Times of Northwest Indiana
A new report on improving Valparaiso's downtown suggests the city is already headed in the right direction. The advice is worth reading.
The HyettPalma report released this month suggests the city look to art galleries, additional entertainment venues and incentives to draw people downtown.
That's on top of the downtown park the city is already planning to develop and the downtown fine dining district that is emerging.
Increasing the number of restaurants downtown to make it a dining mecca is a good start, drawing people with money to spend to the burgeoning dining and cultural center.
The park being developed near the courthouse square will draw additional people downtown for recreation and will improve the community's quality of life.
The report recommends a new venue that Mayor Jon Costas describes as along the lines of the House of Blues but on a smaller scale and with a catering kitchen. This new entertainment venue would allow Valparaiso University students and local musicians and other entertainers to display their talents.
An art center also is recommended. HyettPalma suggests a facility like the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria, Va. That structure has galleries, artist studios and working art classes for the general public.
This is sensible advice. The city has been trying to get more people downtown to visit the local shops. Increasing the number of restaurants downtown to make it a dining destination is a good start, and the report's advice to incorporate the arts -- performing arts, public art displays, museums and more -- is good, too.
Valparaiso already has a good quality of life, but an emphasis on the arts can only improve it.
The city should structure tax incentives the way Munster does to encourage companies to fund public art not just downtown but throughout the city.