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  Downtown Revitalization Focus Group Orientation Binder

  Ten Input Ideas for Downtown Revitalization Thousands of ideas were generated and all will be considered by the Focus Group.
  
  1  Rosper - Arts Festival.
  Make a beautiful bridge area downtown with sculpture featuring native American influences harkening back to the areas’ roots.
  2  Molton - King Lincoln Heritage Festival.
  Restaurants along the river, shops and a board walk. Loose a bit of the conservative edge and keep them open a little later in the evening. Offer a Riverboat restaurant, boating rental opportunities for the general public and more music activity along the river. Use the park in front of COSI more.
  3  Jimmy - Youth Forum.
  Build a skate park somewhere downtown where people can skateboard, BMX, and Rollerblade. A gaming store would be good too. Kids like me need hobby’s to stay out of trouble.
  4  Sarah - College Symposium.
  Columbus needs to think NYC, the city that never sleeps. More affordable (not $300,000 +) housing in the downtown area. Also increase mixed use retail, especially grocery stores and basic services. Focus needs to be placed on South High Street.
  5  Llana- Gallery Hop.
  Doing great. The ice rink in winter and kickball on the lawn in summer is great. Get City Center on the right track - a Whole Foods or even Target would be great. We need some dinner places that stay open late. More places to go post-show (around the Ohio and Palace) for desserts and/or drinks. And just advertise it more around town.
  6  Anna - Gillie Center Mini Pride.
  Develop a community of people that live downtown especially in some affordable housing so there are more people who can support retail and restaurants.
  7  Kharna - Gallery Hop.
  By investing in the downtown area to make it more vibrant by investing in public transport, and bike lanes, I think the city could present itself as a progressive and livable city which will attract workers and employers to the area. Invest in the streetcar system - don’t miss the boat.
  8  Columbusite - Gay Pride Festival.
  For Columbus to be great it just needs to follow the basics of good urban planning; buildings close to the sidewalk, mixed-use residential with shops, etc on the first floor, parking always hidden in the back to keep the fabric of the city woven together. Orient Columbus towards people primarily making cars secondary.
  9  Laurie - Greek Festival.
  Make sure you cover ALL of downtown with vibrant parks and the rest will come back!
  10  Lisa - Greek Festival.
  Doing the riverfront improvements can help to move downtown to be a true mixed use area. We need to mix activities within distinct districts of downtown as people only move within small areas of downtown.

Downtown Revitalization

Focus Area Members:

Member	Organization
Alex Shumate (Chair)	Squire, Sanders, and Dempsey
Kevin Wood (Chair)	Downtown Residents Association
Dale Heydlauff	AEP
Diana Rife	Crawford Hoying Smith
Donna Carstens	King Thompson
Dr. David Decker	President, Franklin University
Dr. James Ford	Downtown Dentist
Jeff Mathes	Owner Due Amici
Joel Pizzuti	Pizzuti Co.
Kate Christobek	OSU Undergraduate Student President
Larry Ruben	Hartman
Liz Lessner	Owner Bettys, Tip Top & Surly Girl
Mark Jones	Downtown Resident Ass.
Mary Jo Green	Time Warner Cable
Tina Guegold	Nationwide Realty Investors
Todd Kleismit	Ohio Historical Society
Trudy Bartley	Diversified Development Group

Meetings:	Work Session 1 - Notes
	Work Session 2 - Notes
	Work Session 3 - Notes

Focus Area Description: Downtown is everybody’s neighborhood. The Columbus Downtown Development Corporation will be undertaking a master planning process in 2008. That effort will occur within the umbrella of Columbus 2012 and should integrate with larger citywide priorities established as part of this visioning process, as well as the 2008 Bicentennial bond package.

Key Question: What do we need to have the best downtown in America?

Public Input about the Focus Area: Citizens want a vibrant, active, successful downtown. Contributors were universal in their desire for downtown to be a hub of special activity within the city. Many pointed out that downtown’s success is critical for the health of the entire central Ohio region. Efficient and reliable public transportation to downtown was cited as a major resource that is needed for an active downtown. As well, many respondents talked about the need for improved retail options so residents had the services they need and central Ohioans would be attracted to shop downtown. The revitalization of City Center was mentioned frequently as a barometer for the health of downtown. Finally, parks and the improvement of the riverfront were cited as needed investments to create a vibrant core of connected parkland in the heart of the city.

Public Input Themes for the Focus Area:

1. Improved bike, pedestrian, rail and bus transit connections throughout the region are critical for a vibrant downtown. Transportation connections represented another means by which downtown revitalization could happen. Many see the need to connect downtown with the successful surrounding neighborhoods through bike paths and improved sidewalks, whereas others view effective public transportation throughout the region as the key to encouraging more people to visit downtown.
2. Create an active park system downtown including improved riverfront parks that encourage more cultural events. Increased parks and a connected riverfront park system are key considerations for an improved downtown. Many of the festivals in which public input was gathered were in parks along the riverfront and contributors felt these experiences could be enhanced with a more connected and usable riverfront park system.
3. Downtown needs more retail options including restaurants, shops, grocery stores, and a redeveloped City Center. Re-invigorating the retail component is critical to draw more people downtown and attract people to choose to live downtown. Redeveloping City Center is a pre-eminent concern as many respondents recalled fondly coming downtown to shop at the mall and also see the site as an opportunity to provide needed retail components for the city. Many also comment on how important it is to have establishments that remain open past the workday.
4. Downtown Columbus should be a safe and clean 24 hour a day activity zone. Every respondent expresses the desire to have a downtown that is bustling with activity at all times of the day and night. These sentiments are expressed in different ways; contributors point to the successes of other cities like New York and Chicago while others look inward at successes like the Arena District and the Short North. However everyone desires a vibrant, active downtown environment full of activity zones that provide many complimentary uses for all types of people from young singles to families and the elderly.
5. A wider range of affordable housing options should exist downtown. Respondents feel that focusing on providing affordable housing downtown will lead to increased activity, enhanced retail options, and a more vibrant city.

Think Outside the Box...