Bum's Bluff

Thick as a Brick

Ideas are a dime a dozen. Negative reactions to those ideas are even cheaper. Interestingly enough, Blogs are free.

Evansville appears to be chock full of ideas lately: Roundabouts, Biodiesel, Four Year Old Kindergarten, Stopping the War, Continuing the War, Skate Parks, Drain the Lake, Fill the Lake, V-Notch the Lake, Closing Madison Street two weeks before construction begins, and now BRICKS.

The Downtown brick idea is a classic set up for argument.

Proponents tout the $400,000 DoT grant and the Historic Evansville look that will be accomplished. One would assume that there are hordes of Madisonians and Illinoisies just waiting to rush in to Evansville once the streets are paved with bricks of old.

Nay-sayers jump on the the arguments of frivilous waste, the annoying bumpity feel that driving on brick provides, and the question of how to safely plow snow off the brick.
It will be a fun debate to watch and one I will likely do from the sidelines. I understand the attractiveness and potential draw of a "historic" downtown look. Delevan's downtown is stunning with its brick paved streets.

But I also question whether the goals of this investment will ever be met. Evansville needs a lot more than brick pavement to draw a tourist economy. But then there is the real question -- are we trying to go after a tourist economy? Are we looking to bring in antique and specialty shops, botiques, restaurants, and B&Bs? Is the intent to create a little Galena?

If the answer is "no" then spending $400,000 of state dollars and $200,000 of city dollars seems just plain stupid. $600,000 is a very high price to pay for prettying things up for the locals. Think of the senior transportion service that could buy. Or supplementing the Dean Center. Or new police cars. Or the lake we could dredge. Or the Tony Hawk Dream Park. Or -- and this is really radical -- saving the taxpayers a boatload of cash by not spending it.

If the answer is "yes" we want tourism, then we better have a better plan than laying brick. Travel to successful small town tourist sites and you will find something there that Evansville lacks -- a solid base to support tourist oriented businesses. Brodhead, Stoughton, Monroe, New Glarus, Cambridge are all examples of cities that had a viable economy in their downtowns from which to build. Brodhead offers a great example of how the Chamber of Commerce unified the businesses through the downtown redevelopment in such a way that one can spend a happy tourist day shopping in their downtown.

If the answer is "yes" then we lack a key ingredient: planning. If the Mayor wants bricks, then she needs to show me how that fits into an overall plan for downtown redevelopment that is not only comprehensive but also is viable. Otherwise we will be the prettiest bankrupt city in Wisconsin.

To get decent planning, we need more than people with two year terms. We need professionals who have a long term view and long term ownership of the project. In short, we need a City Administrator.

posted by Walton @ 10:35 AM