Downtown Improvement District

My first step was contacting the Downtown Improvement District office. I am familiar with DID because I have worked beside their office for almost two years. My basic questions going in were: 

1. What does DID hope to improve on (goals, focuses)?

2. How do they go about improving the downtown area?

3. What kinds of public space do they hope to create through their projects?

Last Friday, March 14, I met with Frank Howard, Director of Marketing, Environmental & Business Services at DID. I was met with a pile of very helpful brochures that covered most of the questions I had. Frank explained the different projects DID does, and what their goals are and what their mission is. Throughout our talk I jotted down some of the things Frank reiterated about DID. These include:

1. DID aims to have a creative impact on the community

2. They hope to foster economic development by acting as a mediator for downtown business. They aren't looking to make a profit, so they look out for the best interest of all the business.

3. They have multiple community partners, who they help through marketing and coordinating

4. We talked about Buskerfest and how the idea for it came about. This brought up city improvement includes city to city communication, with different cities sharing ideas and implementing projects that have been successful in other cities. Frank also talked about how having buskers in a city is a way of telling if a city has "made it" culturally, which I thought was interesting.

5. DID aims to keep events low cost and accessible.

6. Through their Clean and Green program they want to maintain a clean and safe environment. 

What really struck me throughout this interview was the level of optimism I felt and that Frank conveyed as he discussed all the different aspects and components of DID. From what I have seen from the events I have attended (Buskerfest, Fright Night, HolidayFest) people want these type of things to happen. There were large turn outs and people really seemed to embrace the events.