[Winona Online Democracy] The local newspapers have recently run articles about Winona's plans to participate in the Grand Excursion activities. There are hopes that visitors who previously were unfamiliar with our historic downtown riverfront location will afterwards consider Winona as a tourist destination. So, to see if anyone wishes to discus how we might put our best face forward, I'll post a rant that I started last year but just recently finished :
----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Sebo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "John N. Finn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Winona" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 11 d�cembre, 2002 18:03 Subject: Re: [Winona] Menards ? John and all... > > I, too, am very interested in aesthetics along Mankato Avenue and downtown > and everywhere else in the city. ........ > First off, concerning our downtown hotel. I am making a lot of assumptions > here, but I presume they wanted to be right on the river as a marketing > tool...... -----Response----- After reading the Post's more thorough report, I now know that the planing commission briefly considered aesthetics in response to Menards' concerns, but declined to get involved since our zoning ordinances don't address such matters in detail. And, apparently, instead of championing architectural quality, Menards was merely afraid that the Lustron home and large sycamore tree, preserved and used as a business location, would be too strange and unusual to be in a "big box" strip mall. I mentioned the downtown AmericInn because I think the development in the surrounding area is a sad example of a lack of vision when it comes to maximizing our potential for attracting tourists to a revitalized downtown. Since the Port Authority sold all that land by the river and West Second at about the same time, the opportunity existed for a coordinated effort to achieve a better outcome. One might even suspect that someone was afraid that the riverfront AmericInn would have an unfair marketing advantage over the El Rancho motel. I realize that there are no big time developers or accomplished architects competing to do large multi-use projects in Winona. However, we do have planning and economic development personnel at city hall. We have a Chamber of Commerce, a Convention and Visitors Bureau, and citizen groups such as our planning, architectural review, historic preservation, and arts boards. But apparently there is no mechanism or leadership entity that would enable these community assets to interact and influence our development projects. A while ago, one of the twin cities newspapers did an article about how some of their suburbs are trying to develop town centers so their communities will have a more recognizable identity. Another article told of a hot new trend in retail development called "lifestyle centers". This is developer speak for an open air cluster of retail stores that try to create a contemporary version of an old style town square with all of the aesthetic landscaping details that a team of motivated architects can produce. The point is, if Winona wasn't haunted by the memory of the failed pedestrian mall, we could be doing something similar and more authentic. Just preserving what old buildings still exist while ignoring the design of everything else isn't going to accomplish much. I was told by someone who is trying to organize the downtown revitalization efforts that we should only expect little baby steps for now. Well, here is a baby step that won't cost anything: if HBC is going to start storing junk cars next to the Wilkie Steamboat Center, don't remove the trees and vines along the storage lot fence. John N. Finn _______________________________________________ This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona Any problems or suggestions can be directed to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
