Submission by Barry Alberts | Managing Partner | CityVisions Associates | Louisville, Kentucky
I read with great interest the recent posting at Buffalo Rising by Lou Bordonaro comparing the Chippewa area with Fourth Street Live in Louisville. While our firm is currently working with the Richardson Center Corporation on the redevelopment of the magnificent Richardson-Omsted complex, I formerly served as the head of the Downtown Development Corporation in Louisville and oversaw the Fourth Street Live project that Mr. Bordonaro cited as a model worth emulating. I thought perhaps your readers might be interesting in learning more about that project’s evolution and what lessons from it may be applicable to the Buffalo situation:
The recent posting by Lou Bordonaro citing the Fourth Street Live development in Louisville, Kentucky was of particular interest to me, as our firm – CityVisions Associates – has been for the past two years working on the redevelopment and reuse of the Richardson-Olmsted complex, one of the architectural jewels of Buffalo. Our firm is based in Louisville, and prior to the establishment of CityVisions I served as the Executive Director of the public/private organization that oversaw the development of Fourth Street Live, in partnership with the Cordish Company. While there are many striking similarities between Buffalo and Louisville, Mr. Bordonaro is absolutely correct when he states that each city has it own identity and uniqueness and that comparisons should not be made too literally. He is also correct in stating that there may be lessons to be drawn from development models such as Fourth Street Live that contribute to its success and can be applied to other urban entertainment areas. Let me take a few minutes to explain the context of Fourth Street Live and suggest some of the lessons that should be considered for any entertainment areas in Buffalo.
Fourth Street Live was an attempt in Louisville to eliminate one of the city’s major mistakes – similar to mistakes made in countless cities across the country at that time – which was the permanent closure of one of its main streets and transforming it into an enclosed shopping mall. Without detailing the folly of this kind of project, suffice it to say that by the 90s our efforts were focused on bringing traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, back down to street level and restoring its place in the urban fabric. The roof referred to by Mr. Bordonaro was a vestige of the former project that was creatively integrated into the redesign, and it serves a nice purpose, but it is not a key element to its success. The development is under one single owner/management entity, which further distinguishes it from an area such as Chippewa, and this single ownership provides a level of responsibility and management control that we believed was a very important element, especially as the Cordish Company is experienced in dealing with the complexities of urban entertainment districts.
In spite of these differences, and the differences found in each of the country’s downtown entertainment areas, the one critical element likely to be cited by all of them as the key element of their success or failure, is effective management. Whether under single ownership or multiple ownership, the development of a management and operations program with very clear responsibilities by both the private and public sectors, working in collaboration and cooperation, is an absolute necessity. Even more important, those responsible entities as well as the area’s patrons must understand that there are equally clear – and enforceable – standards of acceptable behavior, and that deviations from these standards will absolutely not be tolerated. While a major goal of these areas is to encourage residents and visitors to come downtown and enjoy themselves, the spectrum of this enjoyment must remain within an acceptable range and in manners that do not affect either the safety or enjoyment of others.
This is more easily said than done, and Fourth Street Live has had its share of thorny and sometimes controversial issues, including the restrictions of minors after certain hours, checking of IDs, a dress code, temporary street closures, etc. The issue of control of public streets at certain times by private interests is often a slippery one to negotiate, and the rights of citizens to access must be balanced against the rights of those same people to their own level of safety and privacy. Moreover, as one of the responders to the post pointed out, these areas tend to change throughout the course of the day as to the age of patrons and the type of activity, and therefore the way the district is managed also needs to change over the course of the day as well.
Fourth Street Live, in spite of these tricky issues, has been overwhelmingly successful in bringing millions of people back downtown over the course of the year, with a very high percentage of these visitors and residents having a pleasant, enjoyable, entertaining, and most of all, an urban experience. Issues that need attention and in some cases intervention, especially when alcoholic consumption is involved, occur on occasion, but they are dealt with swiftly and directly. The fact that they occur relatively infrequently is a testament to the fact that these standards of behavior are clear, and that there is no distinction as to what is acceptable regardless of whether one is on public or private property, whether the security is handles by police or private security officers, or whether one is there to have a family dinner, to hear good music, to shop, or to have a drink (or two).
The lesson for Buffalo – whether in Chippewa, CanalSide, Elmwood Avenue, or other areas where Buffalo’s residents and visitors want to eat, drink and be entertained – is to make sure that all of the parties involved, be they public or private entities, commit to – up front – a common management program that creates a set of community standards for acceptable behavior, and each of the parties take ownership and responsibility as to their part in maintaining these standards. Not everyone will want to accept these standards. However, if they are reasonable, those that do not wish to play by these rules will go elsewhere, and those that remain will be able to enjoy what Buffalo and Louisville and other real cities have to offer, in a safe and enjoyable atmosphere.