Downtown Junkie

Kathleen Thurber’s article today in the MRT shows that two of the three lofts Of Lofts on Main are now sold.  The question remains if this will start the trend of downtown living.  In the article, Mayor Wes Perry is quoted as saying that downtown has the potential for about 300 downtown residences.  To read more, see today’s article:

http://www.mywesttexas.com/articles/2009/05/22/news/top_stories/doc4a161db2869fb176831304.txt

On another note, I always try to share the emails from Farmer Matt about this weekends Downtown Farmers’ Market.  Starting this weekend, they will have live music, courtesy of Manda Hill, local recording artist. 

Here’s the rest of what he has to say:

Farmer Matt here, You there,

Y’all good? Good. I apologize for the delay in getting this out. I would like to thank those that braved the rains and wind last Saturday. I don’t think I would know what to do if the weather on Saturdays in Spring weren’t somewhat inclement here in West Texas.

This weekend will be an exciting event at the Midland Downtown Farmers’ Market. We will be introducing live music from local recording artist Manda Hill. You can listen to her music and get a brief bio at

http://www.promisingprojects.com/mandahill.html

We also will be starting a recycling program at the market. Every saturday you can bring your #1 and #2 plastics, aluminum cans, and newsprint paper, and we will gladly recycle these materials for you. Hopefully this will make it easier for you to help take care of our mother. Doreen Richardson with Keep Midland Beautiful has been a tremendous help in this effort.

Along with Manda and recycling, we will have an assundry of local growers, artisans, and producers showcasing unique and eclectic wares.

Please share the wealth and forward this along. Savor the Local Flavor.

The Midland Downtown Farmers’ Market starts every Saturday at 9a.m. and ends at 1p.m. at 501 W Texas Ave., under the green. Remember that this is a rain and/or shine event.

Thanks

Farmer Matt

And from me to you, Have a Wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

This is my first year (or decade, as it may be), to be involved with the Midland Vision project.  Every ten 10 years, the community comes together to create a strategic vision for the next 10 years for Midland.  For the history and project successes of the Midland Vision project, go to http://www.midlandvision2020.com/.  My involvement is Co-Chair of the Quality of Place Task Force, which I proudly share with Jim Nelson.

This morning, after three months of individual task force meetings, all of the task force chairmen and Executive Committee came together to discuss where are groups were headed.  Even though I had read in the MRT about the individual task force commitments to downtown improvement, I was still so surprised to hear that this was still the forefront topic of most.  The Arts committee had wonderfully exciting and creative ideas for more art and culture infusion in the downtown, and the Facilities and Housing committee definitely had downtown on their radar.

As for the Quality of Place committee, we are very enthusiastic about our recommendations for the downtown revitalization.  Sundance Square in Fort Worth is a model downtown that we are looking at very carefully.

If you have any recommendations or comments you would like to add, please use the forum section of the Vision 2020 website.  We are looking for community involvement.

Because it Matters!

I, for one, am relieved to know that quality healthcare facilities will be in the near future of Midland for my family, friends, and me.

Thank you to the MRT and Ruth Campbell for keeping Midland informed.

http://www.mywesttexas.com/articles/2009/05/11/news/top_stories/doc4a0642b6f1f91179576215.txt

Midland Development Corp receives 2009 Workforce Development Best Practice Award

Pat Jamison, TEDC Workforce Committee Chair, Tracy Dau, Doug Henson, and Mike Hatley

Jim Sharp, former Comptroller, State of Texas, and Laura Roman

The 2009 TEDC Spring Conference is from April 29 - May 1, 2009, and is being held in our great city at the Midland Hilton Plaza.  Members of various Texas economic development and legislative groups have arrived to network and strategize about the development of economic and employment opportunities in Texas.

Yesterday, I was asked to co-facilitate on a panel discussion regarding efforts to revitalize downtowns.  Other cities represented on the panel were New Braunfels (and boy, am I ready to head down there soon to check out what they’ve done!), Eden, and Paris, Texas.  It was a great round-table discussion and certainly demonstrated that all cities were concerned about improving their downtowns.

This morning, the TEDC Spring 2009 Awards Breakfast was held.  Jerry Morales, Midland City Councilman, welcomed the 150+ group to our city and the TEDC Chair, Danny Booth, did a great job on summarizing what was going on now in Texas economic development and initiatives taken with their PAC.  Most exciting for me, the TEDC honored the Midland Development Group with its 2009 Workforce Best Practices Award for Cities 100,000 and up in population.  That means Midland (pop. 103,000) was competing against the likes of our largest cities, i.e. Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin.  Such efforts as the initiatives taken by the workforce development group to bring in new workers into a city with the lowest unemployment rate in the state were noted.

After the awards ceremony, the group was treated to the musings of the keynote speaker, Mr. John Sharp,  former Comptroller for the State of Texas.  Talk about food for thought!  While he described that Texas has always lead the country in development of natural resources (cattle, cotton, and oil & gas), he pointed out that our next “natural” resource was our human resource.  Because the number of people coming in to the workforce is shrinking compared to those planned to exit in the next several years, employers will be scrambling to find where the most available human resources are.  He essentially summarized that Texas has had the highest birth rate and we lead the country in new employees soon to enter the workforce.  So, if that workforce is skilled and educated, we can count our people as our 4th success in natural resource supply.  He enforced how important our public education system is to developing that future human resource.  It was a great speech and lots to take away and think about, and I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet Mr. Sharp afterwards.

Well, its been a long week.  My daughter has been sick (you know they’re really sick if they don’t want to go out Trick or Treating on Halloween), and I’ve been somewhat recuperating from a very hectic October.  Now, though, things are back to normal. 

It looks like from just driving around downtown that there are a lot of projects in the works.  The coffee bar across from the Courthouse looks like it is close to opening, and I can’t wait to be one of their first customers.  Also, the old Pudgees has been painted pink!  I’ve heard rumors that this is going to be an upscale martini bar, so if anyone can confirm, I’d love to know.

The big surprise was on Main Street.  On the corner of Main and Texas, across the street from First United Methodist, there is a sign that reads “Coming Soon - Lofts on Main).  Apparently the project will be three industrial type residential loft spaces, and construction will start in the next few weeks.  Estimated end date is in May.  How exciting!  If you have more information on this project… please share!

If you have any information about any other upcoming projects in downtown, please let me know!

As for everyone anticipating the implosion of the Old Midland Savings Building, its still on for this Saturday and will occur between 7:00 am and 8:00 am.  Just two words to everyone as the mother in me comes out… Be Careful!

Have a great day!

My husband and I went to Wall Street today for lunch.  When I told him that I wanted to go there, he said “Okay, I’ll pick you up at 11:15.”  I didn’t even hesitate, and told him I’d meet him in front of my building.  He was there at 11:15 sharp and we immediately drove over there for lunch.  As we walked in the front door at about 11:18, we were not alone.  Several other parties walked in with us and several of the tables were already taken.  You see, the reason we arrived so early is that we knew that if we were not there before 11:30, the place would be full and we would have to wait for a table.

I used to go to lunch at 11:30 because 12:00  was the time all the restaurants got crowded.  Now, certain places such as Wall Street, King and I, and Luigi’s are for the most part full by 11:30.  If you arrive at 11:35, its not uncommon for you to have a wait!  So, thus I ask… is 11:15 the new noon?  (This makes me feel like Carrie Bradshaw when I ask questions like this, so just bare with me through my delusions).

On as separate note, a post on the message board recently referenced a new coffee house coming downtown.  Here’s the post if you missed it:

telliot wrote:  If you look across wall st from the courthouse you can see the new location of the “old ground floor”.  It’s right next to cristiani’s jewelry.  Some bought all the old equipment from the ground floor coffee shop and moved it down the street to a new location. Renovations are complete and it should be open very soon. Hang in there. 

Okay, I’m not so good at “hang in there,” so I had to go look for myself.  Sure enough, through the windows of West Wall Towers, just where telliot said it would be…  I saw a coffee house that was close to opening!  The espresso machines were installed and the coffee bean grinders were sitting right beside them.  Boxes of cups and other coffee bar paraphernalia were sitting on the counters waiting to be unboxed .  If this is your project, I love the way things are looking and can’t wait to be one of your first customers.   Thanks for putting a coffee house back in downtown!

Thank you so much to everyone that came out last night, in spite of the rain. The music was great, and it was awesome getting to see all of you!  Pictures are starting to get posted now of the event, so don’t forget to check them out.  Thought I’d quickly post my personal favorite… 

I am so behind on this blog thing, its not even funny!  As much as I like to talk, you would think that I would have jumped on this a long time ago.  This is the perfect forum for someone like me. I can express my opinions or whatever I want to rant about, with absolutely no interruptions or anyone telling me to cut it short.  But I haven’t… until now.

So, now I’m getting with the times, and VERY excited to talk about LIVE Midland and the potential I see in Downtown Midland.  I’ve always been a downtown kinda girl (hence the name “Downtown Junkie”).  I always thought downtown was a cool place, even when I was growing up here.  I remember Midland’s Centennial Celebration and coming to Midland Center and Centennial Plaza for the World’s Largest Cake (at least I think that’s what it was… I was young, and it SEEMED REALLY BIG). I thought then, “This must be were everyone hangs out!” OK, I was wrong.  After that, growing up, my visits downtown were limited to a couple times a year - Celebration of the Arts, and the occasional special family dinner to Wall Street or Luigi’s.

However, in high school and college, I really developed my fondness for downtown.  I was in Summer Mummers for 5 years, which started my sophomore year at Midland High and ended my junior year at Baylor.  I would actually come home each summer just so I wouldn’t missing being in the show.  I loved everything about it, but ESPECIALLY getting to perform in the historic Yucca Theatre.  It was hard for me to believe then that people considered downtown “dead” when, from what I saw, there was so much life and energy going on in that theatre every Thursday through Saturday during the summer months.  And even now, 15 years later, my love and appreciation of the Yucca Theatre and the tradition that Summer Mummers has to offer Midland and its summer visitors continues.  Its just now I show that appreciation from the audience, heckling the actors and throwing massive handfuls of popcorn.

When I graduated from college, I did what most kids growing up in Midland do - I didn’t move back.  Instead, I was wooed to the big city life of Houston.  I lived the life I thought I was meant to live.  I had a great career full of opportunities and lived in the Galleria area, taking full advantage of the ‘trendy’ life that was available to me.  Houston began renovating its downtown during this time, and lofts and even trendier restaurants, bars, and shops were all the rage for the 20-something crowd.

It was during this time that I got married and had my daughter.  Needless to say, my downtown lifestyle was relocated to the suburbs of Houston.  As the additional stress of trying to work in Houston and still have a meaningful family life caught up with us, my husband and I decided to move to Midland in late 2002.  For me, it was coming back home.  For him, it was moving to a small town for the first time.  His roots were in Houston, but he was open to the less demanding lifestyle that Midland could offer over his hometown.

So, here we are… six years later.  Never once looking back at the decision we made or second guessing ourselves.  Obviously, we came here at the beginning of the economic boom that was taking place in Midland (and had left Houston at the time Enron was collapsing).  But it was so much more than that.  We are able to have successful careers, loads of quality family time together, and be involved in the community.  We have a network of friends that are stronger and closer than we ever could have had in a big city where sometimes you live hours apart and no one can ever seem to find the time to all get together. 

But despite all of the changes in my life, I am still a Downtown Junkie.  Whether its a small town or a big town, you can bet that if I can find a reason to hang out, eat, or work downtown, that is where I’ll be!