Right Now Downtown

They vied for your votes via video.  The competition was fierce.  And the final margins were razor thin.

Congratulations to the 2010 Show Your Love Contest Winner (drum roll please…)

Dirty Frank’s Hot Dog Palace!!!

Thanks to all of you who voted for your flav-o-favs!  With hundreds of votes cast, J. Gumbo’s fell short of the winner’s spot by a mere three votes, with Jack’s Diner, last year’s Show Your Love winner, and Burgers Dogs and Fries in hot pursuit.

Now the love showing worked both ways.  By voting for their favorite lunch spot, food fans were entered to win free lunches from our featured downtown restaurants: Barrio, Burgers Dogs and Fries, Caffe Daniela, Dirty Frank’s, J. Gumbo’s, and Plantain Cafe.  Congratulations to our winners who now know that there is such thing as a free lunch:

Erika Haske
Trish Mester
Alyson Miles
Angela Butler
Kristine Kring
Jen Town
Christina Ringley
Mary Groves
Jeremy
Chris Powers
Joshua Young
Rhonda Ries
Sandy Auckerman
Chris Carpenter
Mark Siple
Kris Davis
Charlie Letson

ARE YOU FUNCTIONALLY FIT?

Yeah-yeah, you can do level seven on the arm machine, and your toes are seriously mighty on the calf thingy.

But are you functionally fit?  Can you move your body with power and intention through a healthy range?  Downtown Columbus is now home to Fit Club (15 W. Cherry Street), a facility and a community of people that are dedicated to real fitness.

The studio offers group interval training, yoga and mixed martial arts (and private appointments too).  Owner Mitch Potterf describes the set up.  “We’ve got barbells, kettle-bells, sand bags, heavy bags… things similar to what you might actually have to pick up in the real world.”  That’s what functional fitness is all about – developing the strength and skills for a healthy, effective body.

Potterf holds several professional certifications, including one as a CrossFit Trainer… and if he sounds serious, it’s because he IS serious.  He admits that the classes require hard work from the participants.

Any yet, Fit Club works with people from all starting points.  “Our classes are scalable for everyone.  We meet you at your level.”

How functional is functional fitness?  Members of Fit Club got to test out their skills in one of the biggest downtown snowball fights this season; you can read all about it, as well as the schedule for Fit Club classes at ohiofitclub.blogspot.com.

Without question, Downtown Columbus is the most underserved retail location in Central Ohio.  With 100,000 employees; 5,500 residents; 250,000 overnight hotel guest; 31,000 college students; 65,000 in-town residents in the Short North, German Village and surrounding areas; and millions of day visitors to the Arena District, Convention Center, theatres and museums, there is significant demand for retail services.  But since the collapse of City Center, downtown has lost its retail sector and the ability to attract corporate retails stores.

Without a major developer pulling those corporate chains downtown, they likely won’t reemerge anytime soon.  But that does not mean that downtown cannot attract retailers.  Independent and start-up retail are the likely players in downtown’s retail future.  But after years of negative coverage surrounding City Center’s demise, there is a negative perception of downtown retail.

Capital Crossroads SID and the City of Columbus have developed a new retail initiative to educate independent and start-up retailers about downtown to and to help overcome the misperceptions that abound.  Announced by Boyce Safford, Director of the City’s Development Department, at the Capital Crossroads Annual Meeting in November, the City is offering several incentives to entice retailers downtown.

The incentives, which apply to the “Mile on High” are on High Street from Spring Street to Mound Street and from Front Street to Fourth Street, include cash incentives and tax abatement specifically for retail investments for property owners and retailers.

However, there remains a communication gap.  Work must be done to overcome the misapprehensions retailers hold and to share the information regarding the City incentives.  Relationships need to be built with independent retailers throughout the area to encourage them to consider downtown as a location.

To that end, Kacey Campbell, the former CCSID Promotions Coordinator, has been tapped as the new downtown Retail Recruiter.  Campbell will serve as a “matchmaker”, reaching out to retailers, answering questions, encouraging them to consider downtown, then matching them with leasing agents who can finalize the deal.

For the last four years, Campbell has connected with existing downtown retailers and with the many vendors who participate in the very successful Pearl Market.  She has an understanding of downtown and believes in its potential.

“There is a huge demand for retail in downtown,” says Campbell.  “It’s a matter of getting accurate information to people and then helping them navigate downtown.  It will take time to see results, but there is good opportunity.”

The seeds of success are already sewn, evidenced by the burgeoning pockets of retail on Gay Street and Fourth Street.  Programs such as this have also proven successful in other cities with a dearth of downtown retail, including Nashville, St. Louis and Minneapolis.  With new incentives from the City and a retail recruiter making the pitch, look for retail to return to the heart of Columbus.

PUT SOME SOUTH IN YOUR MOUTH

Lots of us can do an Aussie accent; or perhaps whip out a leetle somezing zat’s French sounding.

But can you do Cajun?  That one’s tough.

Today is Fat Tuesday.  In this country, that celebration is headquartered deep in the heart of Cajun Country, New Orleans (oopf, N’awlins).  It’s high time to put a little south in your mouth, and downtown’s Pearl Market is just lucky enough to have its very own in-house expert.  Patrons can find real New Orleans Pralines made by a real New Orleans Native: Chandra Noble.

Actually, Noble was born in Ohio – but she spent the first thirty years of her life down in The Big Easy.  While her voice is usually velvety smooth, she can whip out that distinctive dialect from her roots in a heartbeat.

There is a RIGHT was to talk about her New Orleans Pralines.  While we say pray-lines, back south they say prah-lines… or worse.  Noble says, “Sometimes it’s like the L and the R are switched.”  Then she pronounces it in a silky southern style that sounds like a cross between prah-reeeeen and plah-reeeeen.

“Or,” she continues, “We just call it pecan candy.”  Only she does it with an accent again.  Suddenly pecan has three syllables: peh-cah-wnnn.

Regardless of your accent, you can celebrate in Fat Tuesday-style every Friday with New Orleans Pralines in the Pearl Market.  No worries about pronouncing the sweet confections: we all sound the same with a mouth-full.

Recent snow storms showed that employees who commute by bus can be more reliable than employees who drive.  Last Tuesday, I had to advise my own staff about whether to come to work on Wednesday in a level 2 snow emergency.  Because driving is discouraged during a level 2 emergency, I notified employees who drive to work that they could stay home on Wednesday.  Employees who take transit had no such excuse.  I required them to come to the office.

The experience got me thinking more about the logic of company policies toward parking and transit.  Employee parking benefits are common, but transit benefits are not.  Some companies pay $85 to $160 per month for an employee to park at commercial garages or lots.  Others build and maintain their own parking facilities and offer “free” parking to employees.

Both options are expensive and create an artificial demand for parking, unless companies also offer transit benefits.  Parking benefits can drive up the cost of doing business downtown because bus passes are generally less expensive than parking.  Given a choice, many employees will choose to take transit if free passes are offered as an alternative to free parking.

LOVE ‘EM UP

(to cast your vote immediately, click here.  if you want to learn more about the campaign, read on…)

Time flies: it’s been a full year since DowntownColumbus.com’s Show Your Love project launched.  Back in 2009, six local eateries joined in a good natured contest to become Downtown’s Official Sweetheart.

The competition was brutal.  The love was intense.  Ultimately, Jack’s Diner emerged as number one.

But it can be number one for only one year.  Jack’s reign has ended.  Although we still love the joint, it’s time to find 2010’s Official Sweetheart.

Just like last year, we’ve sweetened the deal for the voting public.  Cast a ballot for your favorite eatery and you’re automatically registered for a set of gift certificates from all the competitors: Barrio Tapas Lounge; Burgers Dogs and Fries; Caffe Daniela; Dirty Frank’s Hot Dog Palace; J. Gumbo’s; and Plantain Cafe.  Vote early and vote often.

(Sigh)… and it seemed like just yesterday when Jack’s claimed its award.

EDITOR’S NOTE: It was yesterday.  SOMEBODY kept hoarding Jack’s award plaque in our office.  Oops.

If you want to re-watch anyone’s video, to really take in the message, just click on the link: Barrio Tapas Lounge; Burgers Dogs and Fries; Caffe Daniela; Dirty Franks Hot Dog Palace; J. Gumbo’s; and Plantain Cafe

Show Us Some Love 2010 from Downtown Columbus on Vimeo.

The Ohio Legislature may soon consider some smart-growth (as opposed to stupid-growth) policies, thanks to recommendations by a group called the Ohio Cities Task Force.  Currently, tax abatements and infrastructure spending in Ohio encourage sprawl.  For example, the State uses public money to build new water and sewer systems in spite of the fact that Ohio cities contain a growing amount of developable land that is fully served by water and sewer systems.  Most tax abatements go where they are least needed.

The task force noted that public policy and spending should encourage redevelopment of existing urban areas.  It recommends that economically distressed areas get larger tax abatements than affluent, “green field” areas (ironic, since tax abatements were created to benefit distressed areas).

It also recommends that the State spend more than 1% of its transportation budget on public transit.  Most encouraging is a recommendation that public resources generally not be used to extend utility lines to “green fields.”  In other words, someone who wishes to duplicate infrastructure at low densities in exurban areas would need to pay for it privately.

These recommendations should make any fiscal conservative happy.

Show Us Some Love: Barrio Tapas Lounge from Downtown Columbus on Vimeo.

Show Us Some Love: Burgers Dogs and Fries from Downtown Columbus on Vimeo.

Show Us Some Love: Caffe Daniela from Downtown Columbus on Vimeo.