It's an exciting time downtown -- the River Place properties are going up, and developers and business owners are capitalizing on downtown's long-term resurgence as a residential and tourist destination. Community Main Street and countless organizations and volunteers have done a remarkable job making this happen through vision and a lot of hard work! And just this week, the P&Z approved the site plan for a new apartment building in the location of the former Iowa Sports Supply downtown. If approved by City Council, the 46 studio apartments would add 50-100 new residents to the downtown neighborhood.
But that leaves a big question: as residences increase, how will city leaders, developers ensure that downtown is truly a self-sustaining neighborhood, and not just a residential novelty? As your At-Large representative on City Council, I'll work with downtown residents to identify and promote services and infrastructure needed by those who live downtown -- not just those who visit it. Using my influence and relationships as a City Council member, I'll advocate for key items that will ensure downtown is a great place to live -- not just to work and play:
1. A Parking Ramp. Whether public, private, or a hybrid, it's time to address the actual and perceived difficulties of parking downtown. I don't think simply education and signage are going to be enough in the coming years, and with potential new building projects on Washington and State streets, parking will be even more an issue for everyone.
2. Grocery / Market. Can the city attract a grocery store to return to downtown? Would the Cedar Falls Community Co-Op be able to serve that purpose? Given that the closest stores are either in Thunder Ridge or College Square (both two miles away), some sort of market in downtown is going to be critical for livability. In five or ten years, such a store might need a much smaller footprint than markets of today, which I believe would suit downtown nicely.
3. Resident Engagement. With Community Main Street's focus on economic development, I'm concerned that the voice of residents is being lost. CMS relies on the Overman Park Neighborhood Association to speak for residential issues, but that group (which I used to head) is primarily made up of homeowners and renters in the homes that surround downtown. On council, I will seek to re-visit neighborhood association boundaries and names to better reflect the needs of all residents, including our new downtowners.
4. Balancing Development for Residents and Tourists. While tourism dollars are important to our economic vitality, I do want to us to keep a strong focus on resident and local business owner needs in the years ahead -- particularly in our more urban-ish areas of downtown and College Hill. The retail and small-businesses we attract to serve these areas -- and infrastructure the City invests in to support them -- should balance the desires of residents of those areas with tourism that's helped these areas become successful. I believe increased tourism can be a natural benefit of healthy, vibrant and sustainable neighborhoods.
In short, I strongly believe that the long-term health of all of Cedar Falls will be impacted by our shared vision for Downtown, College Hill, College Square, Pinnacle Prairie and the city's other clusters of retail and residences. If you share this vision for how we should move forward as a city, I hope you'll vote for me as your Cedar Falls City Council At-Large rep on November 7, 2017.