SALT LAKE CITY — By virtually all accounts, 2020 was a tumultuous year for the downtown Salt Lake City area. Stricken by the effects of the pandemic, restaurants and other retailers saw dramatic losses in revenue and huge staff reductions.
But the promise of vaccines in the New Year has prompted cautious optimism from advocate organizations whose interests include helping to support revitalization efforts during the recovery phase of the economic downturn.
“We all have to acknowledge the very difficult challenges that were presented to downtown in 2020,” Downtown Alliance President Dee Brewer said Tuesday. “Restoring the number of workers downtown is going to be very important for sustaining all of the businesses that workforce supports.”
Speaking following a virtual event honoring downtown enterprises and individuals whose work supports the area, he said getting more people back to work and businesses back at near full capacity as soon as is safely possible will be key to restoring vitality back to Salt Lake City’s central business district.
“As the vaccine comes to us as we get past the peak of the pandemic and we can gather again, we want to put that (commerce-driving) audience back in downtown,” he said.
“It’s the audience downtown that supports sports entertainment performances, bars, restaurants and retailers,” Brewer said. “That’s office workers, that is event patrons at Jazz games, Abravanel Hall, Capitol Theatre, Eccles Theater and it’s conventioneers and the business travelers who are high-spend individuals at our downtown businesses and conventions.”
Brewer said the alliance is advocating for more “extended premises” hours where Main Street businesses are allowed to serve customers on the sidewalks with parking and vehicle traffic closed along the thoroughfare for a more pedestrian-friendly environment during the warm weather months.
“(So we can) put those restaurant workers back to work, to get back to the volumes of business in those restaurants and retailers that will sustain them,” he added. The increase in business will also help the downtown area attract greater patronage for its growing variety of entertainment offerings, he said.
“We want to see Salt Lake City be an 18-hour city. Right now, the population of downtown Salt Lake City doubles during the workday when people commute in,” he said. “We want to see more people living downtown because that creates a steady stream of customers for businesses — for bars, restaurants and for arts and cultural amenities as well.”
Noting the increasing cost of housing in the downtown area, Brewer said the alliance supports the city’s efforts to develop innovative solutions that will create affordable options for those seeking to live in or close to downtown.
“Last year, housing prices went up 11 1⁄2%. Those are some big numbers and that is something we have to contend with across the state, not just downtown,” he said. “The cost of living downtown is certainly one of the issues, and we’re glad that the city is investing in affordable housing.”
He acknowledged that last year saw an increase in criminal activity throughout the city, though not as much in downtown. He said addressing the issue would likely involve adding more cameras to provide a sense of extra security to patrons and residents. He also supports the mayor’s Community Connection program that offers services and shelter options to (people in homeless) encampments to get individuals the assistance they might need.
“We’re really focused on our open streets initiative to preserve our restaurants and retail operators,” Brewer said. “We’re focused also within. We’ve expanded our street ambassador program that intervenes with people in crisis who are unsheltered and living on the street and helping move them into shelter and into services.”
“(The program has been) very successful operating in the central business district. We’re going to be also operating into the Rio Grande neighborhood, Ballpark neighborhood and on North Temple,” he said. “Having that presence and those social workers engaging people regularly and getting to know those individuals has been really good.”
He added that the alliance will support development of the planned biotech and health innovation district in Rio Grande and Station Center neighborhoods as well as support using the city’s arts and cultural assets downtown to drive an economic renaissance.
Another local business advocate said getting downtown to recover economically will require continued focus on helping businesses “Stay Safe to Stay Open.”
“Right now the best thing we can do for our entire economy is to encourage companies to support their employees in getting vaccinated, much like they have when someone needs to get tested for COVID-19,” said Salt Lake Chamber President and CEO Derek Miller.
“As people incrementally get vaccinated, we believe business can start bringing back employees in some capacity to their offices and this will help economic activity rebound in our downtown district. Consumers and releasing of the local pent-up demand will do more to revive downtown businesses than merely government stimulus alone.”
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2Ku8sJ8
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