As you’ll recall from earlier posts, last night was when the consultants from Hyett Palma were supposed to share the findings of their study on downtown Ypsilanti. I got there about a half hour late. As I don’t know what was covered the first part, and since I haven’t yet read their final report, I should probably refrain from sharing any judgments one way or the other, but I do want to pass along a few thoughts. Following are my rough notes on Doyle Hyett’s presentation. I’m no doubt leaving things out, and misquoting him in places. If you were in the audience, feel free to call me out on stuff, add to my thoughts, etc.

• When I walked in, Mr. Hyett was saying that our downtown stores needed to keep their lights on until midnight, to both give the impression that things were happening, and to increase the feeling of security. As with many other things he’d say this evening, this was pretty much common sense. I suppose, however, there’s some value in having an outsider, who is considered to be authority on such things, say it.

• As we were meeting in the Riverside Arts Center, quite a few of his comments centered around the facility. Essentially he said that the Riverside Arts Center should do a better job of reaching out to the community, and that the community should do a better job of embracing the facility. This observation, I think, was right on. In my 15 years (off and on) of living here, I’ve only been in the Riverside Arts Center two or three times. It is not, or at least it doesn’t seem to me, to be at all welcoming of outsiders. I think, however, that a lot of us actually share the blame for that. If we want for the RAC to be truly representative of our community, we need to get involved, and take some degree of ownership. It’s easy to sit back and say that it needs to offer broader programming that’s more representative of the community, but it’s another thing altogether to actually go to meetings and see that change realized. As Hyett pointed out, there’s no reason we couldn’t show films at the RAC, book comedy troops, and network with other regional theater groups, like Purple Rose, to bring their plays here. The facility is great – it could be the cultural heart of downtown – but it’s horribly underutilized.

• Physical improvements. He said that we needed to continue our streetscaping initiatives, replacing industrial streetlights with more appropriate ones, painting our trash cans black (”black is the new invisible”), keeping our planters filled with flowers, putting up new, professionally designed banners promoting Ypsi as being “fun and funky,” adding dual-purpose bike racks that function as public art, fixing broken curbs and pavement, etc.

• Make it easy, he says, for people to work on historic structures. For example, he suggests that we reinstate façade grants, like those we offered in the past. He says that we are eligible for State of Michigan grants to do this. The first round of funding, he says, is coming up shortly. He points out that we also still have historic tax credits to work with. And, he notes, we’re already ahead of a lot of other towns in that we don’t have to create a Historic District Commission. We have one, he says, that works well.

• We should encourage business owners, he says, to buy the buildings that they are in. Many of them were wise enough to negotiate the right of first refusal at such time that their buildings go up for sale. We need to encourage them to act. As he anticipates that property costs will rise, he suggests that business owners act quickly. Owner occupants, he reminds us, take better care of buildings than absentee landlords.

• I don’t know that I believe it, but one business owner told me after the event that he anticipates a wave of developer interest in downtown now that the Hyett Palma report has been completed. He tells me that developers are known to follow Hyett Palma, looking for communities on the cusp of turning successful.

• Mr. Hyatt was enthusiastic about the prospect of a commuter rail stop in Depot Town. Again, it’s obvious, but he reminds us that, if there is a rail stop, we’ll want to have signage in Depor Town, pointing the way toward downtown. We’ll also need some kind of bus service or other form of public transportation to move people between the two business districts.

• The Water Street development, he says, “needs new energy.” We need to get aggressive with the state of Michigan, Ann Arbor SPARK, and other economic development groups, to jumpstart the stalled project. He says that we may want to limit the uses we’ll allow on the site. He says that Water Street will be good for downtown, but “you need to get ahead of it.” He says development will happen, as there aren’t many opportunities for 40 contiguous acres in a downtown, on a river, but that we need to think about restrictions. I don’t know that he gave specifics as to what we should restrict for the good of downtown. I don’t think, however, that had big box retail in mind. Hopefully, this is fleshed out in the written report.

* In mentioning the Smith Furniture building, he suggested the possibility of tearing it down. This was the first time that I’d ever heard that possibility discussed. Hyett said that, in it’s current state, the size was challenging. (It’s too big for retail.) He said, “If you can’t find a use for it, and have to tear it down, we think it should be mixed-use, with housing above, and sub-surface parking.”

* Housing. Downtown loft developments have proven to be successful. In his opinion, we need to market that fact broadly. It’s making downtown a neighborhood again. He reminds us that Jane Jacobs said that central cities were decaying because full-time residents were leaving their communities. When there are no eyes and ears watching, crime grows, and obsolescence follows. As he points out, downtown was our original neighborhood. He says, and I agree, that the lofts should be on the annual home tour.

• He didn’t mention Wireless Ypsi or the Downtown Farmers’ Market, which I found odd. He also didn’t mention the Shadow Art Fair, and the opportunities that it brings to the table.

• He says that we need to do a better job of marketing Ypsi as a “fun, funky, edgy, cool, diverse community.” He says we need to invest in good graphic design and visual arts people. We need a strong, cohesive web presence. The DDA, Shop Ypsi, DAY, and all the other groups representing downtown Ypsi, need to get on the same page and develop a common statement about downtown that they can articulate and share. He says that the students of EMU won’t come into town until we can articulate online what’s here and why they should… He also says merchants should support the EMU Eagle Discount Card.

• It’s weird, but you can tell by what he’s saying exactly who he’s spoken with in town. (Clearly James Marks and the Maurers made a big impression.)

• We need a “lure brochure” that really conveys what we have. We can’t afford to hand out any more poorly designed xerox copies. We need materials that are professionally designed and printed. We need to list all of our businesses, regardless of whether they chip in for the design and printing. This brochure needs to be at all of our restaurants and gas stations. He mentions that in another town, their Walmart greeter hands out downtown maps. He suggests we attempt to work out something similar.

• Heritage tourism is an opportunity. We have an “authentic” downtown and we should market it to those interested in architecture and culture. These people, he says, stay longer than other tourists, spend more, and are better educated.

• Downtown needs one signature annual event, something that is “fun, funky, edgy and cool.” He suggests that we maybe use the Crossroads Music Festival to kick it off, whatever it turns out to be. (I’m thinking it might be cool to launch a contest to generate ideas.)

• We need a comprehensive way-finding system. He suggests that we go and look in Chelsea. “They’ve got a great system.” He puts in a plug for the Michigan company that created it. We need directional signs to parking, anchor buildings, etc. EMU is working on an initiative now. We should do ours in tandem. When you get off 94, he says, you don’t know where you are. “We need to lead people like lost lambs.”

• The DDA needs to champion the vision. They need to lead this and focus everyone… The DDA board needs an infusion of young, entrepreneurial blood, as well as representatives from the Downtown Association of Ypsi and other stakeholder organizations.

• We need to create a “Downtown Partnership,” a comfortable, causal group that meets no less than once a quarter. This group should include representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, the Visitors and Convention Bureau, people from the neighboring neighborhood associations, EMU marketing personnel, DDA and DAY representatives, and others with a vested interest in downtown. They should share agendas, plan initiatives jointly, etc. And everyone should get on-board with the blueprint program as outlined by Hyett Palma. Everyone needs to buy into it, and the DDA needs to see that happen.

• Hyett Palma will benchmark our progress for five years to determine our success. We should share the results, assuming they’re positive, with the media. If we’re turning around, the world needs to know. We need to track customers, jobs and tax revenues. There are also intangible things like energy, excitement, and enthusiasm that we should expect to see increase.

• When we benchmarked your community in ’92, Hyett said, we outlined what you needed, and, so far, you’ve been outperforming on all counts. He says they were most impressed by the development of downtown housing stock. “That’s one of the hardest things to get going, and you’ve got it.” He ends by saying that, on a scale from 1 to 10, we’ve shown ourselves to be a 12. He says, “I can say this with confidence… we’ve watched you for 16 years, and I hope you keep this spirit alive. If you do that, you’ll get what you’ve been asking for… you’ll have one of the coolest communities in the country.” He says his job is to encourage us, and to remind us that now isn’t the time to “get conservative.” We need to continue to stretch, continue to take big risks.

There are at least a dozen people in the community who could have said the same things, but I think there’s probably a value to having someone from outside come in and say it. If having an authority say it gets everyone on the same page, I think it was probably worth the $50,000 that Hyett Palma collected. Going into the presentation, I was expecting something more. I was expecting detailed plans, a map that would take us from point A to point B. There wasn’t much of that. The closest we got, in my opinion, was the brief discussion on cultural tourism. I wanted more of that. I wanted him to point out opportunities, and then to dive in and tell us what, based on his knowledge of other communities, would work. Instead, we got a non-prioritized list of things we should work on, like getting our businesses to keep regular hours, keep their lights on, and paint their trashcans black. I felt a bit gypped, until it was pointed out to me by a friend who was also there, that, as a community, we need to crawl before we can walk. I think he’s probably right.

A copy of HyettPalma’s final report can be found at the bottom of the DDA’s website, and coverage of last night’s event can be found in the “Ann Arbor News.”

I should stay up and edit, but I need to sleep now.