The Atlantic:
“It’s tempting, if you haven’t seen the varied stages of this process, to imagine that some cities just “naturally” have attractive and successful downtowns, and others just don’t happen to. It’s like happening to be located on a river, or not.
But in every city we’ve visited with a good downtown, we’ve heard accounts of the long, deliberate process that led to today’s result. The standard discussion will go: “See this restaurant [bar / theater / condo / Apple store with surrounding retail outlets]? Ten years ago, you wouldn’t have [dreamed of coming here at night / seen anyone but crack addicts / been able to rent a condo, or wanted to].” We’ve heard variations of this account so often we now feel a little let down if we don’t get the “this used to be a crack house” speech when visiting a nice hotel or downtown tech-company headquarters...
In every place we’ve been, every one we’ve talked with about downtown recovery stresses the crucial importance of getting people to live there.”
How do you get people to live there? It often requires investing or restoring amenities.
