[Imc] I fear we are killing our downtown

[Danielle Chynoweth]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 22:11:13 -0500 (CDT)
From: Danielle Chynoweth <chyn at che.onthejob.net>
To: motto at pdnt.net, "! Whelan, Joseph" <josephwhelan at msn.com>,
     "! Hayes, Jim" <jhhayes at city.urbana.il.us>,
     patt esther b <e-patt at ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>,
     ISEN/Laura Huth <isen at prairienet.org>, rewyman at hotmail.com,
     "Satterthwaite, Tod" <tfsatterthwaite at city.urbana.il.us>,
     "Waaler, Jack" <jwaaler at city.urbana.il.us>, ehtyler at city.urbana.il.us,
     bkwalden at city.urbana.il.us, "Adair, Eddie" <adaireb at city.urbana.il.us>
Subject: I fear we are killing our downtown

This weekend, the Independent Media Center, of which I am a member, held a
regional conference on independent publishing.  They hosted an arts group
"Bookmobile" from Montreal which parked an airstream in front of the IMC
and gave tours all day Friday and Saturday of hundreds of books by
independent publishers from around the world.  This was their art
installation which was featured in CU City View.

300 people, some from as far as Madison, Chicago, and Springfield, came
for this event.  Friday night was more activity than downtown Urbana has
seen in months.  It is the epitome of what every block in downtown Urbana
should look like in the evening.

The manager of the Office agreed that he was benefiting from the
pedestrian traffic and "had no problem with the Bookmobile" being outside
his doors.  Indeed the Office has indicated that they have seen increased
revenue since the IMC, which now hosts events nearly every night of the
week, opened up in downtown.

The IMC had approached the city and meters had been bagged for three
spaces for the bookmobile.  At the height of the evening, there were
dozens of people talking on the sidewalk.  The police came and ordered the
installation to pack up and leave.  She said she received a complaint.
Eventually the owner of the bookmobile - an out of town guest, in the
middle of the art event, in front of dozens of visitors to the bookmobile,
was ticketed for "obstruction of traffic."  I was embarrassed for the City
if Urbana.

You will say - "they just didn't have the right permit" - and maybe you
are right, I will investigate that. But this is part of a larger trend.

Is this what a healthy downtown is - an "obstruction of traffic?!"  I am
incensed that we would treat an art event in the downtown this way.  I am
incensed that we make it so difficult for the downtown to thrive by
overlegislating and overreacting, nit-picking, or blaming business owners
for not having every piece of paperwork in order.

I am writing this to city staff because I want to give a clear
illustration of how and by what means the downtown is dying.  This is one
of many stories I could tell.  I am writing this because I refuse to give
the News Gazette another reason to dump on Urbana for being
"anti-business."  And I am writing this because I plan on doing what I can
to pull the downtown up by its bootstraps.

We now have the ability to hang signs over our businesses to announce our
existence to pedestrians.  I want to see an incentive package for small
business that is at least as attractive as Champaign.  First floor spaces
in downtown should be zoned for retail only - not office, whicle
grandfathering in the current offices on the first floor.  There should be
service guarantees for people opening businesses in downtown, just like
Build Urbana.  You should be able to get an inspection pronto.  Priority
should be given to inspections in TIF 1 and 2 areas.  Certain empty retail
spaces should be "pre-inspected" for certain kinds of business -
restaurants for example - so that they can be marketing as an "easy
move-in."  If we want more warm bodies on the street - more life - we
should allow sidewalk dining for free and make the permit easy to get.
Street vendors should be encouraged.  Theater and art should not be
enforced out of existence. The police should play the role of mediators
rather than merely ticketers where public safety is not in emminent
danger.

I am proposing that we treat the downtown as a "special place" so that
activity is, at best, stimulated, and at least not hampered.  So far we
have done so with streetscape and cheap parking, but boy do we have a long
way to go.

I welcome response and collaboration.

With the best intentions,

Danielle

 --
| Danielle Chynoweth
|
| Graphic Design Director * OJC Technologies * www.ojctech.com
| Alderperson, Ward 4 * Urbana City Council * www.city.urbana.il.us