Director's Take

Borrowed Ideas

03-17-2022

Traveling to other cities always opens my eyes to new ideas of projects and how things can look or be done. I veer between being jealous and proud… and yet, either way, I think Louisville’s Downtown is pretty cool!

I have visited European and American cities and always look for public art, the modes of transportation, how businesses interact with the street, beautification efforts… basically how a city tells its own story. I’ve been working in Downtown for more than 20 years and now that I see Downtown through a new lens in this role, I see so many projects I’d love to implement. The great thing about “borrowing” ideas from other cities is that everyone can have bragging rights, but rarely does anybody have ownership rights. 

I have in mind more unique lighting, public art, and beautification installations. I want to create new “places” for programming and where people come together for lunch, for a meeting, after work, or on the weekends. I want special events that bring people together in Downtown to experience the beauty, fun, and sense of community that it engenders. And we received hundreds of comments at our inaugural Open House this week, some of which we also hope to borrow. 

These projects take funds, and LDP will be working on raising those, but we want the rest of the business and residential communities to want and help these projects too and to help bring a few of these projects to life. It will take all of us to build the kind of community we want and can tout to the rest of the world. How cool would it be if other cities used Louisville as the place they “borrow” ideas!