"Do more with less," is a catch phrase managers love to say and workers hate to hear. It's also one we're hearing
ad nauseam in today's economy. And just as regular Joes and Janes are tightening their belts and getting creative with the monthly budget, so too must local officials accommodate revenue streams and tax rolls that are in free fall. It also means that expensive projects like streetscape redesigns and downtown marketing efforts must be shelved while DDA directors find more cost-effective ways to move their city centers forward.
With that mandatory austerity in mind,
Metromode is highlighting a quintet of local initiatives that are helping increase downtown vibrancy in their respective communities. The best part of these ideas is that they are either free or can be done quite cheaply.
Wyandotte NEZ
Getting people to build anything these days is next to impossible, thanks to the shortage in financing and gun-shy creditors. Nevertheless, Wyandotte is laying the groundwork for a little downtown renovation boom, something Ypsilanti and smaller downtowns like Saline and Chelsea might want to watch.
Wyandotte officials are working on giving the central business district a special Neighborhood Enterprise Zone (NEZ) designation. Normal property owners in Wyandotte have to pay 48 mills of taxes, but people in a NEZ only have to pay 17 mills. This newly proposed NEZ would let downtown business owners improve existing upper floors (second floor and above) without increasing their tax burden. Those who build new floors will have to pay just 17 mills on the new space.
This new policy, which could be implemented as soon as August, encourages a number of downtown building owners to turn vacant upper-floor space into new lofts. Gilbert "Gib" Rose, owner of Chelsea Menswear and Willow Tree Women's Fashions, plans to turn the vacant second-floor space above one of his businesses into the Lofts at Willow Tree.
"It's currently vacant and promises to be vacant for a long time unless we do something creative like this," Rose says.
The space had served as a salon for years before the owner moved into his own downtown building last year. Rose says there is little demand for second floor commercial space in small downtowns these days, but the opposite is true for residential.
Rose gives the example of a second-floor downtown apartment he owns in Wyandotte. He says that it has served as a residence for 35 years and has been quite popular the whole time.
"That apartment has never been vacant - for even a day," Rose says.
He believes the same will hold true for Willow Tree. Rose plans to turn the 3,800 square feet of old salon space into four apartments. He has hired a local architect, Tom Roberts, to design the apartments and hopes to begin work soon after the NEZ becomes a reality. City officials hope the new NEZ will bring more people downtown, help spread more money around local businesses, put more people to work, and spur more investment in downtown's historic structures without costing the city any money.
"There is a lot of interest in doing this sort of thing," Rose says.
Birmingham bistro license
Downtown Birmingham parking spaces aren't just for cars anymore. They are for patrons of local bars and restaurants, too, when it's warm enough.
The city recently rewrote its bistro license to encourage downtown establishments to offer more outdoor seating. The only problem is narrow sidewalks and parallel parking spaces often don't leave enough room for patrons, pedestrians and automobiles. So city officials permitted the option of eliminating parking spots to make room for patrons. Considering Main Street Ann Arbor's bustling restaurant scene, this might offer a the next best option to a summertime pedestrian mall.
Birmingham's new bistro license allows businesses to build a platform in the parking spaces in front of their storefront. These platforms provide space for more outdoor seating and for pedestrians to pass on the sidewalk. The city liberalized its liquor laws so servers can walk across the sidewalk to serve alcohol, and the restaurants or bars pay what it costs to park a car in that space during the time.
Dick O'Dow's took advantage of these new bistro licenses two years ago, building a small deck into the parking space in front of its small storefront. That provided room for another six tables with 24 seats, or an extra 10 percent of capacity for the popular restaurant/bar.
"We have 24 seats that are always busy that we wouldn't otherwise have," says Mitch Black, owner of Dick O'Dow's.
It also helps the downtown in a lot of ways that would make Jane Jacobs smile. The new policy excites the sidewalk and makes the area more inviting by aiming eyes on the street scene. It also allows the city and the local businesses to fatten their revenue streams in an economy where that isn't easily accomplished.
"It helps us in a lot of ways," Black says. "It gives us increased visibility. People walk by and it's more inviting."
Hamtramck bike racks
Not all street furniture is created equal. Some pieces are special, serving dual purposes. Hamtramck is making the most with its pieces.
The poster child for urban diversity attached small bike rack loops to its parking meters on Jos Campau between Holbrook and Caniff. The dual-use parking meter/bike hoops were added as part of a streetscape project in 2002, ensuring that there are as many parking spaces for bicycles as cars on the city's main drag - a must in a dense place.
"Hamtramck is an urban community that is very walkable and bikeable," says Darren Grow, director of the Hamtramck Downtown Development Authority. "A lot of our residents walk or bike."
He adds that the bike racks are heavily used during the warm-weather months. They also clear extra space on the sidewalk for pedestrians and street furniture, like benches, and trees. It also sends a message that non-motorized traffic is valued as highly as automobiles in the multi-ethnic enclave.
Although Hamtramck is the only Metro Detroit city to apply this practice, it's far from alone. Montreal puts similar-yet-smaller bike racks on its parking meter stakes. The Canadian megacity does this while still utilizing the new solar-powered electronic parking meters, which are similar to the ones being installed in downtown Ann Arbor.
Similarly, Los Angeles is converting its old parking meters to be more bike friendly. There is also a nationwide movement to preserve parking meters as bike racks in progressive metro areas like Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco.
While there's little doubt that Ann Arbor provides more places for cyclists to lock up than any other city in Michigan (and the "ART" stands are very attractive), one has to wonder why the city's recent parking meter changes didn't take Hamtramck's dual function approach, making the new posts double as bike locks. Maybe those green stall designators can still be upgraded to accommodate two wheel commuters.
Open Wi-Fi
Few things make people with a laptop or smart phone as happy as a viable Internet connection. The faster and freer the better. Ypsilanti is providing this sort of service in its downtown and Depot Town business districts, gratis, thanks to Wireless Ypsi.
The initiative, which is run more like a non-profit than a business, does this with Meraki technology. The Google-funded start up uses off-white transmitters that look like a child's walkie talkie to connect Internet hot spots at local businesses, institutions, and homes. The transmitters use the extra bandwidth from the hot spots to create a mesh-like net of Wi-Fi coverage. Patrons can log onto it for free and surf away at any time.
"It’s brilliant. I love it," says Elizabeth Parkinson, vice president for marketing and communications at Ann Arbor SPARK. "It's a very smart way to provide that service."
She loves it so much that she logs onto it when she is at SPARK's new business incubator in downtown Ypsilanti, even though it has a T1 connection. A number of other fledgling start-ups at the incubator take advantage of it on a daily basis.
"It's very convenient to pick up and move on from meeting to meeting," says Barbara O'Connell, partner with WhereToFindCare.com, a new tenant at Ann Arbor SPARK's East Incubator.
Wireless Ypsi started with just a few blocks of downtown Ypsilanti early last year after local activists Steve Pierce and Brian Robb decided to give it a go over a beer and a burger. Today it covers all of downtown, Depot Town, some of the city's major parks, and parts of its neighborhoods.
The service covers parts of Ann Arbor (but not its downtown), Whitmore Lake, Superior Township, Dearborn, and Trenton, and is spreading north into Oakland County with a testing site planned for Clawson. Pierce is even talking about expanding as far as Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the Florida Keys.
Given Ann Arbor's topnotch start-up culture a similar wireless plan for its downtown would seem to be a no-brainer.
Jon Zemke is da man with the revitalization plan. He's also Metromode's and Concentrate's News Editor. A version of this article previously ran in Metromode.