Downtown Kalamazoo Observations

1. As I walked downtown in Kalamazoo I observed its atmosphere, cleanliness and mixture of retail shops. Numerous banks, restaurants, and a variety of shops are a located on Burdick Street. This mixture of retail stores is accompanied by a single lane one way street, countless benches, and trash cans. The streets are clean, although many leaves cover the pavement. In addition the walkway is adorned with planters and a few trees. Some store fronts are attractive, clean, and simple, while others require maintenance. During my visit few people filled the streets, or stores, which provided an empty feeling.

2. While I visited downtown Kalamazoo, I thought of three recommendation to improve the area. My first suggestion is to add generators. The most obvious generator to me is the Kalamazoo rock climbing center. This is only one! Other students included banks as generators currently located in the downtown area, as well. I recommend adding a bowling ally, or a gym (like an article from class mentioned). Secondly, the area should try to attract a younger crowd, perhaps to college aged students. The area lacks restaurants and shops that are affordable to college students. To improve the area, shops should be more necessity based, perhaps, and they should be more affordable. Lastly, I would move the location of the Rave Motion Pictures movie theater. The movie theater is located in such an isolated area, giving the feeling that it is separate from downtown and it also feels less secure. If the movie theater was located downtown, I would be more willing to go to a restaurant afterward or beforehand. I would also have greater interest in walking the downtown area.

3. From Lagerfeld's "What Main Street Can Learn from the Mall..."
"At the corner of Clematis and Dixie Highway, one of the main intersections in town, a new gym has opened, its large plate-glass windows displaying its clientele to passing pedestrians and motorists. The gym is what Gibbs calls a "generator": the traffic it draws will help attract related businesses, such as restaurants, fast-food outlets, perhaps a sporting-goods store, to the empty storefronts nearby." 


Essentially, this passage discusses generators and their importance in a downtown area. Downtown Kalamazoo can use this advice. Like I mentioned earlier, the area has only one obvious generator -- the Kalamazoo Climbing Center. Adding generators will bring more people, of all age groups, into the area. The area will therefore feel less desolate, instead it will feel lively and welcoming. While I was downtown I saw few people, and most of which were older. Shops were nearly empty, as were restaurants. As we discussed in class, many people said that they disliked entering shops if it lacked people. To draw people into shops, it is important to have generators. I also observed that there was little to do in the downtown area. Generators would offer people opportunities, like a gym offers people a place to exercise. Downtown areas should incorporate these opportunities, otherwise they are boring.