Discussions

For decades, the thought on downtown redevelopment was to take on one big challenge then move onto the next. That turned out not to work very well - most cities have a giant downtown mall surrounded by empty storefront retail to prove it !. En vogue now is the holistic approach - tackle it in smaller bites on a number of fronts.  
 
The Massachusetts Main Street Initiative was a pioneer of this approach and came up with "7 Building Blocks for Downtown Revitalization" into which all these little projects fit:  
 
1. Encouraging community involvement & ownership  
2. Preserving & enhancing downtown character  
3. Ensuring economic vitality  
4. Promoting downtown assets  
5. Getting into & around downtown  
6. Living downtown  
7. Keeping downtown safe  
 
Here's the question on this, the eve, of the downtown summit: if the "downtown genie" appeared and gave you three (practical, under $100,000 ea)wishes downtown what would the be ??