Q&A with Liz Haynes of Old Town Cape

Liz Haynes, who grew up in what is now the Indie House at Broadway and North Frederick Street in Cape Girardeau, later attended St. Mary's School and graduated from Cape Girardeau Central High School before leaving the area for 17 years. Haynes returned prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to lead the downtown revitalization organization Old Town Cape.

As Haynes prepares for OTC's annual dinner March 3 at Century Casino Cape Girardeau, the Southeast Missourian put eight questions to the not-for-profit's executive director.

• When city manager Kenneth Haskin was introduced in Cape Girardeau last summer after relocating from Texarkana, Arkansas, he told you of being glad to see the downtown had not been forgotten, noting what he called "the beautiful streetscape" traveling down Broadway toward the Mississippi River. Do you recall that conversation?

I do and was thrilled to hear him say it. I have really seen a recognition during my tenure here since fall 2019, that downtown is the heart and soul of the community. The downtown's success and vitality are representative of the entire community and it's been so encouraging to see.

Kenneth Haskin became manager of the City of Cape Girardeau last summer. On the day he was introduced as the retired Scott Meyer's successor, Haskin said he was impressed Cape Girardeau had not forgotten its downtown district.Southeast Missourian file

• Earlier this month, a report was made to First Friday Coffee attendees from the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce. The area OTC considers to be part of downtown is 130 blocks, which seems huge, doesn't it?

In terms of the entire country, [Cape Girardeau] has one of the larger geographic Main Street America districts and if I'm not mistaken, is the biggest in Missouri. It's 130 blocks from West End Boulevard to the river and North Street to Highway 74. It's comprised of more than 300 businesses and in excess of 4,500 residents. A lot of downtown districts are 10 blocks, 15 blocks, maybe 20 to 25. Our size provides us with a lot of opportunity but is also challenging because there is so much diversity.

• If you had to stack up Cape Girardeau against other Missouri cities, whose downtowns are similar?

I would compare us, within the state, to Washington, Missouri — which is similar in terms of demographics. I'd also say Lee's Summit near Kansas City. Both cities are much closer to metropolitan areas than Cape is. We're unique in that Cape Girardeau is a regional hub.

• The theme for OTC's upcoming annual dinner is "revitalization is not trivial." Care to elaborate?

What we mean by the phrase is pretty straightforward. The health of the downtown community is directly correlated with the health of the entire community. Downtown matters and is not trivial.

The completed $75,000 Cape Girardeau river wall mural as seen Nov. 18. The City of Cape Girardeau contributed the lion's share of the funding with Old Town Cape, Visit Cape and private donors making up the remainder.Southeast Missourian file

• Your board of directors is going to be looking at what you're calling "transformational" strategies. Will you say more?

The board will look at some of these ideas in March that Missouri Main Street Connection has helped us develop. I'd prefer not to get into the weeds about them now to allow the board time for discussion. I will say we are interested in a more pedestrian-friendly downtown. On some occasions, we would like to think about temporarily closing streets for events — as we do already for car shows, for example.

• For a time some years ago, Main Street and Spanish Street went to one-way traffic, eventually reverting back to the current two-way flow. What is your thought about pedestrian malls, which some cities see as safer, less noisy and more encouraging of walking?

I have mixed feelings. I've seen pedestrian malls be beneficial, but Main Street America, the group through which we are fully accredited, is striving for pedestrian-friendly spaces. There can be a perception of parking problems with pedestrian malls and certainly there are folks who want to park right in front of the business they want to patronize.

• The pandemic started in the U.S. two years ago next month. How have downtown merchants fared?

We have thrived in comparison to other Main Street organizations across the nation. We certainly have had businesses close due to a variety of factors, but I would venture to say we haven't lost any directly in correlation to effects of COVID-19. There have been struggles, particularly with our restaurants who continue to deal with staffing, but I can't think of a single business that closed just because of the pandemic only, and I think that's pretty astounding.

We've had what I consider to be a large number of businesses that opened in the midst of the pandemic. In 2021, just to look at a single year, 24 new businesses opened, creating 112 new jobs. Some of our generational businesses, open for 50-plus years, experienced record years despite COVID.

Part of the way our downtown has thrived is because of what happened across the bridge. Illinois was much more locked down and we gained new clientele eating at our restaurants and shopping in our stores. Some of those folks may not have spent a lot of time before in Cape and we've seen some repeat business coming from Southern Illinois.

We've seen some from St. Louis, too, which was for a time, more locked down than we were, too, in terms of weekend getaways.

• Century Casino has announced a new hotel on the other end of Main Street. What thoughts do you have about how this development will impact the central business district?

We're thrilled about the hotel. It will inspire more development along Main and my hope is we'll see development along that entire strip from the corner of Broadway and Main right up to the casino. We need to leverage the proximity to the Mississippi River and encourage downtown living.

The casino also has been a fabulous community partner through the Riverfront Development Fund, not only through the Broadway streetscape projects of several years ago but also the casino is part of OTC's budget. What our budget receives is tied to its casino revenue, which took a bit of a hit during the pandemic. The casino is vital and our downtown wouldn't be where it is today without it.