Downtown plan

Efforts to revitalize and energize the downtown area of Cape Girardeau have taken many forms over the years, including a special business district formed more than 30 years ago. Property owners in the district pay an additional property tax to fund beautification, lighting and parking.

Several years ago Old Town Cape was started as a way to organize a variety of downtown efforts and to focus on economic-development initiatives for the area.

More recently, Cape Girardeau was one of the first to be selected for the state-funded DREAM Initiative, whose strategic plan was approved by the city council last July and whose No. 1 goal was establishing a community improvement district, or CID.

Cape Girardeau already has a CID: Town Plaza shopping center merchants have collected an additional 1-cent sales tax since 2007 to pay for upgrades for National Asset Recovery Services Inc., which brought hundreds of new jobs to town.

A downtown CID is being studied by a group of business owners and residents from the area. This group is considering boundaries, services needed and ways to pay for them. Options include a sales tax, property tax or special assessments. This is a complex effort that will require careful consideration by city leaders.