Downtown street closures.

An article in the Bulletin a week ago about downtown street closures. I thought about not saying anything. I've sort of opted out of the whole issue after years of feeling like I was the only one who seemed concerned. I've adjusted my business toward the mainstream and street closures no longer kill business. They still hurt a little, they still add to the workload, but I've made my peace with it all.

Ironically just as other downtown businesses are finally speaking up.

The compromises are apparently:

1.) Advertise the downtown businesses more.

2.) Hold the events toward the middle of the street instead of near the sidewalks.

3.) Have a full-time liaison who can address merchant issues.

These changes seem a little cosmetic to me. You all know how effective I think advertising is. (NOT.) I'm not sure moving the booths will make that much difference. A liaison is a good idea. One of my biggest gripes was how inconsiderate and unthoughtful the vendors were about how they affected the long-time businesses.

For instance, the year I came to the store to find a giant refrigerator blocking my door, while ten feet away, the street was empty.

At least there is an acknowledgment that street closures do cause problems.

As I said, I used to complain about this every year. I was never that demanding. I understood that many of these events were traditional. My position was that we didn't need to keep adding events and extending existing events.

Nevertheless, I got a reputation as a disgruntled guy. I realized that if I was only one who was going to speak up, that the lobby for the street closures was much more influential: the vendors, the event organizers, the Downtowner organization, the city government, the advertisers, and most of all, the people who enjoyed coming to these events.

The biggest roadblock to change was the leadership of the Downtowners. I believe the previous head of the organization saw the events as part of his portfolio. Apparently, this has finally changed. A survey revealed the truth, that a large majority of downtown businesses are harmed by the constant street closures.

Which I already knew from talking to merchants. I even had merchants who were closing their businesses come in and say, "You're right about how the street closures hurt sales."

But there was a vocal minority of merchants who benefited from the events, and they outweighed the rest of the merchants who didn't want to rock the boat. I also realized that if I wasn't going to be active in the Downtowners, that I wasn't going to have much influence.

Anyway, change like this is slow and uncertain, but at least the trend is moving in a different direction.