Geneva downtown business folks, city officials, talk challenges, opportunities
Geneva business owners eagerly accepted an invitation to bend the ears of city officials Wednesday night about what downtown Geneva needs.
Some of the answers may not have been easy for the aldermen and city staff attending to hear.
And some were hard for their fellow business owners.
The informal session, over pizza at Urban Grille restaurant, attracted at least 60 people. It was organized by the four aldermen who represent the central business district _ Craig Maladra and Ralph Dantino of the 5th Ward, and Sam Hill and Chuck Brown of the 1st Ward.
The group split into small groups of eight to chew on questions about what challenges and opportunities face owners of downtown businesses, and what the city's responsibility is in having a vibrant downtown.
One challenge raised at every table: the feeling that the city is too heavy-handed with regulations on businesses. Especially, lately, the rules about placement of popular A-frame “sandwich-board” signs.
Many in the room said they had received a letter in the last week telling them they violated city law by not taking the signs down one day last week when winds were high. They said they didn't know that was a requirement and that the city's rules were vague.
The other strong message to city leaders: Please don't layer an extra sales tax (of up to 1 percent) on the district. The current district is expiring, and the city council is considering designating a new one; if it did, it would have the power to charge the extra sales tax, presumably to pay for items related to the downtown.
“Any kind of increase in sales tax in this economy, in this downtown, is a really bad idea,” said Mike Simon, owner of The Little Traveler store and the former Merra-Lee Shops properties.
Other ideas repeatedly mentioned included having merchants staying open in the evenings and on Sundays. Now, some do and many don't.
Others think the downtown would benefit from the presence of more national retailers. The only big national chains in the district are Caribou and Starbucks coffee shops.
And they want to figure out a way to get Genevans (and Mill Creek subdivision residents) to shop more regularly in downtown Geneva. “What drives me crazy every single day is we talk to people at our kids' schools (and ask) ‘Do you ever come downtown?' ‘Yeah, every once in a while,'” said Marty Kane, western Geneva resident and owner of the Great Harvest Bread Co. on North Third Street.
Other suggestions were to offer deals to Metra commuters, to get them to shop in Geneva on the weekends; and to try to attract shoppers in their 20s through 40s. The downtown's typical shoppers, one man said, tends to be 50- to 70-year-old women.
The written notes from the small-group sessions, and the other comments, will be compiled by the city into a document that will be published on the city's website, geneva.il.us. They may be categorized by whether the idea is something the city should work on, or something merchants should do. Maladra said he would like to have more such meetings with merchants. He noted the city is close to finalizing a downtown master plan.
And Brown urged the guests to contact the aldermen any time they had a question or problem regarding the city.
“You are the people who are going to create the future, and we will try to help any way we can,” Brown said.