RSS
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
From NBC4i.com:
Necessities Needed To Attract Downtown Residents
By Denise YostAccording to a recent study by Boulevard Strategies, 5,000 residents live in downtown Columbus. But more people work downtown than live in the area, even though there is a desire to.
Viewers said they like all the new option popping up downtown, but they want to make sure grocery stores are available like the Giant Eagle in Victorian Village, the Kroger in the Brewery District or the North Market.
Residents also want to make sure they’re safe. Police said that less than one percent of the aggravated assaults in the city happened in downtown last fall, adding that it helps that police headquarters is located there.
I disagree. As a downtown resident, I must say my priorities are pawn shops and bail bonds.
I just liked the headline of the original story “Necessities Needed”. Hee hee.
Good article. I am actually impressed they included the CPD stat at the end of the article.
As ZHC noted on another thread, residents first followed by amenities. It’s kind of chicken and egg.
ETA
I don’t think anything can combat the crime misconception. A lot of it is just the typical view people have of any urban space. About the only thing that combats it is personal experience. If you’re already of the opinion that downtown is “unsafe”, chances are you won’t venture there to really see through first hand knowledge. I see comments from people who claim to work downtown who even talk of how bad it is-which is/was drastically different from the downtown I experienced. Open minds can make the world better. But they have to be open.
My point was that it’s not chicken and the egg actually. :-)
It’s residents then retail almost every time.
What will happen is if you get enough residents in a small area you will get the positive feedback cycle going
residents=>some retail (shops like mine and bodegas maybe)=>more residents=>more and better retail (groceries etc)
etc.
at least that’s what we’ve always seen happen.
The chicken and egg was more my input. But, you’re right it’s nearly all residents first.
New park would have plenty of security, officials say
BY JOHN FUTTY
The Downtown park proposed for the site of Columbus City Center mall would be dubbed Columbus Commons, but it wouldn’t be maintained by the city.
The mall’s nonprofit owner, Capitol South Urban Redevelopment Corp., will be the developer and operator of the park.
The group is committed to a design that “puts security in the forefront,” she said in response to citizens’ concerns that the park could become a haven for crime.
“An empty, cavernous mall is a bigger security problem than a park. The (park’s) layout, landscaping and lighting will be designed with security in mind.”
A team of two Columbus police officers on bicycles who patrol the Downtown streets would be among those keeping an eye on the park, said Sgt. Matt Harris, who supervises officers in the Downtown precinct from 3 to 11 p.m.
Comments posted on The Dispatch Web site and callers to talk-radio shows have expressed concerns about the park attracting gangs and the homeless since the proposal was revealed Wednesday.
But Harris said crime and homelessness aren’t significant problems in other Downtown parks.
“We will get calls occasionally of a homeless person sleeping in a park or a homeless person panhandling someone,” he said. “It’s not an everyday call Downtown is not crime-ridden.”
Did our local media turn a corner and finally start doing research and investigative journalism?
Another here:
“From City Center to Columbus Commons, a plan has been set in motion to redesign the center of downtown and it sparked a flurry of feedback from NBC 4 viewers and nbc4i.com users.
There were more than 50 responses on how the plan for City Center is going to work in a city that is struggling with massive budget problems.
One person said, “How about getting us out of the red and keeping us safe with more police officers. A green park is nice, but $165 million?“
NBC 4‘s Mikaela Hunt found taxpayer money that could theoretically be used to help with the city’s budget will not be used for the majority of the project.”
I think the crime misperception can be fought, particularly given that there’s actually substance (meaning that it’s actually trying to move the perception into line with reality rather than trying to paper over an actual rash of crime downtown). Perceptions are primarily established at the surface level, particularly perceptions that will be made from a distance through the media. The short version is that appearances do matter. Vagrancy, vandalism (even minor vandalism like graffiti), and even litter all give the impression of a neighborhood that’s rough around the edges. Empty city streets, especially if poorly lit, are also forbidding and unsettling, particularly to people who’ve grown accustomed to a suburban environment; unfamiliarity breeds unease and silence breeds tension. If you look at a strip of four businesses and see a bail bondsman, a pawn shop, a cash advance center, and a liquor store, all with grated windows, you’re going to get certain impressions about the neighborhood. The same applies if you see a restaurant with valet parking, a gelato shop, a financial services firm, and a spa products boutique, each with unbarred windows and ample exterior lighting. (Keep in mind that most people will be seeing these in captured time in newspaper photos, or for fleeting instants on TV, so the first impression is likely to be the only one. Also note that I’m shamelessly talking only about appearances here, because impressions are formed largely by appearances, regardless of the underlying reality. Dublin could be a wretched hive of scum and villainy, but still not *look* like it.)
So crime is a non-issue and North Market is Downtown. The only thing missing is a good chinese place that delivers. Oh wait.
The real problem is a “grocery perception problem”. This one always gets me. You can drive less than 5 minutes (or a 15 minute walk at most) from the center of downtown to 1 of 4 places for groceries. The empty nesters relocating from the burbs to downtown can’t even get that kind of proximity in their existing locales. Enough already.
Right, but the issue is still real, I think at least. One, I think a lot of the empty nesters (and others) who are moving downtown are doing so to gain the option of NOT driving to the grocery store. 15 minutes is a pretty long walk with armloads of groceries as well (and the bus, while loaded with parcels, is no treat). Two, even if it’s merely a perception, if it’s limiting the downtown resident numbers, let’s fix it instead of debating it. Encourage and recruit a few small, bodega style grocers to open in the area or, even better, do whatever it takes to get a Trader Joe’s or something similar.
I’ve heard there’s a local entrepreneur with a great track record who wants to launch a bodega/grocery concept. What are the chances that CDDC/CapitolSouth could incentivize this project for downtown. If it’s one of the main things from preventing the sale of some existing condos and the development of more, you’d think it might be worth their while to throw a bit of money her way for it.
I love the North Market, and support the shops therein quite frequently, but I have to point out, that a grocery store its not. If I’m in the middle of cooking dinner at 7 p.m. and realize I’ve forgotten an ingredient, I can’t run to the Market to pick something up. Similarly, if my cat runs out of food…NM down the street isn’t so helpful.
From my perspective, when people say ‘grocery stores’ they mean little markets within easy walking distance. For example, if I were to buy a place at ’8 on the Square’, I would want some type of place to grab everyday items and fresh produce within 2 blocks and for the money I’m paying for the place, I dont think that’s too much to ask.
There is a convenience store about a half block from 8 on the Square (on High) that sells milk, bread, eggs, some canned & boxed goods, wine, frozen food, snacks, and accessories like batteries and umbrellas and such. I don’t think they’re open super late (maybe 7pm) but they do have Saturday hours too.
I think I know the place you’re talking about, but I wouldn’t consider it the ‘market’ people are looking for. It looks more like a gas station store without the gas station.
I don’t mean to pick on you Walker, but subbing a convenience store for a proper bodega (a la NYC w/ fresh fruit arrayed outside) is just a ”make-do” answer rather than a response to the demand that potential residents have. That doesn’t sell downtown living. It comes off as arrogant as well like the person asking didn’t know what was there rather than knew and found what was there didn’t meet their needs.
As Core says, the response is to fix the problem not to tell people there isn’t one.
A.
re: 8 on the Square – isn’t there a CVS about a block away?
I did love the “where do you shop for groceries?” question when I lived smack downtown. Suburbanites just couldn’t fathom that I could get to and from a grocery store (and a better variety of them, at that) faster than they.
The CVS is great, and I would def. use it often …. but again people want more. So how do we fix this problem? Small market ‘markets’ are sold to potential customers by offering the freshest produce/goods and the ease of being able to grab it quickly (5-10 minutes). For this to work, obviously you need residents who can become loyal daily customers. Luckily, with the River South Condos/Apts, 8 on the Square, and the soon to be Columbus Commons; I really believe one of the new Lazarus storefronts can support this. Hell, if I had the capital I’d start it myself, but I dont so now the question is ‘who does?’ ….. with the right city backed incentives I think Walker has a pretty good answer with his link above.