2 weeks Ago
It’s time to roll out the red carpet for Santa, Colorado Springs officials and the Downtown Partnership have decreed. What that will look like: a cleaner, safer, more sparkly and user-friendly central shopping district. “The overarching theme is presence,” said Jessie Kimber, the city’s economic development officer.
“We want to bring folks downtown. We want to see if this is a viable model.” Embracing a prevailing attitude that it’s never too early to get your Christmas on, the holiday spirit will descend on the city’s central core later this week, as the merchants’ group and several city departments activate changes to facilitate Mayor Yemi Mobolade’s goal of improving traffic and visitation.
The plan is being unveiled Wednesday. Beginning Friday and running at least through year’s end, a multi-level pilot program to enhance the shopping, dining and doing-business experience takes effect, in tandem with permanent adjustments to parking hours and fees, said Vanessa Zink, the city’s chief communications officer. The new parking policy — free Sunday parking in three city-owned garages and nine lots and shortened meter hours from 8 a.
m. to 8 p.m.
Monday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 8 p.
m. on Sundays — also will apply to the Old Colorado City shopping district, she added. City-owned parking facilities normally cost $1 per hour.
The reductions are being made after receiving 900 comments from the public in a survey the city conducted in May and examining how other cities operate parking, said Rich Mulledy, public works director who also oversees the municipal parking enterprise, which by structure cannot make a profit. The move will reduce parking revenue by $500,000 out of a total of $12 million annually, he said, but it makes sense because “the purpose of parking is to serve the businesses, and promote the businesses and downtown.” Along with parking costs, concerns about personal safety (particularly involving people who are homeless), outdoor cleanliness, crime and business permitting issues led to the plan, which has been in the works for months.
The plan gelled after a recent frank discussion between city officials and downtown business owners, officials said. “A lot of people are afraid,” said Aimee Cox, chief homelessness and housing response officer. “There are some disruptive behaviors (such as yelling), some mental illness, some substance abuse; I hear that type of concern,” she said.
“Business owners want to be compassionate and direct people to meaningful resources.” Police will work on “crime prevention through environmental design,” Kimber said, much like authorities have done in addressing problems at The Citadel shopping mall. For example, as part of the new direction in homeless response, coverage of the police department’s Downtown Area Response Team will increase to include officers walking the district in the early morning hours starting Friday.
And the fire department’s Homeless Outreach Program and local service organizations will work individually with homeless people who hang out downtown to help them exit homelessness. “We’re going to take a best-practices approach in doing street case management in a more direct and effective way,” Cox said. The city already has identified 17 people who are homeless and known to spend time downtown.
“We’re creating a list of names, reviewing who the Downtown Area Response Team are encountering frequently, looking at where they’re seeking services and who they might be connected to for case management,” Cox said. “Next week we’ll schedule case conferencing to discuss these individuals.” As a team, the city and organizations will connect people with the services they need.
“What we found is people are seeking basic services — shelter, meals. Those are also the easiest services to access,” Cox said. “We also need to know through assessments what are their strengths and their challenges, and connect them to more difficult services to access, such as mental health care, substance abuse treatment and housing.
” The project includes additional cleanup efforts on public property such as sidewalks and streets in front of businesses early in the day and city staff walkabouts to help business and property owners learn what resources are available, hear what’s working and what needs tweaking. The results of the program will be evaluated and released in January, Zink said. Mobolade called the 1-square-mile that defines downtown “the beating heart of Colorado Springs,” in a statement, and said the city wants to work to “protect the vibrancy of this important business and cultural district.
” As complaints are up, sales are down in some sectors. At a collective $131.8 million, downtown retail sales are 4.
3% lower from Jan. 1 through Aug. 30 compared with last year over the same time, said Austin Wilson-Bradley, director of economic development for the Downtown Partnership.
However, sales at bars and restaurants are up 1% over 2023, at nearly $86.2 million, Wilson-Bradley said. Also climbing are service industries, such as salons, tattoo shops and massage establishments, which are up 1.
8% this year over last for a total of $85.5 million through August. “People are still seeing foot traffic, but it’s not turning into people spending money,” said Carrie Simison, director of marketing and communications for the Downtown Partnership.
With the winter holidays in mind — when businesses typically haul in the majority of their revenue — a temporary ice-skating rink will open in Acacia Park on Friday with a celebration that starts at 6 p.m. and includes Santa's arrival, and the merchants’ association will debut festivities on Saturday, such as strolling carolers, photo ops and discounts at stores.
The festivities are earlier than usual, Simison said. “Everyone says it’s crazy if you put your tree up before Thanksgiving, but we don’t want to wait this year,” she said. “These coordinated activities will create a fun, safe time for everyone.
” The upgrades come a week after the city announced a makeover of historic Tejon Street downtown that will start early next year. It’s a separate project, but one that’s also intended to boost business activity, public safety and accessibility..
