Jodi’s Journal: Downtown past, present and future
May 7, 2023
I put on an old hat for lunch this week – luckily just figuratively as it would have blown off, as my hats tended to do back in my TV days – and I went to Downtown Rotary to listen to former Mayor Dave Munson and former city planning director Mike Cooper.
They joined DTSF president Joe Batcheller for a conversation about downtown past, present and future.
I promise I will not use this space to perpetually write about downtown Sioux Falls as I know the columns have been downtown-heavy in recent weeks, but this one practically wrote itself.
Munson was asked about his decision to close down “The Loop,” which had long drawn a combination of cruisers and loiterers to downtown. People told him it wouldn’t work, he said.
They’d just go somewhere else was the thinking. “Well, then we’ll go wherever they go,” he replied. That lasted about three days, when the “loopers” gathered at the Western Mall, and then it was over. In its place is a downtown where outdoor dining and socializing and public art have taken its place.
I had to smile in recent days as I’ve never seen so many patios simultaneously sprout across the core of our city, but as soon as the temperatures moderated for just long enough, they instantly appeared and were filled.
“We’ll go wherever they go.”
I’ve heard Munson repeat that line many times serving in city government with him and in the years that followed.
But what a statement for leaders to consider. Because the bigger sub-context is more like: “Yes, we know this change isn’t universally accepted. We know fulfilling the vision is going to be challenging. And we’re going to do it anyway, and we’re not accepting that things can’t improve, and we’re not going to stop until we’ve achieved the goal.”
I thought about that message again when I talked with Rhonda Lockwood last week. The building on the east side of downtown that she and her law partner Tressa Zahrbock Kool bought more than two years ago has leased space to a home decor boutique, with interest from breweries, distilleries and other small businesses in the remaining spot.
At the time, their broker had warned them: “You’ll need vision. It’s not turnkey.”
But they made the investment, and now part of the space that used to be a discount merchandise center will be — appropriately enough — home to a vintage and handmade home decor shop. In the meantime, a new vision was brought forward to redevelop the area across the street from them — potentially situating them to support and feed off the Riverline District.
This past weekend, downtown predictably filled with two things: Falls Park Farmers Market patrons and new pieces for SculptureWalk — in one of the symbolic arrivals for me of the summer visitor season.
Appropriately, after the Rotary meeting, Paul Schiller sent me this photo from the beginning of it all 20 years ago.
Someone mentioned to me the other day about a newer business downtown pulling back on Sunday hours shortly after giving it a try.
“I hope they wait just a few more weeks,” I answered. “Downtown on a Sunday is a completely different place once the new sculptures are up and the weather is nice.”
All this activity and all these investments add up, sometimes in ways that are hard to quantify. I was reminded of that as I ended the week talking with Secretary Jim Hagen, who leads the South Dakota Department of Tourism. I learned that visiting spending last year in the southeast part of South Dakota led the state.
“When you go to travel events now, have people heard about Sioux Falls, do they ask about Sioux Falls?” I asked him.
This was not always the case, to be clear.
But now, at a recent tourism conference in Los Angeles, “you don’t have to bring up Sioux Falls to literally a majority of attendees. They know,” he said. “They’re reading about Sioux Falls, they’re hearing about Sioux Falls, which is incredibly exciting.”
When he asked what they’re hearing, they say: “They just cite that we hear it’s a very dynamic city, that it’s growing, that it has an interesting arts and culture scene, some people cite the culinary scene, but there’s a buzz about it.”
That’s the thing. Cities don’t attract residents, businesses and visitors with slogans and taglines. They do it by creating this sort of aura that things are happening here, that there’s energy, that there’s new investment, that there are things to explore and opportunities to pursue.
Every single one of those things starts with and leads back to a vibrant downtown. Imagine if no one had stepped up to shut down The Loop. Or create the Washington Pavilion. Or demolish the Zip Feed tower. Or take on developing a former salvage yard. Or build Phillips Avenue to Falls Park. Or invest in any one of dozens of historic buildings to revitalize them. Or start building out the River Greenway. Or bring in sculptures from around the world.
Every one of those things had pitfalls, political hurdles, financial risk or all three. Thank goodness the approach, more often than not, has been to do it anyway.
In the present, there are ways for all of us to do our part. That could be as simple as buying your Mother’s Day gift at a local boutique or inviting someone from out of town to experience Sioux Falls for the first time or for the first time in a long time. It could be locating your business downtown or contributing to any of the nonprofits that help make the city more supportive to everyone from artists to those in need.
Soon, we’ll get a look at a proposed master plan for downtown that will provide some fodder for discussion about its potential for the future. I already see it everywhere I look downtown, from Main and Dakota avenues to 14th Street to Weber Avenue and certainly east of the viaduct.
But no matter which direction we go, let’s keep it grounded in the same vision and commitment I remembered and saw reflected on the Rotary stage. Where not getting it done was not an option.
