Happenings…

Greetings DDI followers!

We’ve been running full throttle here at the Downtown Dallas, Inc. world headquarters for the last several weeks, so let’s dive right into the updates…

Downtown Dallas 360

Consultants MIG returned to Dallas for “Meeting Window 7″ at the end of May, presenting Downtown Dallas 360 progress to multiple working groups and the steering committee.  At the same time, we  launched the Downtown Parking Strategy (approved by Council in April) with particular focus from MIG sub-consultant Kimley-Horn.  At www.downtowndallas360.com you will find a post of the master presentation used at these meetings, with a recap summary to be posted shortly.   But a few of my personal take-aways:

• BE BOLD!  (or “Don’t be timid” to steal a quote from my urban hero, Brent Brown)  In contrast to previous sessions when feedback was consistently based on setting “realistic” goals and prioritizing – the tone seemed to shift, stressing that the creation of 360 is our opportunity to aim high.  Perhaps an indicator that the frugality of the last 24 months  is shifting?  Do I dare say we are becoming more hopeful?  The specific reference in this case was discussion regarding potential deck parks over I-30, ala The Park (Woodall Rodgers Park).  Can we fund and sustain another project like Woodall?  Tell me what you think.  (As a Cedars resident, personally, I say yes!  The connection is critical…)
• Tunnels, tunnels, tunnels.  Yes, friends – start those comments now!  Obviously, this is a consistent question that we here at DDI field daily.  But today, we find the time is right to examine innovative solutions of repurposing (bike parking?  storage?  fiber optic paths?) and incentivizing tunnel dwellers to emerge .
• Parks.  We love our greenspace and there is no denying what Main Street Garden has done for the Main Street District.  But with greenspace comes management, maintenance and programming  (see below for the Main Street Garden updates), begging the question – could Downtown become “over parked” with current plans?  Should we look at a better mix of the typology of our greenspaces (see this part of the presentation on the 360 site), creating more usable, neighborhood places?  Envision pocketparks, playgrounds, basketball courts, more space dedicated to our canines, etc…
• Gateways.  We’ve all seen the designs of overpass treatments with dramatic lighting, artwork and better pedestrian connections – all great things.  But I love, love, love this idea – a skatepark around Good Latimer, seaming together the east end of the Main Street District (Harwood Historic District area) with Deep Ellum.  Already in the works over yonder is “Pillar Park”, more artwork and lighting in the already uber-cool DE Art Park.

Many, many more big ideas have emerged, but we have much to get to in this one little post, so I’ll leave you to check out the 360 site for more.

Main Street Garden - the scoop.

• Yes, we have discovered that the stainless steel in the Tot Lot is too hot!  Ever sat on a black leather car seat?  In August?  In Texas? In Shorts??  Well, we certainly want to ensure every aspect of the park is 110% useable, so we’re working closely with the Park & Rec department to come up with a solution, quickly.  In the interim, parents, please mind the caution signs going up this week.
• The Lily Pad is poised to open – just any minute now!  A complicated permitting process is being addressed as we speak, so you’ll soon be able to grab your multi-grain muffin and coffee on the way to the office.
• PLAY at the Park.  We went out yesterday with the Downtown YMCA folks and tested out kick ball, frisbee and volleyball for upcoming field days and sports leagues (who says this job isn’t fun?).  Dates to be announced soon.
• Vandalism reports.  Yes, unfortunately some no-gooder attempted to break in to one of the restrooms.  In all seriousness, however, the matter was quickly addressed by the Dallas Police Department and Downtown Safety Patrol and camera footage is being reviewed to identify the suspect.  Patrols from both forces have been increased.

Another destination for your morning buzz..
Mercantile Coffee House is set to open at The Merc at the end of this month – featuring Intelligentsia Coffee and Yogen Fruz frozen yogurt.

Some new faces at DDI
Meet C.C. Gonzalez-Kurz, Community Relations Manager and Shawn Corcoran, Interactive Developer/Designer.  They have swallowed the kool-aid and are now part of the DDI team.  Know ‘em, love ‘em.  Bio’s, obligatory headshots and interviews coming soon…

And one last sidenote for all of you passionate urbanites – I highly recommend picking up this month’s edition of Dwell, which is focused on “Megacities”.  It also includes great articles about urban parks, interesting freeway interventions and demographic forecasts that continue to bode well for downtown growth.

~Kourtny

Downtown Public Safety Update

Downtown Dallas Inc. has completed negotiations with four Downtown liquor and convenience stores to prohibit the sale of “high alcohol content beer and wine” to the homeless. Alcohol related crime was reduced 27% in the City Center in the first quarter 2010. We anticipate a reduction in alcohol related crimes in the DART West End Station area in the second quarter. The Safety Patrol conducts weekly inspections at four Liquor Stores to ensure they are in compliance with the agreement*.

The Homeward Bound program reunited 66 homeless persons with family in the first quarter of 2010. 484 homeless persons have been reunited with family since Downtown Dallas Inc. started the program in 2008.

-Martin

*Agrement with liquor stores to stop selling high alcohol content beer and wine and a 32oz size limit on beers.

CityWalk at Akard

The red carpet was certainly laid out for the opening of Downtown’s newest residential project, City Walk at Akard, both for Dallas-ites in a celebration held on March 26, and for a visit from music mogul Jon Bon Jovi earlier this month.

CityWalk, a project unlike any in the country, is a mixed-use development of retail (7-Eleven opening soon), office and affordable as well as market-rate housing.  It sits in a formerly vacant 15-story office building with 200 units that range from $350 to $912/month.

Jon Bon Jovi’s visit was motivated by his own nonprofit, the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, which has built 250 affordable housing units in Philadelphia.  During Jovi’s time in Dallas, he visited with John Greenan, executive director of the Central Dallas Community Development Corp., and Larry James, president and CEO of Central Dallas Ministries, the two organizations responsible for the CityWalk project.

Parking and Retail to be specifically addressed in new studies

On April 14, Dallas City Council approved a reallocation of funds to implement two critical studies for Downtown, one to focus on parking, the other to further retail development in the Main Street District.

Both projects will be managed by Downtown Dallas, Inc., in partnership with the City, and will be conducted in concert with the Downtown Dallas 360 (www.downtowndallas360.com )planning effort.

Elements to be addressed in the parking realm include a supply and demand analysis (both for commercial office and public transient parking); valet parking in key entertainment and visitor zones; signage and wayfinding; resident-serving needs; and innovative technologies such as smart phone usage and real-time availability information.  The effort will commence in May, to be complete in line with Downtown Dallas 360 later this fall.

The Main Street Retail Activation Strategy, co-funded by Downtown Dallas, Inc., will build upon past efforts that have created a target tenant mix and incentive programs to entice a mix of luxury, service and entertainment uses to locate in Downtown’s core.  The strategy will put forth guidelines and programs related to urban design including lighting, sidewalk enhancements, street furniture and environmental graphics.  It will also analyze highest-and-best-use locations for sidewalk cafes, street vending and public art.   The stakeholder input process began in February, with the goal of completion early this summer.  Look for emerging strategies to be posted on Downtown Dallas Inc.’s blog later next month.

Downtown Park Fountain Hours

Back when the park was being finished out, our top priority as a supporting organization for Main Street Garden and Pegasus Plaza was to make sure we could get the fountains running a much as we could. Last November it was approved that we would be the management organization for these parks, along with the City of Dallas Park and Rec Department. So first on agenda (now that we have our funds in order!) the fountains!

We’re looking at changing the water fountain running time to those suggested below.

Main Street Garden: 1-10p on Saturdays and 5-10p Sunday through Fridays. Pegasus Plaza 5-10p daily

Please note, right now, they only run from 11a-1p because it is all the city’s budget allows.  We will eventually try to get them running even longer the more money we can raise for the park, but with Downtown Dallas Inc and the City of Dallas’ budgets combined, this is looking like the best we can do as far as length of time.  Let us know your thoughts!

-Kristy

Want to see your face on a big screen?

Want to end up on the big screens at our annual meeting March 2? In 10 words or less tell us…

1. What the Creative Class (Google it!) is to you
and/or
2. Where there is evidence of it in Downtown Dallas.

Video submissions can come from individuals or companies/organizations and can send to marketing@downtowndallas.org or upload to yourDspot.com! Deadline is Wednesday at 5pm. We will play all videos during our luncheon!

For event info visit http://www.createdowntowndallas.org.

-Kristy

2010 Priorities

Every year we come up with our annual Program of Work, a set of goals and benchmarks to determine our success.  We break it down into our priorities and then ongoing tasks.  The difference is our priorities are items that are unique to that specific year, like 2009 we had the opening of the AT&T Performing Arts Center and Main Street Garden, so those two huge projects determined about 3-4 months of our workload.  The ongoing tasks are just that, things that we do day in and out of any given year that will never change, picking up litter, promoting downtown, etc.

Below is a link to our 2010 Priorities.  Let us know your thoughts!

2010 Downtown Dallas Inc Priorities

-Kristy

2010 Downtown Events

As I promised oh 2 weeks ago, below are the scheduled events for 2010.  Our #1 priority for this year is to program the heck out of Main Street Garden, budget and sponsorships permitting, of course.

Please note these are only the ones DOWNTOWNDALLAS is producing.  Let us know your thoughts and suggestions on other events!

Membership/Business to Business (roughly some form of B2B a month)

• Annual Meeting – March
• CEO Breakfast – April
• Town Hall – May (free event open to the public discussing a hot topic in a more casual setting)
• Membership Forum 2Q – June
• Town Hall – July/August
• Membership Event/Forum – September
• CEO Breakfast – October

Community

• Progressive Type Event – February
• Main Street Garden Recreational weekends – May and June
• Main Street GardenSports leagues – May and June   
• Main Street Garden Concert in the Park – May
• Celebrate Downtown/Home Tour – June
• Progressive Type Event – June
• Downtown Photography Exhibition featuring local Downtown photographers – July
• Progressive Type Event – August
• Animation Festival at Main Street Garden – August OR September
• Taste of the Fair – September
• Main Street Garden Recreational weekends – September
• Progressive Type Event – September OR October
• Main Street Garden Sports leagues – September and October  
• Main Street Garden Movies – October
• City Lights – November
• Community Projects (3) – TBD

-Kristy

Who wants dinner at Screen Door?!

ME! but alas, I must share.  So there’s a catch to getting this alleged dinner… you must participate in a Downtown Christmas Tree Scavenger Hunt!  The person to turn in the most pictures of Downtown holiday trees (with their location listed) by Monday morning at 9am, will win a $150 gift certificate to Screen Door!  Please note trees can be indoor or outdoor.

Tip: please remember Downtown is NOT just the Central Business District, venture out to Deep Ellum, the Cedars, Victory Park and parts of Uptown!

Please send all submissions (can be actual images or link to Flickr or another source) to marketing@downtowndallas.org.

Ho Ho Ho!  Happy Hunting!

-Kristy

The Rudolph Wranglers

DOWNTOWNDALLAS sponsored the “Rudolph” ballon in last Saturday’s Capital One Bank Adolphus Children’s Parade.  To make sure Rudolph behaved along the parade route, we recruited the Downtown Residents Council to help!  A special thank you to all that braved the cold Saturday morning: Steve Shepherd, Oliver Roberts, Bill Mcknight, Dustin Bullard, Alexander Pappas, Gary Bearden, Daniel Angeles, Ken Morris, Vicki Welch, Luke and Sommer Roller, Monte Melugin, Cory Berryman, Melissa Scoggin, Jay Keller, Davey Multinado, Angel McCauley, Eric Wallace, Marc Meadows, Myranda Reeves, Natalie Clement, Noah Jeppson, Corey Rawdon, Dayne Eversol, Bill Gilliland, Alice Ozu, Fatima Fisher, Lillian Rivera, Allison Epps, Angie Oburg, and Tom Buttine (sorry if I misspelled anyone’s names or left anyone out!).

Here are some pictures from their experience: