Our View: Downtown needs our love of place

"The timing is actually really great."

Tami LaPole Edmunds of Art in the Alley offered that rather-unexpected comment ahead of Wednesday's Greater Downtown Council annual dinner during an interview with the News Tribune Opinion page.

No, there's never a good time for road construction just outside the front doors of a main-street business. But when it comes to making the best of — and actually surviving — the potentially devastating moment now facing our downtown Duluth businesses, a couple of things are falling into place, as Edmunds pointed out.

The renovated historic NorShor Theater is set for its grand reopening at the eastern end of downtown next month, while the Superior Street reconstruction project is scheduled to begin in April at the western end of Superior Street; the construction mess isn't expected to reach the NorShor for at least a year and a half. So that's 18 months of the drawing power of a jewel attraction like the reopened NorShor to remind Duluthians and visitors alike that downtown isn't closed for business, that they can still get there, despite the construction.

"As long as people keep coming down during that time, supporting our shops, downtown will survive and even thrive. The NorShor will help with that. And then it's all uphill from there for us," said Edmunds, a board member for the Greater Downtown Council. "We'll still be here, but we'll need community support during the next three years like we've never needed it before."

That's precisely why the downtown council already is working on how to communicate with merchants and shoppers during the construction; on the sort of marketing and social-media presence that'll be needed; and how best to network with neighborhood groups, fellow business organizations, and others in Duluth. Practically everything the Greater Downtown Council is doing this year is related to the looming reconstruction project, its President Kristi Stokes told the Opinion page. It'll take everyone working together to make it through, she said.

"Our local businesses absolutely need the support of our community," Stokes said. "What we need is for people to not only think about how great a community Duluth is but how great a downtown we have."

There's a need right now for pride in Duluth, and especially its downtown, and for Duluthians and visitors alike to have an emotional connection. This is why author Peter Kageyama, the former president of Creative Tampa Bay, was tapped to deliver the keynote address at Wednesday's dinner. Kageyama is the author of "For the Love of Cities: The Love Affair Between People and Their Places" and "Love Where You Live: Creating Emotionally Engaging Places."

"That's just a perfect message as we go into the reconstruction of Superior Street," Stokes said. "We'll really need people to show their pride for downtown and their love for downtown."

In Duluth just a few hours Wednesday, Kageyama said he was encouraged.

"My first impression of your city is, 'Wow!' Kageyama said. "I don't think it's too much of a stretch when we say that love matters. We get that. When children are loved, they thrive, (as do) pets and plants. For cities — our neighborhoods, our communities — we need to love those as well. Because when we love something, we go above and beyond and maybe do something extraordinary. And we do so because we have this emotional connection."

Patronizing downtown Duluth's businesses, despite the mess and inconvenience of road construction, certainly will qualify as above and beyond. But it'll also be absolutely necessary if downtown businesses are to survive this. They need us — whether or not a renovated historic destination like the NorShor is what's needed to get us near their display windows and front doors.