Downtown of the Week

One of my interest that has recently blossomed is an appreciation for great downtowns. One of the first things I look for when visiting a new place is the quality of the downtown. What characterizes a good downtown? Here are some of the criteria, in no particular order of importance, with no claim of being a comprehensive list:

• Pedestrian friendly: There's little I enjoy more than a stroll downtown where pedestrians are king. If downtowns were rated on a 1-10 scale, pedestrian-only downtowns would get a 10 while a car-centric approach (think Island City Strip in LG or South Church Street in Burlington, NC) gets a 1.
• Public transportation: The widespread availability of affordable public transportation is a big plus.
  
• Roundabouts: Love'em.
• Dining: Unique, one-of-a-kind dining and bar options are a must.
• Commerce: Hundreds, if not thousands, of wonderful downtowns have been ruined by the mass exodus of all the businesses. Either they have gone out of business due to competition from big box stores or have moved to the nearest stripmall that caters to the car with their endless expanses of pavement.
• Traffic: Not your traditional traffic, rather, traffic in terms of the number of people patronizing the businesses and services provided. A dead downtown is a dud downtown.
  

So what municipality, you must be asking, headlines the first installment of Downtown of the Week? Denver, Colorado.

Denver is a double dipper: the pedestrian-only downtown is fantastic (see photo). With just a few cross streets, people can wander about and, as you can see from the photo (right hand side), there is a free shuttle that runs the entire 13 block pedestrian mall (13 blocks!!!!!). There are tons of people, lots of shopping, and entertainment all over the place. Rad.

The second flavor of Denver is Civic Center Park (see photo, thanks Ke4roh!). Here you will find the State Capitol Building, a huge park with an amphitheatre, the state supreme court, and the Frank Gehry-designed Denver Art Museum (follow the link, it's a phenomenal design). The park, located right next to the pedestrian mall, gives the entire downtown great continuity.Quick story: During the Journey of Hope in 2003 we had one of the biggest police escorts of the summer for the arrival into Denver. Only a few blocks from the capitol a lady ran a red light and hit an motorcycle officer who was blocking the street. Seriously, how do you miss 30 hotty cyclists and a boat of cops?

So that's that, the first installment of DotW. Tune back in next Friday.