Construction winding down on Sixth St.; DRC announces winners of its 'barrel boys' naming contest

"The Three Constructioneers" - Cautious Clay, Gorge Foreman and Monument Ali - are standing watch as construction work winds down on Sixth Street.

Those were the winning names chosen in Downtown Racine Corp's contest to name "The Barrel Boys," large sculptures created out of orange construction barrels and displayed in the construction zone on Sixth Street.

The contest was a bit of levity in a summer-long construction project on one of Downtown's major shopping streets. Fortunately, work is near conclusion, DRC Executive Director Devin Sutherland said Tuesday.

Road construction is scheduled to be done by Friday, Sept. 25 and the brick pavers for the sidewalks will start going in on Sept. 28. Enough work will be done for the street and sidewalks to be open for Party on the Pavement on Oct. 3, Sutherland said.

The rain last month didn't slow construction, Sutherland said. The area's sandy soil kept the ground well-drained, and the crews only stopped working when it was actually raining. That allowed them to make up a lost week of time from earlier in the summer when complications with telecommunications lines slowed work.

Once Sixth Street is finished Downtown's two major streets will be completed, though some work is still scheduled for next two years. State Street into Downtown is scheduled for work next summer and Seventh Street the year after, Sutherland said.

Next year, Wisconsin Avenue also will be resurfaced, he said.

The Barrel Boys naming contest started in late August when the 9-foot-tall sculptures were commissioned to remind people that Sixth Street businesses are open.

The winning name, which will replace Barrel Boys, is The Three Constructioneers, which was submitted by Cameron Fair of Racine.

In addition Sherri Myers Wray of Racine submitted winning individual names for each sculpture -- Cautious Clay, Monument Ali, and Gorge Foreman.

Both Cameron and Sherri were awarded Downtown gift certificates. Over 40 suggested names were submitted to the DRC.

Housing Authority 'surprised' by negative reaction to Sixth Street plan

314 Sixth St., built in 1886

It's clear where Downtown business owners stand on the Housing Authority of Racine County's proposal to convert an historic Sixth Street building into low-income apartments.

"Who's in favor of this thing?" Monte Osterman asked a group of about 30 business owners Tuesday during a Downtown Connections meeting.

No one said a word.

Linda Ring Weber, executive director of the Housing Authority, said she was stunned by the reaction to the idea of renovating the former YMCA and Red Cross Building at 314-324 Sixth St.

"Surprised is such an understatement," Weber said. "There has to be some misunderstanding."

At issue is the need, or desire, for low-income housing on Sixth Street. Devin Sutherland, executive director of Downtown Racine Corp., is leading the opposition to the proposal. He said Sixth Street, or really anywhere Downtown, isn't a good site for additional low-income housing.

"It's market-rate apartments we don't have enough of," Sutherland said.

But Weber said she has a five-year waiting list for people seeking affordable housing from her agency. People who qualify for her program pay 30 percent of their income for rent - well under the low-income housing rates in places like the Arcade Apartments or Belle Harbor Apartments in Downtown.

Weber said the Housing Authority has received an overwhelmingly negative reaction to the proposal. "Had we known, this would not have been a place I would have pursued," she said.

But the Housing Authority has an option to purchase the building for $425,000 and an architect is drawing up plans, she said.

Money is a concern. The 1886 Queen Anne-style building was built as the Racine branch of the YMCA. Its ground floor is now home to the Sixth Street Theatre, but its second and third floors have been vacant for years. Renovating the upper floors into apartments and offices for the Housing Authority, now located at 837 Main St., could be too expensive.

But Weber was optimistic. Her agency's plan is to revive an historic building that's been largely ignored over the years. The Housing Authority even intends to retain a large, open ballroom on the second floor to serve as their offices.

"Many private developers would divide (the ballroom) into offices," she said.

Weber and the Downtown business owners had a missed connection on Tuesday morning. The Downtown Connections group had scheduled Weber to speak, but Weber said she'd only offered to address the group when she had information to share. Since they're still waiting for the architect's report, she didn't feel she had much to say about the project. She said she hopes to meet with the business owners in a few weeks.

It'll be a tough crowd.

The group is already lobbying city officials, with some success, to oppose the project.

"I don't feel any support for this at City Hall," Sutherland said.

But the opposition may not matter. Since city zoning is set up to favor residential developments there's little the city can do to oppose the development. The major obstacle for the project could be the Housing Authority's own charter, which requires city approval for low-income housing developments.

But what city approval means, and how much of an obstacle the requirement is, remains to be seen. What also remains to be seen is the Housing Authority's plans to breathe life into a dormant -- aside from the Sixth Street Theatre -- building in need of restoration.

"This should be so welcome," Weber said. "We're preserving an historic building."

Positively Racine: Downtown Racine Corp works daily to build Racine's businesses, pride

This summer's "Spheres" is just one event Downtown Racine Corp organizes throughout the year.

By Bill Griffiths

In my travels, I’ve driven through a lot of dead downtowns. These are towns that have been decimated by the presence of national retailers that have a tough time remaining nameless.

Racine’s downtown is family-friendly and aspiring, and anything but dead. That is no accident. There are a lot of people working hard to keep our downtown viable.

Last year, someone outside the country wanted to send me a gift, but wasn’t familiar with Racine. They contacted the Downtown Racine Corporation (DRC) and arranged to send me some Downtown Gift Certificates. These were indeed a welcome gift and helped introduce me to several stores downtown.

At the same time, I could not help but notice that many of the activities downtown (First Fridays, Public Art, Summer Nights on the Square, holiday parades, St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Party on the Pavement, etc.) are all partnerships between DRC, the downtown merchants and hundreds of volunteers.

It’s a common mistake to think the DRC is busy from Memorial Day to Labor Day. For a small organization, the DRC is a beehive of planning, meetings, fundraising and recruiting, all year long…and all focused on promoting the image of Racine and drawing more people downtown to visit and shop.

The two full-time people at the DRC are its Executive Director, Devin Sutherland, and Director of Marketing, Jean Garbo, who work along with several part-time people and volunteers.

The DRC works proactively promoting downtown to retain existing businesses as well as recruiting new businesses. In doing this, the DRC:

· Writes grants and creates fundraising activities to help underwrite its activities and programs,
· Manages the Business Improvement District (that funds ‘clean and safe’ initiatives, the Public Service Ambassador program, downtown landscaping and seasonal decorations),
· Continually evaluates the effectiveness of events they have managed and performs (or commissions) ongoing research to identify new ideas to further enhance the quality of life in Racine, and
· Works with organizations like Leadership Racine to provide downtown businesses and their employees with new or refreshed skills and approaches to being more successful.

Mr. Sutherland says, “We did a retail/entertainment study to identify the types of businesses that we need to add. Hardware stores certainly made it to that list. And a grocery store is certainly near the top of the list. That need becomes greater as more and more people occupy the new apartments and condos downtown. Recently, we’ve had a prospect, who seems very eager to open a grocery store at the southeast corner of Main and State, and we are involved in ongoing negotiations.”

The DRC is also studying, as an initiative for 2009, ways to improve the signage from the Interstate to downtown. Many a traveler has mistaken several parts of Racine for downtown and never found their way to downtown.

According to Mr. Sutherland, “Racine has a lot of great qualities that people living elsewhere just aren’t aware of. An image campaign is something we feel strongly about, and is also on the minds of the Racine County Economic Development Corp. and the Convention and Visitors Bureau. It’s not moving as quickly as we’d like, but it’s certainly on everyone’s’ radar.”

He continues, “Local shoppers have also told us they want more consistent hours and days of operation from merchants, and we’re developing a plan to address that.”

This year, on the first three Saturdays of December, the DRC is introducing ‘Santa Saturdays’. You’ll no doubt be reading more about those.

If you haven’t been downtown lately, come downtown and see that people are putting a lot of thought and effort forward to make it a place to take pride in. And, to make it a lovely place to shop, eat, listen to music or just get together.

To learn more, take a look at the DRC website at www.racinedowntown.com . If you want to order some of those Downtown Gift Certificates, you can call (262) 634-6002.