CONSULTANT TIES TOGETHER VISIONS OF DOWNTOWN

Old Town Cape's consultant has looked at the city's downtown and has seen what it could be.

Already, Cape Girardeau's riverside business district is an interesting place, home to successful restaurants, bars and shops. On a sunny day, its streets bustle with activity, and visitors sit on the concrete-covered banks of the Mississippi to relax and watch the mesmerizing passage of towboats and barges.

But there are some empty storefronts. There are things that could be improved. And some things are just plain eyesores.

Michael Schroeder, vice president of a Minneapolis design firm, has vision for neighborhoods like this one. That's why Old Town Cape Inc., a not-for-profit group of merchants and others organized to revitalize downtown, was pleased to have the services of the consultant provided by the Missouri Main Street Program, with which Old Town Cape is affiliated.

Schroeder sees a theater district just east of Broadway and Pacific. He envisions garden spots where Broadway and Morgan Oak intersect Spanish. And he sees plenty of aesthetically pleasing street lighting for those who would enjoy the thriving nightlife scene.

He doesn't see the ugly power lines that hang above downtown sidewalks. In his vision, they're buried under tree-lined streets -- the trees planted where squares of concrete have been removed.

He sees wider gates in the Mississippi River floodwall to allow better views of the water, perhaps downtown Cape's biggest asset.

And in Schroeder's drawings, the Marquette Hotel isn't the vacant lot it could be if the owner doesn't comply with a city directive to make improvements or face demolition. It rises proudly from Broadway, a showplace surrounded by clean, wide sidewalks.

But there's a hitch.

Nothing that big happens without money and lots of it.

And Schroeder's plan, while big on imagination, is short on figures.

At least his plan didn't cost the local group anything, at least not directly. It was funded by a government grant.

Maybe there will be money to make Cape Girardeau match his lovely drawings. Schroeder recommended doing a few things at a time as funds become available.

At least now there is a vision, and no group makes progress without one.