As a downtown Clinton business owner I am a member of the Clinton Downtown PartnershipM. The Downtown Partnership recently conducted a survey of residents who live downtown. Surveys were distributed to residents of the following properties:
- Van Allen Building
- Armstrong Building
- Howes Building
- Lafayette Building
- Tucker Building
- Park Towers
90 surveys were distributed and 57 (60%) were returned.
The results are as follows:
I. What is most important to you living downtown?
- Transportation: 32%
- Proximity to services offered: 51%
- Cost: 17%
- Arts & Entertainment: 0%
II. What type of stores do you wish to see more of downtown?
- Grocery: 42%
- Coffee House: 11%
- Restaurant: 8%
- Retail: 21%
- Farmer’s Market: 17%
III. What improvement would you like to see us continue?
- Streetscape or beatufication: 33%
- Cleanliness & maintenance: 51%
- Parking: 17%
- Saftey: 12%
IV. What is it you dislike most about downtown living?
- Parking: 21%
- Noise: 68%
- Cost: 5%
- Availability of services: 5%
A few observations… There are probably about 800 people who live in the downtown area and although the residents of those six buildings are an easy-to-reach subset, almost none of them are property owners or residents of single family homes. In addition, there are probably at least a couple of thousand people for whom downtown could be their primary shopping hub. It might be a good idea in future years to commission surveys that expand the universe further.
It is pretty clear that a modest grocery store that sells locally grown produce is a no-brainer for a downtown location.
Transportation and cost being jointly a priority for 50% of residents, one would think that a few modest improvements in public transportation would make not only downtown living but MTA ridership as a whole more useful. For example, bus stop signs with route maps and a few decent shelters. The only two shelters in town I am aware of is the downtown transfer point and the 3rd Street & 30th Avenue ones. I’m sure there are more but I’ve not noticed them. Surely installing them by HyVee and the retail complex on Lincoln Way would be a marked improvement. But that’s a whole other post.
It will be pretty important to see how the responses to question #3 change next year after all the road work done this fall. The copy of the survey shows that the surveys were conducted before October 15 this year while much of the street work was still ongoing.
I would also suggest allowing responses and additional descriptons to be encouraged and included in results. For example on question #4, the most disliked thing was noise by a large margin. What sort of noise? Sirens? General traffic? People in the street at bar closing? Some more detail here would be useful. Ditto for the services offered answer in question #1.
Thanks to the Downtown Partnership for conducting this survey.
Very interesting…….
Ya,when I lived at the Y, and when I stay @ my GF’s place, noise was/is a ‘uge issue. @ the Y, it was bar closing, though now the “The Bank” has closed, I’m sure it’s much quieter on 5th @ 2am.@ the GF’s place, which is the Howes building, it’s the street noise off 2nd and echoing effect of the buildings. Not much to be done about that…….
Conner! Dude!
What’s the cheapest, fastest local ISP?
I enjoy your blogin’. Keep up the good work.
The Flying V.
As a downtown resident (5th ave s. above Deja Vu furniture,) better Bus transportation would be phenomenal (I’m thinking Ames’ CyRide system, ideally.) However, we absolutely cannot neglect the power of the bicycle. Especially with the availability in place to route based on the riverfront location and the Discovery trail.
That being said, my biggest problem with Downtown, and I do mean BIGGEST, is the fact that only three blocks of Downtown Clinton is actually renovated. As a lifetime resident of the city, I find that a major bash on the rest of downtown. I think overall appeal in Downtown Clinton would greatly improve just by completing the renovations.
I completely agree with a Farmer’s Market. Although, take into consideration the fact that Clinton has the opportunity to have, essentially, TWO downtowns. The Lyon’s Shopping District can be, and really should be, the “small town downtown.” Gear the (lol) L.S.D. to compete with cities such as Le Claire, Galena, Marquette/McGregor, etc… That leaves Downtown Clinton to be competitive with larger cities. Clinton, being geographically nestled, quite nicely by the way, between Rockford, Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, the Quad Cities and, to some regard, even Peoria, can quite easily become a regional center to Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois. Of Course, once we start talking regionally we stand to argue with the likes of Chicago, but that’s a whole different ballgame. Downtown Clinton should look to the likes of Dubuque, Iowa City and other cities of about 50,000 to 75,000 simply because that is where Clinton’s next couple of steps are after we turn the tide on our own recession. I’d also like to add that when looking into places like Iowa City, Ames, Champaign, etc… do not look at the fact that they are just a downtown full of bars, but a downtown that caters to a city with one particular age group, and then incorporates other ideas for the other age groups to level the field in entertainment and in retail, food, recreation, health, AND socialization.
Long story short, Clinton has immeasurable amounts of potential that, if realized, could bring it to the pinnacle of Iowa’s cities like it was once ago. And personally I don’t think I need a Bachelor’s in Planning to see that…