By Ted Schnell • BocaJump
The Downtown Neighborhood Association is ramping up its efforts to improve perceptions of Elgin's Center City with its second "Brainstorm" workshop Tuesday evening.
DNA Executive Director Tonya Hudson said Wednesday the organization's first Brainstorm workshop in November already has sparked a number of initiatives in the downtown, and "Brainstorm 2" is an effort to build upon those.
"Changing perceptions is the focus," Hudson said. "How do we continue to change perceptions of downtown Elgin for the better? We need to continue the momentum."
She said this Brainstorm session will lay the foundation for future work, such as marketing and branding campaigns for Elgin's downtown, including a new DowntownElgin.com website; marketing the downtown's available commercial space and properties to potential tenants and buyers; using social media, community outreach and other tools to promote the positive things about downtown; and to schedule special events and promotions to help improve the area's image.
And it has improved over the past 16 years or so.
Elgin's downtown languished beginning in the 1960s and 1970s. Improvements to the area failed to retain some of the downtown's big merchants. The decline continued, and as it did, the city's street gang problem escalated in the early to mid-1990s, leaving little incentive for residents to go into the Center City.
But then a chain of events began that were the impetus for chain. The Grand Victoria Casino opened, and Elgin created a TIF district in the downtown area. And as the Elgin Police Department worked to get a handle on the gang problem, the city began to invest new revenues into the area. Building owners repaired facades and began renovations. Investors bought property and tore down some buildings and construct new ones, including townhomes and condos that would ensure a base of potential consumers for the businesses.
The Downtown Neighborhood Association, affiliated with the National Main Street Program and the Illinois Main Street Program, arose in the late 1990s to help further revitalize the downtown, and anyone who lived in Elgin during the decades of blight can bear witness to how different the Center City is today.
But old perceptions linger, and Hudson said it is changing those perceptions that will bring more people – and more potential customers for downtown merchants – into the area.
Some initiatives already in motion
The first Brainstorm was held in November to engage the downtown's stakeholders – such as business owners, property owners – and to encourage greater involvement in the Downtown Neighborhood Association. The session used a format that broke up the 60 people who showed up into three roundtable discussion groups. The turnout, Hudson said, was impressive and overwhelming.
During that session, she said, three recurring themes became apparent, and the agency has launched or is preparing to launch several initiatives in response. The themes were:
- Better communication about what the DNA is and what it does.
The DNA since has published a downtown business directory, which was inserted in a local newspaper. In addition, the agency has done mailings to area households, and Hudson has been speaking to neighborhood and other local groups this month and will continue to do so in April to get the word out about the Downtown Neighborhood Association and what it does.
- People want to see smaller but more frequent downtown events.
Hudson said this theme arose in response to budget cuts that have canceled or significantly curtailed some of the downtown's larger events in recent years, such as FoxFireFest.
"We still want to celebrate the downtown," Hudson said, "but instead of using Festival Park ... we want to use the downtown itself as a backdrop, like the Art and Soul on the Fox last year" and through promotions like Downtown Madness, which is coinciding with this season's March Madness (for those who don't follow sports, March Madness is the NCAA Division I basketball championship tournaments).
Down the road this year, Hudson said, expect more downtown events, such as Cruise Nights; and a collaboration with the Elgin Cultural Arts Commission called the Pop-Up Poetry Project.
- More marketing of the positive themes of the downtown.
This last theme, Hudson said, requires a new way of thinking. Everything the DNA does, she said, must begin with an evaluation of its impact on changing perceptions of downtown Elgin.
The Brainstorm 2 session is planned from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, in the Heritage Ballroom at The Centre of Elgin, 100 Symphony Way.
The DNA is asking those planning to attend to RSVP with your name, phone number and e-mail address with by phone at 1-847-488-1456, by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or via its online RSVP form which you can access by clicking here. The DNA also welcomes suggestions on discussion topics you would like to see covered at the meeting.
For more information about Downtown Brainstorm 2, including a summary of the feedback, ideas and suggestions our participants provided from Brainstorm 1, check out the DNA blog.
