Director's Take

Bringing Home Ideas

10-23-2025

Dear Friend of Downtown,

Traveling to other cultures, while expensive, is so educational through offering new perspective and understanding. I recently returned from my first trip to Asia and the amount of care that is taken of their public spaces and buildings, the environment, and each other was acutely apparent.
 
There are green plantings on buildings that are trimmed and watered daily; there are signs in their public transportation asking you to stand up for an elderly/disabled person or to keep the noise down in consideration of others; and I saw people cleaning the exterior of a building with a small brush. Even the customer service everywhere I went was top notch.
 
In America, we don’t seem to build in the necessary funds for maintenance, repairs, or cleaning, which results in unkempt spaces and broken sidewalks… Think of how you feel in a space that is well taken care of versus one that is overgrown or dilapidated. 
 
We need to acknowledge that these services require not only money but an accountability to our spaces for which WE are responsible. The quality of where I visited surely meant higher taxes, but it also meant a society that respected each other and the spaces where they spent time together.
 
Our city and state governments are finally, albeit slowly, starting to budget maintenance dollars for major projects. I know that LDP is spending precious dollars now on fixing some projects that lacked these critical maintenance funds, which could’ve been used to implement new projects. Let’s keep moving in this direction, America.
 
See you on the streets soon!