Dec. 18, 2022

It was a chance meeting in the lobby of our office building as the week wound down that left me with an important message.

I arrived to find my friend and former boss, Dave Munson, who served as mayor from 2002 to 2010, talking with Dick Murphy and his son, Rich.

The Murphy family is marking its 25th Christmas downtown as owners of Mrs. Murphy’s Irish Gifts, which also is part of our building.

“How is your holiday season going?” I asked them.

Full disclosure: I wasn’t expecting what I heard next.

“We say it this way: Last year was the best year we’ve ever had in 25 years, and that’s coming out of the pandemic,” Dick Murphy said. “Continuing on into January, February, March, we were still on the uptick of being better than the year before.”

The summer, with its rising gas prices and inflation impacts, started to cause some softening, he said.

“But starting in September, October, November and December, we’re back up better than we were the year before, and that number has kind of shocked us,” he said. “It’s been something we’ve witnessed as the months have gone by: People are still coming out.”

At first, he was inclined to keep the strong year to himself. But he soon learned that “we’re not alone,” Murphy said. “The business climate is really vibrant and working well for our neighbors up and down the street.”

Murphy has been in business downtown long enough to know it hasn’t always been like this.

As we talked with Munson in the lobby, the family thanked him for bringing forward ordinance changes in the early 2000s that shut down “the loop” and opened up downtown for outdoor dining and residential growth.

“People told me it wouldn’t work, that they’d just go somewhere else,” Munson said. “I said wherever they go, we’ll go.”

The cruiser-loiterers briefly migrated to the Western Mall, but it didn’t last. The impact on downtown has only multiplied.

“The behavior changed almost overnight,” Murphy said. “Within two weeks, we saw the disappearance of the loop and people gathering on corners and making it an uncomfortable feeling for people coming downtown. Both those entities were making a bad mark on downtown. We all knew that and felt that was something that needed to change.”

The need to feel safe is about as basic as it gets.

“And after that, people were starting to think about moving and living downtown,” Murphy said. “If people feel safe enough to live in a downtown area, then things have changed.”

Things absolutely have changed. Just drive around downtown and you’ll see it everywhere, from the cranes supporting nearly a half-billion dollars in new construction to the packed parking lots around our entertainment venues and retailers.

There aren’t many available apartments downtown, not much vacant commercial real estate and few options for those who want to purchase a home here.

There also continue to be needs. There is an increased population in need of social services that loiters downtown and can create safety concerns. One of the best things that has been done to address it is the downtown ambassador program, run through Downtown Sioux Falls Inc.

I wish we could clone Martin Dill. In 2021, he became the first DTSF ambassador. And he’s perfect for the role.

“It can be part hospitality for visitors, for shoppers, pointing out destinations and also providing a little extra support with cleaning sidewalks,” DTSF president Joe Batcheller told me in this story. “But a lot of them will also provide homeless outreach and/or some level of security. We’re not going to step in and do the police’s job — we don’t have the resources or training — but we can do the homeless outreach side.”

That’s one example of how the downtown organization needs to evolve to continue meeting the community’s needs. And that takes funding.

This week, the Sioux Falls City Council will reconsider an adjustment to the Main Street Business Improvement District, which helps fund Downtown Sioux Falls Inc. — its people and programs. This is a tax on businesses in the downtown that goes back to 1989 and has a cap on assessments that has become outdated.

We haven’t covered it much because, frankly, it impacts a fairly small audience, and I thought it was essentially a given that this was going to pass without much discussion.

I guess I was wrong.

At the second reading earlier this month, multiple businesses voiced concern about the changes. And while I understand some of the reservations, what I find hard to accept are comments like this:

“We’ve never really gotten any benefits.”

“It’s harder to justify (a business’) presence in downtown Sioux Falls as expenses increase relative to the benefit they get.”

The Sioux Falls business community, downtown included, has thrived uniquely because of a culture that intentionally does not ask “What’s in it for me?” but instead believes that what is good for Sioux Falls ultimately is good for our respective businesses.

My business is located in downtown Sioux Falls. I could end up paying a bit more in the form of rent because of this assessment. I already choose to pay membership into Downtown Sioux Falls Inc. even though it’s hard for me, too, to point to a direct benefit. That’s not the point.

The point is that a safe, clean downtown with nice landscaping, artwork, music and events is where people want to be. It’s where they want to live, work, be entertained and spend their money. And we all share in that experience.

Think about a business like Mrs. Murphy’s Irish Gifts. E-commerce could have beaten a specialty retailer like this, but thanks to the full picture that exists in downtown Sioux Falls, it’s having a record year. And that’s with no online sales.

As Batcheller said in addressing the City Council on this assessment change: “If downtown doesn’t look good, the city doesn’t look good.”

This is a well-thought-out, appropriate increase in resources for downtown. Opposing it not only doesn’t make your business look good but also doesn’t illustrate the kind of thinking that has set this community up for success on so many levels for generations.

I’m optimistic this has been worked out in the past two weeks and will go back to being the nonissue I thought it was.

Oh, and here’s a little more good news I took away from Mrs. Murphy’s: There are fewer than 90 days until St. Patrick’s Day. After last week’s weather, I needed that.