When we think about recruiting Minnesotans to move to South Dakota, we often think about selling Minnesota's city dwellers on the merits of rural life. Fresh air! Big skies! More chance of dying in an acc—
Ahem. But that shouldn't be our whole pitch. We can find plenty of rural and suburban Minnesotans who want the convenience of downtown living. That Sioux Falls paper brags about its own resurgent downtown:
When Sarah Carnes moved from Minneapolis to Sioux Falls a year ago, she knew she wanted to live downtown.
“I liked the idea of walking to work, especially coming from Minneapolis, where rush hour was taking years off my life,” she said.
The 27-year-old, who is chief operating officer for the online marketing company 9 Clouds, likes being part of the downtown community and having restaurants and shopping at her doorstep. It’s an exciting time to be downtown, she said.
...“I came from a ’70s, fabulous apartment in Minneapolis. It’s definitely an upgrade for me,” she said.
She knows she could have gotten by with cheaper rent elsewhere in Sioux Falls, but she pays the same price as she did in the Twin Cities and said living downtown is worth the cost [J.L. Atyeo, "Living in the Heart of Sioux Falls," that Sioux Falls paper, 2013.07.28].
Did you catch that last line? Quality of life isn't just about lower cost. People are willing to pay a price for amenities that free them from commuting. South Dakota shouldn't market itself as a haven for cheapskates.
Neither is quality of life about endless growth. Jay and Lian Zea improved their lives by moving downtown to smaller digs:
Realtor Jay Zea and his wife, Lian, have lived in every type of home there is. But when they downsized, it was to a two-bedroom, two-bath loft in the historic Carpenter Building on Phillips Avenue.
“We’ve been here five years. We just can’t visualize where we’d want to go,” Lian Zea said.
The Zeas love to be in the city’s center, within walking distance of restaurants, entertainment and shopping. They like to watch parades and summer events from their bay windows that face Phillips Avenue.
“It’s very convenient. It’s a very different style than living in suburbia,” Jay Zea said [Atyeo, 2013.07.28].
Whatever size loft or apartment or condo folks like, getting them to live downtown is essential to getting businesses to thrive downtown. Surburan design assumes that people will drive everywhere. Good downtown design recognizes that people enjoy not having to crank up the Model T to get a beer or a book or a box of raisin bran. Develop quality apartments in and around your downtown, and you build in a market for downtown businesses:
“You’ve got to have housing use before you can get some of those things to follow,” said Craig Lloyd, CEO of Lloyd Companies, which has three downtown residential projects in the works as well as a hotel.
In the past two years, 38 new businesses have opened, according to numbers from Downtown Sioux Falls Inc.
“If you don’t have a strong downtown, you don’t have a strong city,” Lloyd said [Atyeo, 2013.07.28].
I haven't heard Madison's downtown improvement committee talking about any residential projects yet. They should take committee members on a field trip to Sioux Falls, visit the Carnes and Zea apartments, have lunch on Phillips, then bring their ideas back to Madison. Downtown Sioux Falls is an excellent example of how residential development can be the egg to hatch more business development.
(p.s.: None of the downtowners interviewed cited gun ownership or open carry as major factors in their enjoyment of the downtown lifestyle.)
Just over a year a half ago, I stopped in a store around 11 am on a Saturday morning a couple of weeks before Christmas. I was their first customer of the day. Downtown was almost deserted except for a crowd of cars in front of Stan's.
Everyone went to Sioux Falls for their Christmas shopping. Unless you can change that fact, downtown retail is very tough.
Changing where people go for their big-ticket, once-a-year purchases is tough. But densify residential around a downtown core, and you create a more sustainable market for everyday shops and restaurants.
It seems that most trends in large cities trickle down to the next level, so this is not a surprising development. The suburbs of the MSP (Minneapolis/St. Paul) metro have stagnated while building downtown apartments is hot. The post-Boomer generations aren't interested in long commutes and sinking their money into fuel pumps. Amenities within walking distance are very popular. In addition to higher density population, businesses are making tracks to get in on the bonanza. Two grocery stores are opening soon, a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's. Old warehouses are remodeled into lofts. It's an exciting time for the city core.
One of the really wise choices made by local government was keeping sports arenas downtown. Target Field (Twins), the Dome (Vikings), and Target Center (Timberwolves) are in downtown Mpls. The Excel Center is in downtown StP. The new Vikings stadium will be built in the footprint of the old. Developers just got approval for an enormous project next to the stadium which includes high rise office, retail and residential buildings. All will be built around a park.
All that being said, I very rarely go downtown Mpls or StP. Too much cost because I have to pay for parking, in addition to finding a place to park. When I do have to go, I usually drive to a closer stop, then take the train.
As so far as solutions, encouraging future off-campus living to be located downtown, imagine if the Plex housing north of town had been built downtown, let alone the playhouse or the community center, and embracing a college focused effort to downtown development, and essentially creating a district that would act as a base to build a business climate around. Many college towns start with students downtown, they naturally become hip places, then professors and staff move in, then retired couples move in because of all the places to eat and shop, it's just convenient. Add to that, a weekend tourism train from Sioux Falls, and we might just have something.
You forget Chris, the college owned the land north of campus. It's convenient for the students to walk to the DSU Fieldhouse, the Community Center and the main campus without the use of a car.
that's true Michael but its a pretty long walk in the cold of winter
Well, a you could argue that the student athletes are best served with a location near the Fieldhouse (which itself could of been located closer to campus, or downtown to begin with) although the Plex housing is still an unconnected, for the most part, remote, part of the campus, that its non-student athlete residents have no real plus at being located. Imagine if the college had instead focused southward, towards the existing infrastructure and development, and used downtown to develop a meaningful campus extension, one more tied to the community. One of the big design knocks against DSU is how visually removed the campus is from the surrounding neighborhood, the stacked circle of parked cars, the lack of a natural open entryway. Now imagine if downtown was filled with new thoughtful construction, small 3-4 story buildings, with retail at the base, student living above, and using Egan, Harth, and Washington as gateways to connect the two, wide lighted walkways, rather than sprawling northward, completely removed from the community. I wonder how a more connected campus plan would relate to improved student experience and more importantly, the retention rate after Freshman year.
My folks lived near downtown Sioux Falls for years. It was within walking distance for my mother to get to work. The problem is most of the work has moved out of the downtown area. In Sioux Falls and other Midwest cities it's cheaper to build in the outskirts than it is to redevelop downtown. I think housing follows jobs, rather than the other way around. Folks that do most of their work on-line probably can do it anywhere, so downtown works for them.
A few more six-month winters should thin the herd.
"I think housing follows jobs..." Hmm. I wonder?
It seems like in downtown Mpls the important attraction for residents was shopping and entertainment within walking distance. A variety of stores, especially food stores seemed critical. Folks want to be able to meet all their daily needs without needing to drive anywhere. Neighborhood parks and dog parks matter too.
I don't think walking to work is as important. Rush traffic sucks so badly that people prefer mass transit. That's why trains and buses are receiving so much attention and investment.
Just want to be clear, I am no expert in urban planning. But this is what the local news reports and governments are focused on.
http://missoulian.com/news/local/children-s-science-museum-spectrum-moving-to-downtown-missoula/article_59aae4b2-f8b9-11e2-bf28-001a4bcf887a.html
or course in sioux falls there would have to be a corresponding creationist counterpart....
Indeed, we're not going to see a new factory or Costco or school built downtown. And it's as important for some people to live close to work as it is to live close to groceries and play. Of course, in traditional suburbia, you're not close to either: the houses are segregated from all commerce, the development takes place on larger lots, and roads are laid out for cars, not pedestrians.
The article says new businesses are opening downtown; it would be interesting to see a jobs breakdown that tells us how many workers inhabit downtown each day and thus how many jobs are available within walking distance of that area.
Mass transit does become more important when you have a dense urban core; parking takes up valuable real estate! That dense development also makes mass transit more viable, as the bus can count on finding more customers per block.
"The article says new businesses are opening downtown; it would be interesting to see a jobs breakdown that tells us how many workers inhabit downtown each day and thus how many jobs are available within walking distance of that area."
Like you I would love to see the break down and by income. My guess would be that many who work downtown could not afford downtown living.
College towns need elevated walk and ride ways for pedestrians, runners, and very light electrical vehicles. Separating them from pickups pulling stock trailers and trucks spewing diesel fumes, ladies yakking on cellephones as they drive alone in Chevy Suburbans, etc would make all kinds of sense. Development of the light electrical vehicles could be an industry in itself.
Connect schools, colleges and downtown.
On the note of connecting DSU and downtown Madison, I'm surprised we haven't added bike lanes along Egan, especially north of 2nd, which is already quite wide, just for the simple reasoning that it would appeal to students touring the campus, and to parents as well, just a nice touch. Other additional things to consider is adding pedestrian operated crosswalks on several of the intersections connecting to downtown, especially along 2nd and Washington, to stop traffic and make it far safer to navigate on foot, and thus encouraging foot traffic rather than auto traffic into the corridor.
People pontificate until they, or unless they won't accept the culture.
Another thing, about living downtown now, according to what I hear, the rent is high, plus the stores and restaurants are expensive.
This is only slightly related to this discussion. Two days ago I saw a very generous Good Samaritan action. Two cute little blond children only old enough to walk across a street were trying to get back across a four-lane in traffic.
Apparently a lady getting gas at a local gas and scat saw them. She left her car by the pump. Ran out into the street and stopped traffic and walked the kids across the street. Than ran like hell back to her car.
Separating such pedestrian activity from traffic seems like a good idea to me.
That is especially true in Madison Doug. We have a five-lane main drag that people have never grasped. Possibly the worst drivers in South Dakota. Wide turns into wrong lanes, stopping traffic by not using the turning lanes, no blinkers...and on and on it goes. They did not lose the Lake County Speedway, they just moved it to 2nd street in Madison.
(Priceless last line, Wayne!)
Doug, I'll be happy to get those pedestrians away from the road wherever possible. Where we can't create that separation, we need to slow that traffic down with controlled crosswalks. Healthy neighborhoods will say to people, "You and your feet are welcome."
Better design for pedestrians and other non-motorists is essential to downtown development. Fortunately, some local and national policymakers are moving toward designing cities around people, not cars. As with most sensible policy movements, South Dakota should catch up with that trend in about twenty years.
Madison doesn't dream big. It's a conservative town with its feet on the ground (which isn't all bad). A rabbit will not become a duck. Maybe that rabbit will learn to swim, but don't expect a DNA change. If you're old enough you'll remember Jimmy Carter was attacked by a mean rabbit while canoeing, so this is possible. But if a person wants to live in a place significantly different from Madison (or SD generally), they need to find that place and go, or accept and appreciate what's here. If you're a stubborn dreamer, go find happiness.
Do people and places that are dysfunctional have an obligation to change?
They do, if they recognize it, but much of this is perspective. There are many people in Madison and our state (the majority) that like things basically as they are now. After a while I'm reminded of the Serenity Prayer.
I took your advice John, sold and bought on Lake Madison, it was a great change for us. Neighbors only come on weekends and will not be there at all after the snow flies. No five lane roads and no race track :-)
Is that where all the movers and shakers have gone, Wayne? And do they/you now all go to Sioux Falls and Brookings for your shopping and entertainment?
Interesting questions you posed CH. I still shop in Madison all the time since I am in town every day, in fact B and B is at my place as I type this. But folks out there have given me suggestions and they are all in Sioux Falls or Brookings, no service providers from Madison. Other than coming in to church occasionally I think Madison is off the radar. Sadly...
I forgot to answer your first question. YES, many of the movers and shakers have moved out there. (I am not one anymore) Lots of business owners live at the lake. Plus it has a much different (urban?) feel than our 12 years in town.
Just to toss this out there. Why is having Lake Madison all but removed from true public access a good thing for our community? With so much of the surrounding shoreline in private hands, and with the county moving to turn the gravel pit to a private campground, it seems like more of a loss for most of the town than it is a benefit, especially if these neighbors aren't exactly coming to Madison anyhow for their goods and services. Once we loose the last remnants of public access, does it matter that there is even a lake there?
Who's happy? The happy map will tell you: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/02/happiest-states-_n_3696160.html
John! I probably skewed our score with all my darn negative tweets. :-D
Interesting map, we sure seem to stick out. Also the chart regarding happy countries and it made me think about a friend from Norway. Without a doubt the happiest guy I have met in Madison. Always looking at the bright side of everything. Now a Prof at Niagara University.