Iowa Downtown Conference 2021

Exhibitors in the basement of the Graduate Hotel

Tuesday, August 3

"Remember to excel," was the advice to downtown officials and volunteers from across Iowa from Randy Wilson. Wilson, of South Carolina-based Community Design solutions, gave the keynote address to get the Iowa Downtown Conference started in earnest Tuesday morning. The address was given in the historic (1912) and beautifully restored Englert Theater in downtown Iowa City; the conference was put on by the Iowa Economic Development Authority.

Looking good! Englert Theater, Iowa City

Wilson reminded those in attendance of the critical importance of first impressions. People start forming impressions of each other within three seconds of meeting, he said, and that's probably true of places as well. To sustain our efforts to build great places, he urged "the power of remembrance" (celebrating and recording successes accomplished) and "the power of excellence" (neither getting too complacent nor too frustrated, while engaging as many people in the community as possible). He talked about how his work in Lake City, South Carolina (pop. 7000), contributed to a nine-day art festival called Artfields that started by reaching out to schoolchildren. I really appreciated Wilson's emphasis on inclusion; it separates the notion of a common life that aminates this blog from purely economic development.

Wilson was preceded at the microphone by Debi Durham, executive director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, who celebrated resilience and successful placemaking projects that had occurred despite the bizarre nature of the past year. She reminded downtown advocates to "tell those stories." There were also heartfelt welcomes from the city, the downtown business association, and the theater itself.

Back at the Graduate Hotel, where most of the conference took place, Ian Thomas of America Walks argued for walkability as the key "to boost economic vitality, social connection, and overall enjoyment in your town" (originally it was "in small towns"). Walkers need, or at least are encouraged by: safety, comfort, connectivity, accessibility and inclusivity, multi-functionality (not just "moving cars as quickly as possible"), and sense of place. These can be achieved by, for example, trees, bumpouts, mid-block crossings, sharrows (gulp!) and bike racks, seating, a public plaza, and the presence of people. He made additional comments on specific elements of each part of the streetscape, the need for community vision, and the successful case of Batesville, Arkansas (pop. 10,000), as well as using this video to commend "walk audits." Your humble blogger correctly answered two of his questions with "road diet" and "bike lanes," and also asked the first audience question; he is glad the Iowa Downtown Conference is friendlier than junior high school, or he would be writing this post from a toilet bowl.

Ian Thomas

(My question had to do with how cooperative was the Arkansas Department of Transportation with the Batesville realignment; apparently they were quite cooperative. A few years ago Iowa's Department of Transportation seemed even more amenable to road diets than some of the affected towns were.)

Other panels I attended:

• "Jefferson's Secret Sauce: Public-Private Partnerships": Chris Deal of Modus Engineering described cooperation on business recruitment, school financing, and downtown building rehabs. Interestingly, in the cases of the downtown buildings, the city was able to use ordinances to force neglectful owners to sell them the buildings for nominal amounts. Government financial aid (loans, grants, tax credits) can be mind-boggling; is this functional? necessary? One project they did used nine separate government financing sources. They referred to a "stack... like a lasagna."
• "Thinking About Main Street?" with Michael Wagler of the Iowa Economic Development Authority. Cedar Rapids made that call 12 years ago, but I wasn't part of that, so it was interesting to think about the decision to sign up. Wagler said Main Street is distinguished by a process- rather than a project-based approach, so there's more continuity, transformation strategy with a lot of services/assistance, and accessible/accountable outcomes both quantitative and qualitative.

Outside the Graduate:
This is an amazing mural, but I'm not crazy about the walkway

Wednesday, August 4

The highlights of today were two walking tours. 

"Mixed Use Development in Existing Spaces" was hosted by architects Nick Lindsley and Nathan Griffith of Neumann Monson. They showed off two of their recent projects around the corner from the hotel on the ped mall.

118 E. College Street was built in 1899, and most recently was Vito's Bar. It is a narrow deep space that required a lot of undoing. They also returned a cornice and façade detail, although not exactly the same as they had been back in the day.

The ground floor has retail, with windows expanded.

They added open space to allow light within the building.

109-127 E. College Street is a set of three buildings that predate 1910. Additions to the back made in 1929 have been demolished to make room for a new 11-story building with 102 apartments, the rent from which is paying for the other renovations.

Building one

Building two; Riverside Theater will occupy the third floor

Building three

Rear view

What's being built

Ready to tour

"Placemaking" was hosted by Betsy Potter of the Iowa City Downtown District, focusing on efforts from the last six years. We saw some of the finishing touches the Downtown District has pursued.

"The Loop" is a temporary exhibit filling what had been a dead space

Ping-pong table nearby

Looping

Alley art and sign extension (previously illegal)

A block of North Linn Street has been closed for public seating that is eagerly serviced by nearby restaurants. 

I wish we could have done something like that here.

Coming soon: shade for this playground!

Next year's conference is in Pella. I will probably stay overnight and participate in evening networking activities, which I did not do this year. You should definitely subscribe to this blog, so you won't accidentally miss the coverage!

A brief word about transportation

I was able to use public transportation to get to and from the conference. Cedar Rapids's #2 line stops a block from my house, and the 380 Express took me from Cedar Rapids's ground transportation center to Iowa City's, which in turn is two blocks from the Graduate Hotel. The routes are more circuitous than I would have chosen, but otherwise riding was carefree, and the total financial outlay for two days was $7.00 (with the senior discount). The 380 Express has WiFi, which worked three of the four times I rode