DOWNTOWN CONTINUES ITS REVITALIZATION

Not too long ago Cape Girardeau's downtown area appeared to be on the verge of collapse, a victim of retail expansion westward.

The situation mimicked that which has occurred in cities all over this nation as shopping malls sprung up around busy highways and interstates and in convenient locations for populations that moved away from inner cities into nicely developed subdivisions.

But Cape Girardeau has seen its downtown area of Main Street, Good Hope and Broadway bounce back. It has taken time, but it has happened, and there are positive signs that the revitalization will continue.

A real shot in the arm for downtown could come from establishment of a Main Street Program. An effort to qualify downtown for the program is gaining momentum. A Main Street Program could lead to grants that would aid in revitalization of buildings and protection of historic structures and bring all three areas of downtown together under a coordinator to assure a structured approach to continued revitalization.

Toward that end, the Cape Girardeau Community Pride Coalition authorized three surveys -- two by the University of Illinois and one by Southeast Missouri State University -- to determine downtown assets and needs. Multiple surveys were required as part of the Main Street Program effort, and it is good that they were, because all three surveys contained a wealth of information.

For instance:

-- Seventy-seven percent of shoppers surveyed visit downtown to dine, and 53 percent to shop.

-- Sixty percent of customers surveyed rate downtown shopping as fair.

-- A majority of those surveyed cited friendliness of sales people and a safe environment for shopping as reasons to go downtown.

Some negatives were cited, among them: parking, traffic flow, shopping hours, merchandise selection and variety of stores.

Those are just a few of dozens of findings from the surveys conducted in all Cape Girardeau shopping areas.

A thorough study and application of the results will be valuable in planning the continued future of downtown Cape Girardeau. The coalition of business people from all three downtown neighborhoods and from Southeast Missouri State, which plans to convert the old St. Vincent Seminary along Morgan Oak to a River campus, is a positive sign for downtown's future. It is looking brighter all the time.