[Press Release] : Public invited to transform downtown areas

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Randy Gray, Chairman, Downtown Leadership Council -
rgray02 at hotmail.com or Tony St. Romaine, Assistant City Manager -
(573) 874-7721

Public invited to transform downtown areas

COLUMBIA, MO (June 4, 2010) - “Charrette” does not mean “little chair.”
In the parlance of urban planning, it’s an intense period of
brainstorming, talk, discovery and agreement to priorities that will
move a plan forward. Charrettes are coming to downtown Columbia,
starting June 10.
 
Hosted by the Downtown Columbia Leadership Council (DCLC) and
facilitated by St. Louis-based H3 Studio Inc., the charrette process is
designed to transform marginal areas of downtown while maintaining its
existing strengths. 
 
Work will focus on two general areas: 1) the Broadway – Providence Road
intersection, including currently vacant and under-used sites; and 2)
the North Village arts district, already experiencing redevelopment and
revival.
 
DCLC Chairman Randy Gray said that when the H3 Studio team lands in
Columbia next week, they will set up at offices downtown at the Berry
Building, 1025 E. Walnut, for about a month. “The Berry Building is at
the heart of the action. We’ll have stakeholder and focus group meetings
there, and it will be open to anyone who wants to talk about downtown,”
Gray said.
 
The charrette is tightly scheduled to make sure that everything gets
done on time. “It’s kind of like final exams and akin to when drivers
with wagons used to pick up assignments from French architecture
students, who were trying to make deadlines,” Gray said. “Charrette” is
French for “cart.”
 
To Gray, it’s most important that anyone who cares about downtown feels
welcome to participate. “Without ideas from people who work, live or do
business downtown, this will be wasted motion. We need good ideas and
honest talk to get beyond the planning stage and to produce tangible
results,” Gray said. “And, we would love to have e-mail addresses to
reach as many people as possible with this message.”
 
Information about the charette process is online at
www.GoColumbiaMo.com, and you can follow the Downtown Charrette
Planning Process on Facebook. Scheduled events are listed at:
http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/Public_Comm/Public_Information/Press_Releases/6_4_10downtown.php

 
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