02/11/02  Fixing Downtown

I don't know how you to get work but you must use a helicopter if you have not noticed how bad the streets are downtown.   Some of the bumpiest and uneven streets in the entire city are downtown.   I suggest you ride one of DART's trolley buses and feel every bump and dip in the downtown core.  

I live in the old city council District 6.  We have the worst streets in the entire city and they are not getting any better.

As for your paper's crusade to fix downtown, there are few issues that you are forgetting about that make it difficult for downtown to become lively again.

#1 Homeless people - there is a large population of homeless people who cluster around the downtown shelters, city  hall and the library.   Until this community deals with the problem, a large part of the southern half of downtown can not prosper.    They need some form of permanent housing whether it is single room hotels, dormitories or studio apartments.  They need medical help, job training and treatment of their various problems to make them useful members of society and not just street people with no place to sleep except the streets.

#2 Far too much of the land downtown is tax exempt whether the arts facilities in the Arts District or the
land by various non-profit groups.   In either case, these folks consume tax dollars and do not generate much if any income for the city.   There should be a limit on the amount of tax exempt property in downtown.  Perhaps, a fee in lieu of taxes could be imposed to help defray the costs incurred.

#3 Parking lot owners gouge folks who come downtown at night or on weekends.    The cost for parking may be $2 all day but $5 for night parking or weekends.  This discourages people from coming downtown.

#4 Another element that needs greater focus is too locate a 2nd rail line downtown on the south side.  It should go from around Union station along either Jackson or Young street to connect to the Pearl Street Station.   This might help reduce the need for buses going on downtown streets.

#5 As for retail, the next store downtown needs to be a big grocery store like an Albertson's.  I would build it on the east side on those empty parking lots that are not used beyond the Adams Mark Hotel.   It would be close to all the housing on the other side of 45 and Woodall Rodgers.

#6 If you had the money, I would bury I-45 underground from south of I-30 to where it connects to 75 Central and cover Woodall Rodgers and make the space over Woodall Rodgers a place for parks and restaurants.

Just some of my thoughts on this subject.