ABetterShreveport BLOG: Some food for thought on downtown revitalization

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Some food for thought on downtown revitalization

Here's some news stories germane to our projects:

How to get big retailers into constrained downtown spaces--like BordersBooks in downtown Baton Rouge in the article here.

How to target specific stores for downtown that offer something different from the 'burbs.

And two "Smart City" stories from NPR:

How connecting a city through greenways can increase civic engagement.

And how to design parking downtown.

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Ideas & Projects

General Quality of Life Projects:

a dog park: increasingly it's an expected city amenity. At the least it's a fenced area where dogs can be off leash. Often it's a social gathering place--for the owners as much as the dogs--and can have water, benches, gazebos, etc.
a food coop: could be just a place to pickup orders with minimal necessary space. Jen Courtney runs one now out of her car.
an every day, year-round, farmer's market: Arden and Kevin Kennedy tell us Ruston has one that's every day; Lafayette has one that's year-round; could Shreveport?
a building materials reuse coop: a community run facility for recycling building materials and preserving historic structures in the city (such as furthered by the the Building Materials Reuse Association, and as exemplified by this one in Boston, or this one in D.C.) Dr. Steve Shelburne and USAF Ret. Major Dan Marcalus are enthusiastic proponents of this idea.
a bicycle coop: a community run facility for bike repair education and tool-sharing (such as these in Austin, New Orleans, Fayetteville, and D.C.)
h igh speed local rail--or normal passenger rail--through Shreveport to Dallas and Jackson; what is the status of this project?
improved bus service: think driving your car is so much more convenient and enjoyable than using public transit that it outweighs the environmental harm it does? Then you probably haven't lived in a city with a public transit system. And don't blame Sportran director Gene Eddy; he uses it himself and wishes it could be better, but his funding keeps getting cut.
the Coates Bluff Greenway: a multi-use path through the forest, including educational nature and history signage that could run from E. Washington and Youree to Stoner Ave. going behind Magnet High School; nature trailhead already establish at Savoir St.
a bicycle & pedestrian plan for the city; with one in place specific projects can be advanced more easily; support can be developed and funds acquired; projects such as:
painted bike lanes, "sharrows" and bike boulevards to increase driver awareness of cyclists, cyclist sense of security, cyclist knowledge of recommended bike routes, and--in the case of bike boulevards--cyclist priority and low speed limits.
www.bikeSB.org: a resource for those biking for transportation with maps, tips, and events
installing bike racks in the interests of bikers, property value, art, and the city's future; if a business has a bike rack, it show it wants to have a city where people can bicycle for transportation, and if has an artistic one, it could raise it's community profile and property value. Many an artist would accept a commissions to build a rack that would help advertise a business.

Upcoming Meetings and Events

ABS meetings are Mondays 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. in room 103 of the Wright Math Building on Woodlawn Ave., across the street from Magale Library on the Centenary College campus.

Radio Show every Monday at 5pm on kscl, 91.3.

Many are themed, such as these meetings from last year:

September 12, Coates Bluff Nature Trail

August 29, Capacity Building Presentation, Jennette Ginsburg

August 15, Coates Bluff Planning Meeting IV, Jon Soul

August 9, Dog Park Alliance Fundraising Training

Amy O'Prye

August 1, Bayou Pierre Bridge

July 25, Ron Heezman, Director of Caddo Parish Library System

July 18, Dr. Gary Joiner, Civil War Mound at Future Dog Park Site, Hamel Memorial Park

July 11, Coates Bluff III Meeting, Gary Hanson, LSUS Red River Watershed Management Institute

June 13, Downtown Library: topic TBA

June 6, Community meeting on nature trails and bike ways (Steph Pedro & Jennette Ginsburg)

May 30, Kings Highway and Youree Drive Intersection Renovation and Redesign (Steph Pedro & Jennette Ginsburg)

May 23 Downtown and Shreveport Common & Transit Hub (Demerath)

May 2: Shreveport Common & Magnet High Buses (Demerath & Manning - CoChairs)

April 18: Debriefing from Saturday's Community Meeting (Pedro and Demerath - Chairs)

April 11: City Fit Challenge (Sabra Hicks - Guest)

April 2: Bike Transportation Grants; Centenary role in Coates Bluff (Pedro and Demerath - Chairs)

March 28: Adjudicated Properties (Bonnie Moore & Malcolm Stadtlander Guests)

March 21: Property Taxes (Steph Pedro - Chair)

March 7: Coates Bluff (Jon Soul - Chair)

February 28: Education (Brian Salvatore - Chair)

February 14: The City Bond Issue (Liz Swain - Guest)

February 7: Downtown Zoning (Bill Pogue - Guest)