Lubbock Left

Tuesday night I attended the public unveiling of the downtown Lubbock revitalization plan, brought to you by the downtown commission of the City Council and by the consulting firm EDAW.

The presentation was well done, but nothing really new to those of us who have been attending the previous downtown public meetings. The highlight was a video featuring several downtown businessmen talking about the project in a more personal way.

I am still putting some serious thought into this whole downtown revitalization project. Parts of it sound very reasonable (like a residential district, arts campus, and designated pedestrian-only areas), and parts of it sound extravagant and wasteful (an arena in the Depot District, for example). I don’t think jumping at the whole plan is gonna fly.

However, It’s clear that some sort of coordinated effort to develop downtown is necessary. The major downtown developers and landowners have been sitting on their hands for decades, waiting to sell at a price higher than the market will bear while remaining unwilling or unable to renovate. That’s why most of downtown Lubbock looks like a ghost town.

The only ones doing exciting things downtown are:

• Lubbock County government: the courthouse skybridge and the jury pool / elections office building come to mind
• A few enterprising small businesses: Red Carpet, Labowskis, La Diosa, Off Broadway Books, etc
• and a handful of small-scale building owners: the lofts & apartments on Main, La Bodega office building, etc.

I think we need a balanced approach. Lubbock voters can be stingy or generous with the City’s purse strings depending on the general mood. Right now, I think small projects are more likely to be approved by voters than big projects.

Details of the proposed downtown revitalization plan are at downtown.ci.lubbock.tx.us.