Discussions

This thread was started for Robert Vincent Harris II, who asked the age-old question of how to get people downtown.  
 
Robert, for me, the first requirement is knowing that the stores will be open. This is one of the reasons that malls do so well. Consumers can rely on the stores in the mall being open. However, there is no policy for individual businesses to maintain hours in the downtown area.  
 
I understand that this poses a problem for the downtown businesses. First, they would have to invest in the extended hours without being guaranteed of a return. Secondly, some business owners might invest in this at varying degrees. If 5 of the 10 business owners invest, the other 5 can sit back and wait for the others’ investment to create traffic, THEN open their doors for extended hours.  
 
This must be why the downtown improvement board (I forget the official name of it) was initially created. Require everyone to invest, pool the money and create the traffic. Unfortunately, the board was not successful for many reasons.  
 
What downtown needs for evening traffic is night life. A few restaurants and/or lounges with outdoor patios, coffee shop, ice cream shop and an atmosphere for an evening stroll.  
 
You mentioned that people are reluctant to go downtown because of the homeless, street people or mentally ill. This concern would be minimized if there was traffic, lighting and a sense of security.  
 
The vision would require a huge initial change.If it is gradual, too many businesses will not be able to keep their doors open waiting for the concept to fully materialize.  
 
Downtown businesses need a big commitment by not only themselves, but also a legitimate, well-run organization to create the vision, monitor the progress, commit to a time line and see the project to the successful result. Good luck on that. Too many past failed attempts don’t instill much confidence in investors, including the tax payers.  
 
Honestly, there are a lot of people who would love for Brandon to have the evening, downtown atmosphere that we see in the bigger cities. The downtown businesses and the organization dedicated to creating the concept would all have to stay committed, ignoring the nay-sayers and the constant criticism of small town minds.