Good design in a downtown is always the hallmark of a revitalized community. It is always easy to see bad design if it is particularly bad. When you walk down a street in a downtown, your eyes do not focus on bad design in the form of a rusty fence or a broken sign. In every town there is something.

In DuBois PA there was a rail road bridge that had fallen down in the stream and had been there for 40 or 50 years. It was nasty but you sort of forgot it was there because it had always been there. My organization sponsored a stream clean up and people started questioning how much wood they could take out. It occurred to members of the cleanup that the bridge should have been torn down and removed years ago.

Through civic action, the railroad company tore the bridge down and cleaned up the area. As a result of the improvements to that area, someone bought the old train station and developed it into offices. Civic action turned into economic development action.

As a main street manager in Downingtown, I was responsible for working with the building owners to keep the buildings in good repair. We had a sign grant as well as a façade grant for the buildings. One owner of a building really had no money to fix up the building and the paint was peeling very badly. I was afraid that the windows would rot and fall on the sidewalk injuring someone. 

It was right in the center of town, and across from my Board Member Mary Holleran. Mary, a known bon vivant, owned the framing shop across the street from the building, and reminded me every time I had my paycheck signed that the building needed painting. I knew that something had to be done, because it was the main focal point for decay in the center of town.

I knew that Robert’s Chevrolet wanted more visibility on Route 30, so I was able to get them to agree to paint the building for the right to put up an “off premise sign.” It became a “welcome to Downingtown” sign with Roberts location directions, language saying to hang a left at the light.  We lit the sign, so Roberts upgraded the electric and paid the bill. It was a win-win for everyone.  Mostly Mary won because I let her pick the color of the building. She chose Fjord.

On South Street in Philadelphia, it was the fountain at 2^nd and Lombard. The fountain had not worked for 15 years. People just took for granted that it was not going to work. People who had lived in the apartments on the square for 10 years remarked that they had never seen the fountain work, and did not recognize it as a fountain. We were able to get a grant from Marie Lederer and fixed the fountain.

Within a month, the fountain was a hit. I used to dye the water pink or a deep aqua and it create a sense of place where people ate lunch. The visitors were good with the garbage once the fountain started working. What was once a garbage repository had become something people wanted to keep clean.

People interested in fixing their downtown would do well to pay attention to the details of your downtown.  Little things that you take for granted sometimes are anachronistic remains that are actually blighted influences.

In many cases it does not have to be as big as a bridge. It could be an old garage sale sign that was put up and forgotten on a light pole. It could be an old bike part lying in some remote corner of the public space. Any possibility to remove or improve as a spur of the moment action can eventually enhance the downtown and make it a more attractive place.

I always try to just look at a space. I am known for standing for an hour or so watching what happens in a downtown. I try to pay attention to detail, but like to take a look at how the space interacts with the users. Eventually you will see some of the flaws in the downtown. I remember in Phoenixville, I noticed that part of the problem was small amounts of trash littering the downtown street. I decided that the best course of action was to pick up the trash as the first thing that I did in the morning. It made a world of difference.

Citizen action is much more effective if it is done in a group. People organizing stream cleanups, downtown cleanups make an impact. I remember one time Dave Boelker in Phoenixville had a downtown clean up and came up with something like 23 bags worth of stuff. The week after he brought a bag of junk to council to complain. 

The downtown represents the face of your town. Getting involved and helping keep it tidy is everyone’s responsibility.