6 Comments Add your own

• 1. Linda Grist Cunningham  |  April 14th, 2009 at 7:49 am

  And, the longer it’s put off, the more expensive it will be to remove.

• 2. Bob Trojan  |  April 14th, 2009 at 7:53 am

  I have never been a fan of removing the mall.
  In all the international cities I’ve been, most have a charming downtown pedestrian mall.
  If someone wants to shop or eat at Kortman’s or Octane, they can do a short walk to do so, a street isn’t going to bring more shoppers.
  In today’s economic climate, I say, save the money for something more urgent.

• 3. egyas  |  April 14th, 2009 at 9:03 am

  Here’s a reality check. Rockford’s downtown is NEVER going to be what it was in the ’50s. It is no longer the “center” of Rockford’s life. Rockford’s residents simply don’t want, and will not support, a “revitalized” downtown like the Morresy admin (and the one’s before him) envision. If they did, there would be people other than the City government and the RRS campaigning for it. Downtown is where you go to court, file important paperwork, utilize public services/agencies, etc, etc, etc. Heck, most Rockford folk refuse to support our current downtown money-pits, the MetroCentre, the Coronado, and the NAT. If we did, they wouldn’t run “in the red” year after year after year and be dependent on tax-dollar handouts just to keep the doors open.

  Want to a start on “fixing” downtown? The we need to accept that Rockford is not a “trendy” town. We don’t want fancy theaters, gimmicky “boutiques”, or trendy little “spots”. We want things we can USE, and feels safe using.
  1) Get rid of the money pits. ALL of them. Quit wasting money on things that the majority of Rockford’s citizens don’t give a fig about.
  2) Fix that rats-nest of one-way streets downtown so that you don’t need a navigation system or 20 years of Rockford driving experience to find your way around.
  3) CLEAN up downtown. Both the graffiti and the people causing the high-crime. I have always found it funny that one of the highest crime zones in Rockford is right where the Public Safety Building is. (http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/il/rockford/crime/)
  4) Make parking more accessible for what is there.
  5) Create tax incentives (or whatever other type of incentives you need to) to get more offices and businesses to move downtown. There is a tremendous amount of jobs in our society that don’t need a factory or manufacturing base. Legal, design firms, advertising, IT, consulting, call centers, etc, etc. All can function quite well in a relatively small foot-print by building up. Instead of wasting space on theaters we don’t use, and a MetroCentre we clearly don’t use enough, use that space to try and bring jobs downtown. Honestly, which costs us more, sacrificing tax revenue from a company for several years to get them to move in. or PAYING tax dollars to support something year after year?

  This is a tough economy. People and companies aren’t spending money where they don’t need to. If you have ANY hope, ESPECIALLY right now, of pulling up downtown in any way, you have to give up on this pie-in-the-sky idea that Rockford wants to be a town with Chicago-like “arts and culture”. As far as I can tell, that’s not what the majority of folks here want. When people are having trouble feeding their kids, they’re not going to pony-up for some trendy play. Give them a REASON to go downtown that appeals to the common man. A reason like work.

• 4. ben  |  April 14th, 2009 at 9:39 am

  The problem is that downtown Rockford has moved to about State and Mulford. City Hall can’t stand on the shore and command the tide to reverse.
  1. Rockford never has had a downtown. We’ve had the area at State and the River, 7th Street, Broadway, the North End, Rockford Plaza, Glitter Gulch. We’ve never had a real, single, central business district.
  2. The RRStar’s downtown is worn out and probably will eventually be torn down. Take the News Tower, it’s a hodgpode of additions with a virtually unused tower, why, not enough square footage on any floor to be usable today. Worn out elevator, antique plumbing. The Talcott, Rockford Trust, Stewart Square, Brown Building, and others are in the same condition. Not commercially viable buildings without putting more into them than it would cost to build a new bulding that is functional.
  3. People keep focusing on trival like putting the mall in, taking the mall out, putting something else in. People won’t go downtown until there is a good reason. Do you thihk thte NAT failed because people had to walk across the street from the parking lot or around the corner from the parking garage?
  4. Busiiness won’t locate “downtown” because the buildings are shot.
  Solution?
  1. Move the RR Star to Sate and Mulford. They won’t need as much room when they don’t have a press any more.
  2. Tear down the vacant and under used buildings and put in a nice park.
  3. Maybe have some commercial zoning around the edges of the park. If nothing else it would be good landscaping for the state office building, courthouse and jail.
  –Maybe I’m being a bit sarcastic, but it seems entirely too much community energy and resources are being spent on whipping a dead horse.

• 5. Chuck Sweeny  |  April 14th, 2009 at 9:46 am

  Except for Bob’s and Linda’s comments, the anonymous posters are a prime example of what’s wrong with Rockford. They can write reams of copy about what’s wrong, but nothing about how to improve things. That’s why Rockford is where it is — nowhere.

  Bob, I think we should have a walking downtown, too, but make it more like Naperville’s, where people walk happily on sidewalks as they go from one interesting shop to another. The riverwalk in Naperville is on the river. As you know, I’ve long advocated making the east bank of the Rock River a riverwalk, linking Sinnissippi Gardens with the Y, the ice rink and a future brew pub, restaurant combo in the old brewery building.

  I also want to turn the old rail yards into a permanent festival park similar to what Milwaukee did with the Summerfest groiunds, or what Santa Fe, New Mexico has done with its former rail yard. Now called The Railyard, it’s a center of shopping, dining and the northern destination of the popular RailRunner commuter trains from Alberquerque.

• 6. blue_dog_dem  |  April 23rd, 2009 at 10:06 pm

  Another way to improve things would be to take those bulldozers and head Westward. Tear down Auburn Manor and Fairgrounds and demolish as many ghettos as possible.
  Dozing these places would be a huge step forward. Don’t let it get bogged down in bureacracy. Give residents 30 days to vacate and buy them a 1-way bus tickets to Chicago.

  How is that for a positive plan?

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