Whither downtown?

This post was inspired by a post on the Views of a Salisbury Grinch website, although I can’t discount an earlier post on the topic over at Delmarva Dealings.

Tomorrow I’ll be in downtown Salisbury attending the Tax Day Tea Party, but it’s fairly rare that I go down there on business which doesn’t involve the political. (One exception will be the upcoming Salisbury Festival, at least to check out the car show and local bands.) I have little use for the available shopping downtown and haven’t had much of a need for legal services since I came to Maryland.

But that’s certainly not to say that downtown Salisbury isn’t important. While the Centre of Salisbury and adjoining shopping along U.S. 13 is rightfully the retail hub of the lower Eastern Shore region this doesn’t mean retail doesn’t have a place in downtown – far from it. Nor should the impact of those eateries and entertainment facilities in and around downtown be discounted either. They have a role to play in downtown Salisbury’s present and future.

However, I think there is a three-pronged approach to making downtown a more vibrant area. Two pieces of the puzzle are pretty simple and won’t take a whole lot of effort; it’s the third piece of the jigsaw which will make for the most difficult fit.

There also needs to be some assumptions made of items which have to occur irrespective of downtown’s fate.

One is that crime needs to be curtailed and the streets made safe regardless of the time of day. In this I don’t advocate for or against any particular style of policing or who actually accomplishes the goal, whether it be the city police department, the Sheriff’s Department, or a combination or merger of the two.

The second assumption is that the effort will not bear fruit overnight and that progress may not be steady. Perhaps it’s best to think of this as something along the lines of a plan for 2020 or 2030, but with interim tangible goals along the way which will account for most changing conditions. (Obviously if a tornado or other natural disaster occurs we have a whole new set of priorities and a much cleaner slate to begin from.)

But there are three parts to bringing downtown back in my view.

The first is pretty simple: what do people want to see downtown?

Some would like to bring back the old retail-oriented downtown, and in some limited fashion this is a workable solution. But the days of a Woolworth’s or similar retail outlets are long gone.

Others would like to have more residents call the area home. There are already opportunities to live and work downtown but not many take advantage of them. For the most part I think it’s partially because of crime and partially because services aren’t all that convenient.

Many see the possibility of a downtown oriented toward arts and entertainment, with galleries, coffeeshops, and bars playing local music dominating the scene. But would SU students and “townies” be able to coexist in the same area or would it become mutually exclusive to one group, shutting out a large segment of the population?

I think the best way to answer the question is simply to ask it. Why not a coordinated effort to poll the public?

This is a place where the old-fashioned media and new media can coexist. We can put a list of possible ideas in the Daily Times, local television and radio websites, and significant area blogs. It would be quite interesting to see the variation by source as well.

With this snapshot of public opinion in place (or even without it, although I think it may help) the city can embark on the second step.

Often design professionals (and others interested in those professions, such as college and high school students) get together and hold a design charrette to kick around ideas for a particular project. What I propose is a series of three weekend-long charrettes, perhaps a month or two apart, with a public presentation and critique after each. In that way there can be a guideline fashioned for development downtown that has both professional design influence and citizen input.

It’s the third leg of the triad which will come the hardest, and that’s investment. Even the best-laid plans won’t come to fruition with no one to back them financially.

At the moment, there are businesses and other investments downtown which are doing well while others are hanging on by a thread. Those which are doing well obviously would like to see additional successful examples but the problem is in those lagging businesses downtown which are economic drags whether because of a poor business plan, a lack of amenities, the sluggish economy, or a combination of all three.

Just as a house in poor shape drags down the value of those surrounding it, vacant storefronts are eyesores which make remaining businesses look the worse for wear and make investors shy away. (For an example, see Salisbury Mall, former). There needs to be incentives in place to encourage investment – not just downtown, though, but all over Salisbury. A chain is only as good as its weakest link.

There’s another aspect of the downtown area which may or may not be a factor in its success, but chances are that it will have an important role to play.

More than many cities, Salisbury’s riverfront seems to be ignored to a great extent. In many downtown areas the body of water is the main attraction, but not Salisbury. Yes, there is a pedestrian path along the river but little of note fronts the river through much of downtown except parking lots. I’ll grant the Wicomico River isn’t much to look at (but is plenty to smell) for much of the year; however, the river is navigable for much of its length downtown.

Yet much of the development in the past occurred a block or two away along Main Street. Perhaps this is a remnant of the Wicomico River’s working past (and present) but should the river have a role in a revitalized downtown, and at what cost?

We know Mayor-elect Ireton promised to clean up the Wicomico River but how will those ideas work with the thought of renovating downtown? And what of infrastructure – turning downtown into a district which has a different function than the Salisbury of today may require a large investment in utility upgrades.

Nor should the needs of outlying areas be ignored by the siren song of a vibrant downtown as a dream which may not be achievable. It’s quite possible that the public doesn’t have the desire, will or intestinal fortitude to save Salisbury’s downtown and it slips into the sands of history like the downtowns of a thousand other small- to medium-sized towns.

We don’t have to suffer that fate, but then again what we have as our downtown may just have the proper functions and layout to suit Salisbury’s needs with a minimum of modification. Perhaps it’s meant to be an area which mostly functions as the legal hub of the area with just a smattering of retail and dining, enough to suit those who work there already. It’s not that anything is wrong with that scenario, but we wouldn’t be hurt by looking into other possibilities.