There’s something about it, but it’s not always easy to identify. It’s a timely and important question, and a great way to introduce some ideas that we’re going to unpack a bit more regularly in the future. Today, we’re hoping to point out just a few simple ideas that maybe you’ve noticed, maybe you haven’t. And it’s all for a purpose, so make sure you make it to the end.
Have you noticed?
- That downtown buildings are closer together?
- In downtown, walking from place to place is easier? (with the exception of when winter weather makes it challenging)
- There’s lots of stuff crammed together downtown?
- Downtown has fewer parking lots? (This one’s rhetorical, we know you’ve noticed 😉 )
- Over the years, the downtown buildings and spaces have housed a lot of different businesses?
- In downtown, there are places for businesses and places for people to live in the very same buildings, but rarely elsewhere in Minot?
Odds are you’ve probably never noticed what we’ve pointed out above much less that the answer to all of them is yes. Said differently, if we switch the questions above to statements, they’re all true.
Why does it matter? More specifically, why should it matter to you?
Would you believe us if we told you:
- Downtowns are the smartest investments a community can make? To you, that means downtown is the pathway to lower taxes. Skeptical? Stick with us, we’ll make you a believer.
- Did you know that on one half of one block on Main Street we have 17 businesses and 44 apartment homes? It’s true, and in a future post, we’ll count them out for you. It’s a big reason why downtown is the path to lower taxes.
- It is the lack of parking lots and wide fast-traffic roads that make it a people-friendly place?
- Have you ever thought about what makes a person take pride, to truly be proud of the place they’re from or call home? Is it the places and businesses that every community in America has or is it the places and businesses that can only be found in Minot?
As we said, we’re going to be unpacking each of these in the future, but for today, we’re using these questions as an introduction to an opportunity to comment, formally, on a plan that’s taking shape that will certainly shape Minot’s future.
Minot’s Comprehensive Plan is in development, and for a couple more days (we’re late telling you, apologies) you have an opportunity to provide some input. As you do, we encourage you to think about downtown and what makes it different, and how focusing on people first, instead of cars and additional lanes of traffic might be the smart, and also the affordable path to a prosperous, proud Minot.