The Downtown Business Association, the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce and the Iowa City council are commissioning a $62,500 market study to help them understand the changing needs of Downtown. Marketek, a small Atlanta-based urban planning research firm, has been hired to survey businesses and shoppers. Marketek worked with the small community of Altantic, Iowa and 300 other communities to improve the business climate.
According to the Press-Citizen , " We want hard data to guide us in decision making for the continued positive development of downtown Iowa City,” Ford said. She said downtown hasn’t been surveyed since probably in the 1970s.Along with surveys, Marketek will lead seven focus group discussions planned for May 29-30. A community meeting, open to anyone, will also be held May 29 or May 30; Ford said the date has yet to be confirmed. Invitations are being sent to seven different segments of the community to participate in the focus group discussions. Business owners, property owners, economic development leaders, the creative sector, University of Iowa officials, and people in tourism and entertainment will meet separately to talk about downtown.“What we want to do is to get all of these different perspective of downtown,” Ford said. “This is probably where it will come out the most - downtown’s most pressing issues.”
Interestingly, there is no mention of focus groups with people who live in downtown (or would like to, if it were affordable) or those who shop there. Also, there is no mention of discussions with environmental groups or activists working for sustainable growth in communities.
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