Right Now Downtown

YET ANOTHER EXPERT

When it comes to downtown, everyone’s an expert.

That wasn’t sarcasm; the public knows what the public wants.  That’s why the city is hosting public meetings, to gather information about the community’s needs and interests.

When it comes to downtown’s planning and design, MSI Design enlists experts too.  The team is wholly invested in studying cities and development and human behavior.  What do the fulltime experts say?  MSI’s Andrew Overbeck has a few ideas of his own about the future of downtown.

First and foremost, he maintains, “We’ve got a great fabric to work with.”

What does that mean?  He continues, “Downtown has the Arena District, CCAD and the art museum, the Scioto Mile Project and COSI; we have great things here.”

What downtown needs is something to tie all this greatness together.

MSI favors what Overbeck terms “small interventions” when it comes to downtown Columbus.  Designed to improve walkability and livability in the community, Pearl Alley has already gone through a “small intervention” process and now it’s a hubbub of activity.  It’s proof positive that the right modest moves can make giant impact.

And although those small interventions make the magic, Overbeck still urges us to “dream a little bigger” for our city.  He points to statistics like the fact that 25 percent of downtown’s turf is devoted to surface parking lots:  “Every one of those represents an opportunity for us (as a community) to design and define what it means NOW to live in an urban setting.  We have the fabric; we just need to fill in the gaps.”

Our community will have the opportunity to make those big dreams a reality this week.  At the upcoming April 15 Strategic Planning Meeting to be held 6 – 8 p.m. at the Columbus State Conference Center, we will get a chance to learn more about the planning process and share our own insights and expertise.

Given the suggestions from the last meeting (and from the 500 surveys that have been completed), downtown Columbus is excited to build a new future. For more information about the public meeting, visit downtowncolumbus.com/plan.

Several years ago, a friend of mine told me that she wanted to move to Portland, Oregon, where she could sell her car and change her lifestyle.  She sought a walkable life, where she could immerse herself in the arts, eat healthy foods, and experience vibrant public spaces.

When I pointed out that she could easily do all of those things in Columbus, she dismissed my suggestion as impossible.  Yet, she lived in the Short North and worked downtown.  Her daily routine took her past the North Market, Columbus Museum of Art, downtown theatres, the Arena Grand cinema, and Short North galleries.

She lived within two blocks of High Street, where buses run every few minutes and taxi cabs routinely cruise for fares.  She could bicycle to work in less than ten minutes.

Her neighborhood in Columbus was full of sidewalk cafes, a great park, a lively music scene, and hundreds of independent retail stores.

Why do many people feel they must leave Columbus to experience something they could choose to do here?

Raising kids in the downtown area is a great experience.  When my kids were young, we had easy access to parks, playgrounds, COSI, BalletMet Academy, Columbus Museum of Art, the downtown library, festivals, and many other amenities.  For years, my kids considered COTA buses and skywalks to be as much fun as amusement parks.  They loved walking to bakeries and the North Market.

Downtown neighborhoods get better as city kids get older.  They develop a healthy sense of independence long before they get a driver’s license, because they can walk to each other’s homes and with their friends to movies, hockey games, coffee houses, Gallery Hops and clothing stores.  My teenage girl loves taking COTA to visit her friends, which I encourage because the bus is so much safer than driving.

Columbus City Schools keep getting better and better.  Although many City schools still struggle as they address high levels of poverty, many others maintain a balanced enrollment.  These schools often out-perform suburban schools.

To parents of young kids, I say.  “For the sake of your children, stay in the city!