Some thoughts about Friday’s Downtowner Block Party…

Lots of people (including me at times) think that Downtown Danville is dead. It’s not, and events like tonight’s Block Party proves it. Here’s some random thoughts about it…

• I thought that the idea of getting people’s input on what to do with the now-demolished Downtowner property was a waste of time because I thought that the fix was in for whatever it was going to be. After talking with some leaders, I now believe that’s not the case and they still haven’t decided what to do with the area.
• Laurie Moran is a genius and an ambassador for this city and county. There’s no other way to praise her as highly as she deserves. She came up with the idea of having an artist draws people’s ideas and make them come to life on a white canvas. Anything Laurie touches becomes golden and there’s no doubt to it. Robert Brooks is just as much of a genius (with help from folks like Jerry Amburn) on leading the Downtown Danville Association events like this. Just like Laurie, you’ll never be able to get Robert to accept the compliments that you give to them but that’s a sign of their modesty.
• You can eat in Downtown Danville. You can eat well in Downtown Danville. Tonight’s food choices were from the excellent Main Street Coffee Emporium and the just-as-excellent 316 Cibo. Correction: I’ve been informed that Jake’s On Main did have a table of food available. (There’s also Jake’s On Main, but they weren’t represented at the food tables tonight). I hope people continue to patronize all of the restaurants downtown because it’s worth the effort to eat there.
• I was seriously surprised and impressed at the number of people who showed up for tonight’s event. There was also a good turnout of city officials and council members which shows that they’re very interested in this project. I have no doubt that this interest will continue for the life of this project.
• Let’s get real, though. Parking is still a serious problem in Downtown (except tonight when the Daniel law office & First State Bank parking lots were open to the public). With the construction happening along Main St., it’s only going to get worse. Available parking is essential for businesses and the only way it’s going to be solved is by making the Downtowner area into a parking garage in some form (and that’s my suggestion). One other thing that needs to happen is a stop to the Parking Nazi-enforced ticketing that’s happening in Danville. It may be a revenue-enhancer, but it’s also a business-killer. Enforce the most egregious violations but let the non-troubling ones slide.

So there’s some “Random Thoughts” about Friday’s Downtowner Block Party. I’m hoping more events like this will happen in the Downtown area.