The future of Missoula’s Downtown is being assessed. Your input is requested

Firm discusses Missoula downtown plan direction

The challenge of change is to get ahead of it, an Oregon consultant hired to help Missoula burnish its city core told the annual meeting of the Missoula Downtown Association http://missouladowntown.com/ .

The Portland, Ore., firm of Crandall Arambula was hired to assess where downtown is today and help shape the community’s vision of growth over the next 20 years in a way that ensures a vibrant downtown.

“It is how you want to change – everything changes over time,” George Crandall told about 300 people gathered at the Holiday Inn Downtown at the Park on Wednesday night. “The challenge is to get out ahead of it so it reflects your values and unique character.”

By PAMELA J. PODGER of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2008/01/25/news/mtregional/znews10.txt

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Speak your mind on future of downtown

Missoula wants to know what residents would like to see in the heart

of the city.

Missoula’s downtown hasn’t always been the thriving center it is now. Once neglected, it was slowly deteriorating until the first Urban Renewal District was created in 1978 to raise money for some much-needed improvements.
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Many of those improvements are with us still today. In fact, they’ve been with us for so long we may have started taking them for granted.

Some of the changes now taking place downtown are shaking us back into awareness. Perhaps most obviously, the former First Interstate Bank building has been torn down to make way for what passes for a skyscraper in Missoula: a six-story building.

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So if you love the historic nature of our downtown buildings, you should say so. If you absolutely adore Caras Park and the Carousel, make sure to mention that, too. And if you’re one of those people who never goes downtown – well, why not? Is it the parking? The crime? Are the buildings too high? Speak up!

And while you’re at it, please take a moment to consider sending your thoughts to the Missoulian as well. We’d love to know what you might change or preserve about downtown if you had to pick just one thing. You can e-mail your comments to [email protected], fax them to 523-5294 or mail them to P.O. Box 8029, Missoula MT 59807-8029.

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2008/01/25/opinion/opinion6.txt