the meeting’s moderator and tried to get to as many questions and comments as possible.
 
Many subjects were discussed including the current business climate, the environment, solar energy, policing, new developments and Downtown visioning.
 
Here are the three themes that were mentioned the most:
 
1) Our current retail recruitment strategy is not working.  The residents do not believe that the current city retail strategy is working.  Pine Ave is suffering from empty spaces and the current city plan of going after the retail “home-runs” (H&M, Urban Outfitters) needs to be supplemented with some “doubles” and “triples,” which could include independent cafes, markets and boutique shops.
 
2) Our greatest asset is not our Port, it is our Ocean.  There were numerous questions about the negative pollution impacts of the port.  The Mayor addressed many of these concerns at length and assured us that positive progress is being made.  Residents also brought up concerns about the trash on the beach and the breakwater.  The proposed re-routing of the river from the beach into the port was also discussed.
 
3) We need to re-think and expand our open space.  There were calls for new green space and bike lane expansion and connectivity.  The city was encouraged to continue sustainability efforts and to continue work on Armory Park.  City Manager West mentioned that the city is still actively looking at options for park space in the St. Anthony neighborhood.
 
What do you think are some of the major issues facing Downtown?  Leave your thoughts below…