Archive for the ‘downtown’ Category

​Jack Floyd (I don't really know Jacquielynn personally, but I'm told that's what cool people call her) has a good column today behind The Dallas Morning News pay well today about making downtown Dallas fun. I know. I know. Right off the top it sounds like a dreadfully dreary topic, sort of like when a new boss tells you, "People, we are going to start having fun around this place." Usually code for massive layoffs. A side of me almost doesn't want to hear the word "fun" ever. If you have to say it, isn't it already over? But somebody's got to talk about the other F word. She's right, after all. The biggest single issue and problem with downtown Dallas is that it's no damn F. She makes the very valid point that the city keeps buying things to make downtown more fun, and none of it works worth a damn. Decades ago they put a bunch of fun banners up along Main Street. That decidedly did not do the trick. Now it's parks. I still don't see it happening. Floyd provides a good quote from our new mayor, Mike Rawlings, who told her: "You cannot steal an idea and just put it in place. You can't get urban vibe out of a can." He's right. Fun does not come from the party store. But then Rawlings tells her: "We've got to have more fun downtown. And you've got to put some process and discipline around creating that fun." Uh-oh. Red flag. There it is. Right there. The problem. Process and discipline. Do we not think we already have enough process and discipline? Do we not wonder if that might actually be the problem?