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Discover Downtown Project Overview In the survey of city firms, the exterior appearance of the downtown area only received an overall score of 2.4 out of a possible 5, which is closer to "fair" than "good". Indeed, 52% of the firms rated it as fair or poor. There were other related concerns reflected in the mediocre ratings given to parking signage, product selection, prices, customer service, mix of businesses, etc. It appeared a lot could be done to improve our city's downtown area. The Downtown Business Association has been focusing on enhancing the downtown business sector. The short-term goal for this project was to conduct a SWOT analysis of the downtown area. Some of the possible initiatives included: continue with the banners on downtown lampposts to create atmosphere, improved signage directing people to downtown, create character in the downtown by developing a theme or brand, murals, improved bus service, overall coordinator for downtown, clean-up of streets and sidewalks in the spring, kiosks for posters (common area), display profiling history of former RCMP Supply Post, display profiling history of historic buildings, expanded use of Bank of Montreal courtyard, research options for use of CPR buildings, use of sandwich boards, and development of a marketing package. The long-term goal for this project is to assess and implement the recommendations of the SWOT analysis. The expected outcome of this intiative is to fill vacant buildings by increasing the number of downtown businesses, and to generate more dollars in sales for merchants by creating a vibrant downtown community.
Progress to Date What began as the Discover Downtown Committee of Action Swift Current has been turned over to the active Downtown Business Association. This group has organized and accomplished a number of successful initiatives including: Lamp post Banners, WindoWorks, Historic Buildings Walking Tour, Fringe Festival and FunFest. |
