The Urban Design Project : Queen City Hub Plan [header images/logo]
new gsa courthouse

2. Achieving the Vision

Setting Priorities

Downtown and the city would benefit from implementing one or more of these proposals. The Queen City Hub: A Regional Action Plan for Downtown, however, will not be defeated if these listed projects are not the first ones we accomplish. We can only defeat this plan if we focus on “big ideas” at the expense of ongoing incremental investment in projects to create jobs, bring residents, generate activity, provide entertainment, improve the urban environment, enhance access, protect heritage, and make Downtown sustainable.

Indeed, the possibility of realizing the best of these proposals depends on our success in growing the Downtown economy and the larger regional economy so that it can justify and support the massive investments that fulfillment of these big ideas will require. Even then, the costs are so great that we will have to choose among them, and wisely.

The practical idealism of the Queen City Hub plan requires us to sustain a double focus. We need to concentrate on those programs and capital projects that enjoy a clear consensus and can deliver significant returns for economy and quality of life now. Simultaneously, we need to keep in mind the possibilities for achieving the bigger and bolder elements of the vision. The larger ideas should not be allowed to distract us from on-going work in the near-term, nor should short-term actions be allowed to foreclose possibilities for realizing the larger ideas in the future.

The plan also requires that we practice a kind of flexible discipline. We must always be ready to do what it takes to retain existing businesses and take advantage of new opportunities. At the same time, we cannot afford to follow a policy of “anything goes.” We need to stick to the plan and focus our attention on building out the strategic investment areas, supporting key Downtown activities, fostering growth in emerging economic sectors, following stated development principles, and investing in deliberate increments to expand the Downtown economy and improve its environment.