Press "Enter" to skip to content

Madison Citizens Offer Commission Visions for Downtown Development

Last updated on 2014.06.02

I think we're winning.

That's a strange thing for me to say after coming home from a Madison City Commission meeting. Madison's leaders often respond to citizen input with defensive and condescending hogwash, and we heard some of that last night. But we also heard clear signals, both on the record and off, that Madison may be ready for a little paradigm shift toward serious investment in downtown revitalization and community democracy.

My first cause for optimism (this is going to turn into more than one blog post) is that six people came to the commission last night to talk about their ideas for downtown development. An artist and historian, a businesswoman, a retired Tea Partier, a knitting novelist, a French teacher and blogger, and a telecommuting IT guy and storm chaser—that's a pretty diverse group, and not one is a member of any of the local elites groups that usually control the agenda.

Our hope was to turn last week's tap dance about a downtown development task force into real action. We thus began by offering the commission five volunteers—Shirley Harrington-Moore, Ashley Kenneth Allen, Gayle Maberry, Eve Fisher, and Lavonne Riedel—who are willing to serve on any committee the city forms to work on downtown improvement.

Eve Fisher started by saying Madison's big problem is a lack of vision and strategic planning for its economic development activities. For a long time, Madison has simply played the Toyota lottery, trying to replicate the success it had four decades ago when it recruited Gehl. But Fisher said that in today's post-industrial economy, the big dollars are in services and tourism. She said Madison should look to places like Helen, Georgia, and Hill City for models of making an entire town a destination.

Gayle Maberry agreed with Fisher that Madison needs to rebuild downtown with a combination of retail and entertainment that draw people. She said that whenever she visits another town, she likes to see the original old buildings downtown. The quality of a town's Main Street says a lot about the community's success. Maberry said Madison needs to build on the inherent charm of downtown. She knows a lot of buildings on Madison's Main Street are in tough shape: she just acquired a second building to expand her Four Seasons Flea Market. The building was a mess, she said, but restoring these downtown buildings can be done, and it's worth it.

Dean Kooiker called for folks to get back to shopping locally. He emphasized the economic power of dollars cycling through the local economy. He urged the city to educate people to keep as many dollars as they can in this community.

Shirley Harrington-Moore said she picked Madison over Brookings when she moved four years ago. She wanted a town with a bookstore and a yarn store. Alas, our Main Street bookstore folded last summer, and Harrington-Moore bought the last yarn at Pamida's closeout over the weekend. (We don't know if the incoming Shopko will carry the craft items Pamida provided.) She says we need books and yarn back on Main Street.

Harrington-Moore said we could use a downtown movie theater with three-dollar matinees. When people come downtown for a movie, they also window-shop the neighboring stores. Movies and similar entertainment downtown bring customers for retail. Harrington-Moore also suggested a larger arts space. The Madison Area Arts Council provides a good space on a shoestring budget, but the Brickhouse is cramped. Harrington-Moore says local artists and crafters could boost downtown retail with a larger Main Street co-op storefront where they could sell their painting and knitting and hold classes.

I took a few minutes to talk to the commission not about what specific downtown development plans they should adopt, but about how they should develop those plans. The "community" thrift store proposal floundered not just because it was a bad plan, but because it was developed without community engagement.

I sketched for the commission the basics of a World Café conversation: instead of convening a task force of the usual suspects to meet behind closed doors and come up with a plan, a downtown revitalization push should start with a series of public meetings. Get people together in a big downtown building (I offered to help DeLon sweep out the Masonic temple), set out a bunch of round tables, and get everyone talking. Put everyone in small groups, and pose them questions: What do we need downtown? Why don't we have those things now? What can we do to get those things?

Keep that process open to everybody. Document everything. Share everything. Build downtown in a process that doesn't just make people feel like decision-makers, but in which they really are decision-makers, working toward a consensus on community goals and actions.

Ashley Kenneth Allen summed up our questions and suggestions with the question of the decade: "What are we waiting for?" Jerry Johnson said last week that he heard talk on the commission ten years ago about how we needed to do something about downtown. We've got ideas. We've got money to throw at the Lake Area Improvement Corporation for economic development, which so far has produced only mixed results. Why wait?

Allen called on the city to change its outlook and ordinances from a focus on industry to a retail revitalization effort. If Madison can kickback sales taxes for industrial expansion, why not kickback dollars for retailers who expand downtown? He called on the city to bring economic development in house, to create its own public office of economic development, and dedicate staff and money to strategic planning and downtown development.

Boy, you wouldn't know Madison had all those good ideas for downtown if you got all your news from the paper, would you?*

A lot of people spoke up at the commission meeting, and a lot of people attended to hear those ideas. I take such signs of civic engagement as great cause for optimism that people in this community recognize we have problems, want to hear ideas on how to fix those problems, and want to act to solve those problems.

The Madison City Commission took no action on these proposals. We all need to keep working on that. But in response to our presentations, and in response to Julie Gross's pitch afterward for $260,000 in public funding for the LAIC, we heard signs that our leaders may be turning the corner in recognizing the need for doing the downtown development for which we and our crumbling Main Street storefronts are clamoring.

I'll tell you more about that... right after I get some breakfast!

*Update 17:07 CDT: Chuck Clement updates his Madison Daily Leader late-night special with fuller coverage of the meeting in today's paper. He changes his headline to say we urged rather than argued for downtown development. He still misses Dick and Gene's snarkiness... and he misses the really big story of what appears to be a paradigmatic shift at the LAIC.

KJAM's Sue Bergheim also reports, with audio!

9 Comments

  1. John Hess 2012.07.17

    It seems funny we don't hear from those who run businesses downtown and those who own the buildings.

  2. caheidelberger Post author | 2012.07.17

    Well, we've got Gayle offering her example of commitment to downtown business. But yes, I would like to hear from more downtown business owners and landlords. How do we fill those storefronts? What will it take to update those buildings?

  3. larry kurtz 2012.07.17

    Global warming may be Madison's salvation, Cory; but, until winter stops coming to Lake County, your town will always be seasonal because those who can afford it will flee from November to March or April.

    In the short term, expect continued capital flight and watch low ball real estate transactions to make one or two investors very rich.

    In the long term? Watch that rail bed.

  4. larry kurtz 2012.07.17

    Three funeral directors: does Skroch from Flandreau also serve Madison?

    So, florists flourishing, too?

  5. Becca 2012.07.17

    I still hold hope for my hometown! I'm glad the commission is finally starting to listen. More people in the community, more business owners, do need to get out and be vocal, start talking, sharing ideas, brainstorming. Hey, could this be a good topic for a high school business class perhaps? Or a business class at DSU? You never know where the ideas are going to come from.
    Omaha is big on creating these little niche areas/communities that draw people in with local shops, restaurants, small movie theatres, etc. Perhaps Madison could draw some ideas/business models from that?

    I look forward to seeing more of what Madison residents are going to do to keep Madison running and start it growing!

  6. caheidelberger Post author | 2012.07.17

    No Skroch action here that I know of, Larry. But I try to avoid pricing funerals. ;-)

    Becca, there is always hope! We could definitely learn from our visits to Omaha and other happening metros. Sure, some things may work in a major metro that won't port to small towns, but the basics of creating vibrant and attractive public spaces (third places!) and identifying the niches that set us apart and create unique draw apply big and small!

  7. Linda 2012.07.18

    Madison has a beautiful building gracing the corner of Main Street visible to all who drive thru town. Why not make use of the old Mason's building? It could be an arts center, a tourist info center, maybe have an espresso shop on its south side with that parking lot turned into a small outside park/cafe. It would have made an ideal setting for John Green's studio and sales center and be front and center for anyone coming into town. There was once a store in the basement; maybe that could house some of the arts etc. Maybe the building is in bad shape; I don't know, but it just seems that it could be a draw for Madison in some way. Couldn't you just see pamphlets featuring that historic building as the home of John Green's art studio and other South Dakota art works in tourist stops across the state? Watertown has the Redlin studio in a distinct building; Madison could do the same thing.

  8. caheidelberger Post author | 2012.07.18

    The building is in bad shape, Linda, and it would take big dollars to fix. But it's doable! Taking advantage of the visibility of that corner should be a no-brainer for community marketing.

  9. Becca 2012.07.18

    Two areas of Omaha that I think Madison would benefit from looking at would be Aksarban Village and Midtown Crossing.

    http://www.aksarbenvillage.com/

    http://www.midtowncrossing.com/

    Granted, several things from these areas will not work in Madison (such as the various night clubs, the oh-so-many restaurants), and the set-up for the areas is not quite conducive to downtown, but the idea of an easily accessible place where young and old can gather to check out shops, eat, have a drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic), walk around, listen to music, etc., can be transported to any town/city with the right minds working at it.

    I would love for my town to be known to my friends as something other than the town with the white buffalo, where we stop to visit my family before heading back to Sioux Falls for a night on the town. I would love for there to be more for my husband and daughter to do in Madison when we come to visit, so they would want to stay there rather than in Sioux Falls. I want there to be things for my niece and nephews, my parents, my brothers and sister to do in their own town. I want to see Madison thrive.

Comments are closed.