IDEAS FOR DOWNTOWN PRESENTED AT MEETING

More street lighting, municipal gardens and a free shuttle linking the university to the planned River Campus are among ideas a consultant suggests might help revitalize downtown Cape Girardeau.

Michael Schroeder, a representative of a company hired to put together a conceptual plan for the revitalization of downtown Cape Girardeau, presented those ideas at a meeting Wednesday night.

Speaking to a crowd of about 50 people in Southeast Missouri State University's Robert Dempster Hall, Schroeder also suggested widening the two gates of the Mississippi River floodwall for aesthetic reasons .

Schroeder, vice-president of the Minneapolis, Minn.,-based Hoisington Koegler Group Inc., a design firm, was hired by Old Town Cape Inc., which wants to improve downtown.

Schroeder said what visually attracts people to a historic downtown district is the dense clusters of buildings and lack of landscaping "screens" that are found in suburbs.

Living downtown, he said, "is just cool. It offers different opportunities than you have in the suburbs."

A look around

Based on a six-day preliminary look at Cape Girardeau's riverfront, upper Broadway, and Good Hope districts, the consultant said sidewalks need to be maintained so they do not continue to deteriorate. He suggested creating a theater district just east of Broadway and Pacific. Also, he suggested creating intermittent garden focal points at such spots as Spanish and Broadway and Spanish and the River Campus.

These garden-spot gathering places, Schroeder said, would create a sense of "smaller communities within the broader community."

On the proposal for a free shuttle service between the two campuses, he said he recognized "it's a big commitment on the part of the community." However, such a public transit service would encourage circulation through the area, he said.

John Wyman, owner of Mollie's, Europa's and the N'Orlean's -- all downtown restaurants -- said he particularly liked Schroeder's suggestion that the city begin paying for the burial of power lines, completing the project in increments as money becomes available.

An area of a city is like a restaurant, said Wyman, "You don't necessarily notice what's right. You'll notice what's wrong."

Schroeder's services are being funded by the Missouri Main Street Program, a government fund to assist communities with populations of fewer than 50,000 in revitalizing their downtowns. Cape Girardeau entered the program in February 2000 and Old Town Cape Inc. was founded.

Catherine Dunlap, executive director of Old Town Cape Inc., said Schroeder has been collecting input from city officials, citizens, and business representatives for the past six days. He is to return to Minneapolis to compile his findings.