The Montrose Vision 20/20

The City of Glendale released their Montrose Vision 20/20 Plan. I’ve seen a lot of people sharing a link, but it is curious that few people are talking about it.

The comments I have seen is that people don’t want to read a 24 page report- so I thought I’d hit the highlights for everyone.

• The Problem
  • We need more retail shoppers (and, unsaid, we need more shoppers who buy)
  • We need more nightlife
    • Later in the report it specifies the type of nightlife. Think wealthy, upscale, gentle folks nightlife
  • We need to be more trendy
• The Solution
  • Attract businesses that help achieve these goals
    • Outreach
    • Make zoning and permits easier
  • Create more events in the evening (no raves- don’t worry)
  • Install public art
  • Update the branding and marketing
    • Consider a name and logo change
    • Reach Millennials with a new hashtag
    • Advertise in tourism based publications
  • Update the physical features like landscape and public furniture

Theses are the highlights, but, honestly, the report is very easy to read.

I thought it was interesting that our lack of trendiness was noted as a major opportunity. However, “trendy” is often identified with “different than what we have now” and the report clearly wants to avoid anything that would change Montrose in any substantive way. The hope is that we can have everything exactly the same, but better.

One observation. If nothing really changes, retail will continue to struggle. This is an unpleasant truth and one I do not have a direct personal stake in….

There were a few items that I thought particularly good.

Public art– I love the public art emphasis going on in our city. We incorporated an art gallery wall at DIGGS when we built out the office and we host regular art shows. We know that art can transform a space, as we live it every day. As a suggestion- wouldn’t it be cool to host a chalk festival? Just a pre-dawn, pre-coffee thought.

Rebrand – Montrose Shopping Park never made sense to me. I can’t be the only one who wonders who thought of that poetic gem. Montrose Village. No need to think- just do it.

Dog Friendly – I have no idea if any of these “stakeholders” are on our Facebook groups… but we LOVE our dogs. Anything we can do to make Montrose a more dog-friendly place gets a huge thumbs up from DIGGS.

Eye level landscape – I’ve often thought of adding planters and seating in front of DIGGS. A number of things stop me… water, maintenance, theft and design. However, if we could add attractive landscape to the fronts of our businesses, the character of Montrose would be irresistible. I wonder if an investment from the city to help business owners accomplish this would be worth it. Perhaps all we need is the help of a designer to know what to do….

Ok, ready to read this bad boy for yourself?