What Jeffersonville Can Learn From Louisville & WHAS

So as the city of Jefferonville begins to take bids on developmental plans for the old canal district and citizens mourn the loss of "Third Base" and the yawn over the opening of the city's newest restaurant (another Taco Bell) it all got my mind wondering. 

Where does Jeffersoville go wrong? 

As I pondered this question I heard a story about the history WHAS Radio and a decision they made many many moons ago.  And repercussions that their decision had on the city of Louisville and another city in the region were quite interesting.  The reasoning for WHAS's decision draws an interesting similarity to Jeffersonville's current mindset that has lead to many of the problems city faces when it comes to development. 

-THE 840 WHAS STORY

So last week the story was told on 840 WHAS that in its early days on the air in the first half of last century that WHAS was presented with an offer to broadcast a company's country music show over its air waives.  WHAS took the offer under consideration but ultimately decided that the stations current show slated at the time of broadcast was a safer programming choice.

The program they chose to stick with you was farm and crop report show.

So they passed on a country music show to broadcast a farm and crop report show.  It was a safer bet for the station as there were many farmers in the area could/would use the show for information on farming.  They chose the safe route of an existing clientele than to take a risk to broaden their listening base and risk upsetting some farmers.

Ultimately the company found a station and a home in another city in the region and did fine for itself.  You may have even heard them before:

Yes that's right.  It was the Grand Ole Opry.

They passed on the Grand Ole Opry for a crop report show.  As time went on Nashville (where they got their show on the air at) went on to be what is many people refer to as "The Capital Of Country Music".  While Louisville went on to become "Possibility City"? 

Oh and by the way, I listen to WHAS a lot and I don't believe that they still run a farm and crop report show.

-WHAT ELSE WE CAN LEARN FROM LOUISVILLE

At one point Louisville was ahead of Nashville and Indianapolis in both population and business.  Not the case any longer.  Those two cities have long since past Louisville.  Probably to the point where Louisville will never catch up. 

Why did this happen?

Well for many years Louisville never had a plan and wasn't concerned with having one either.  They were just content to roll along and let whatever happened, happen.  While Indy was building structures such as the Hoosier Dome to attract major events and a NFL team Louisville was just trying to get by with what they had.  They couldn't even coordinate an effort to pay the NBA to include their ABA Kentucky Colonels.

The result was Indianapolis getting the Colts along with keeping the Pacers (also an ABA team) and attracting major events to Hoosier Dome that not only kept the visitors rolling into the city but kept them visible to the international community.  That has lead to a great commercial and corporate growth.  All because the city invested in itself.  And thus its future.

Mean while Louisville just sat stagnant.  Stagnant with no identity I might add. 

There was U of L in the middle.  There were corporate businesses in the downtown area.  Bars in the highland areas and homes in the south and west parts of town.  Unless you wanted to go to a club in the highlands or once a year to the State Fair, there wasn't much reason to visit the city.

That all changed a decade or so ago when Louisville decided to get a plan. 

What was the plan?

The plan was to make downtown Louisville the place to be.  To make it so more visitors would venture into their downtown for entertainment.  Or so that when visitors were there on conventions to get them to spend more money downtown and make their visit more enjoyable so that their convention, or just the individuals themselves, would want to come back.

How did they do this?

Well lets see here...

  

They added attractions to lure visitors while at the same time eliminated eyesores that harmed the city's image. 

Both the "Yum Center" and "Louisville Slugger Field" attract people downtown for events and entertainment.  While "4th Street Live" gives them a reason to stay downtown after the events are over.  Heck Louisville Slugger Field gives out of towners something to do as well.  And the Yum Center has already hosted several NCAA events and concerts that have brought out of towners to Louisville for over night stays and 4th Street Live has given those people an entertainment option that they have taken advantage of. 

While doing this, the city of Louisville took old eyesores out and made the city a more beautiful and inviting place to be.

A strip of road seldom used filled with vacant store fronts became 4th Street Live.  An old deteriorating factory became the wonderful looking Louisville Slugger Field.  And a rusty looking power sub-station was removed to make room for the Yum Center.  All became much more visually pleasing.  And thus, more inviting.

Now I won't pretend that there haven't been negatives.  Because there has been. 

The Highlands took a hit with the opening of 4th Street Live.  And the Yum Center signed a horrible deal with U of L that has hindered its financial possibilities. 

But the first is just a result of business competition and the second is a correctable error.  But make no mistake.  They do not out weigh the positives these projects have generated for the downtown area of Louisville.  The scale definitely leans towards the positives and that is what is most important in all of this.  And it all occurred because the city decided on a plan and invested in itself and its future.

-HOW THIS RELATES TO JEFFERSONVILLE

Now I'm not saying that Jeffersonville needs to build a stadium, arena, or dome downtown.  Not at all.  And here's the neat part in all of this.  We don't have to.  Louisville already has provided us with an arena that is merely a short drive or walk away.  And Jeffersonville has already seen the benefits from the arena.  Anyone who drove into downtown Louisville during the NCAA tournament held in the Yum center will tell you that the sidewalks of the Second Street Bridge were filled with people walking from Jeffersonville to Louisville for the big event.  So this means A) they were either locals who decided to park for less money in Jeffersonville and walk or B) stayed the night in a Jeffersonville hotel and decided to walk.  Either way, it attracted people to Jeffersonville.  And I would venture to say that, to a lesser extent, the concerts do the same for Jeffersonville.

But what do you think the odds are that many if any decided to spend extra money in Jeffersonville?  My guess is not a lot.  How about the people in Louisville?  I'd venture that their percentage of return was much greater than that of Jeffersonville.

Why? 

Because the had a plan in place to take advantage of people visiting their city by investing in their city.  They had an attraction in 4th Street Live that was busy from before noon well until after midnight that first day of the tourney.  I should know.  I was there.

-THE CONNECTION BETWEEN JEFFERSONVILLE AND THE WHAS STORY

So why doesn't Jeffersonville have a plan to take advantage of things like this and to make downtown an inviting place for visitors or a regular stop for locals? 

Well that would be because of small minded people with visions like this:

Yes.  Why would you want to have something that is a business known for its popularity and repeat customers when you can have a museum that half the people who do visit it will only do so once.  (And she's probably still trying to figure out why she wasn't elected)

But sadly that is the mindset of a great deal of people in Jeffersonville.  They have know desire to have anything that could attract people to downtown.  They want no part of anything new or exciting that could lead people to say: "hey, lets go check that out."  No instead they want to stick with what they have been doing. 

Look no further than the pedestrian bridge lighting for another example.  The original plan was for the lighting to be uniform from one side to other.  For Jeffersonville it would have relayed a simple message of "hey, we're not so different over here.  Come on over and give us a try."

Instead what we got was a nixing of that plan and going with light features that supposedly convey an image of what Jeffersonville currently is.  Whatever that is.  All I know whatever that is, isn't working. 

Oh, Jeffersonville had a plan for its downtown.  They had a marvelous plan at that. 

It was a plan for a canal district.  Something that would create excitement and buzz for locals and visitors.  Something that would say "Hey, come out and check out these great places of entertainment here in Jeffersonville!"  Or "While you're staying at our hotels, you don't have to drive to Louisville to spend your entertainment or dining dollars at 4th Street.  You can do it here at our place which is right in walking distance of your hotel!"  It would have created a buzz that would have attracted people from the cities bordering Louisville on the Southern Indiana side as well as people who travel from our hotels to Louisville.

And imagine the visual as people crossed the pedestrian bridge.  A beautiful water feature with a vibrant section of shops and eateries.  Heck, it would have given a people to cross the pedestrian bridge.  Something to say, "Hey, lets go check that out."

And for those small minded people who say that we already have a water feature with the river, I give you this:

This is the water feature at River Front Park.  You know, the park in Louisville that sits right on the river.  This is just a small section of it, but it is very nice and and was quite popular with people that I saw while we visited the Chow Wagon. 

Yes that's right.  Even with the Chow Wagon going on people were taking time to go over and enjoy the scene.  And by the way, I saw no graffiti or homeless people bathing in it as some have claimed would happen with the canal.  Those are just baseless theories that were thrown out by people who were just concerned with personal agendas and not the greater good of the city.

You see, the sad part about Jeffersonville is that many of the voting public are concerned with only two things.  Whether their street is going to be repaved soon and making taxes lower than is possible in reality.  There is not a concern with the city as a whole.  Just a concern for the individual.  Which is a shame.  Just like WHAS all those years ago the city could be passing up on the possibility of a lifetime just because some have a narrow view of how things should be.

And this is not an anti Moore rant.  Yes he has some ideas for Jeffersonville.  I don't know that I would call it a plan or that I think they are good ideas, but at least he knows that you have to have a plan.  Just recently he unveiled his plans to spend $2 million on a marina.  That's not that much for a city project at all.  Yet if you go the story on the News and Tribune website, you'll find that there are already people claiming he is going to bankrupt the city.  Just "leave it be" they say.

The problem is, "leaving it be" isn't working.  Times change.  And while people continually look back at what used to be, they fail to realize why it isn't any longer.  Things and people change.  While they may have had fun at the neighborhood bowling alley 30 years ago, there is a reason the alley closed up and no one replaced it with another one.  It just wasn't popular anymore.  And if you don't think that this is a common mindset among people around here, I'll just redirect you to Kelley's statement above. 

When you develop your plan, or whether you will support a proposed plan, you have to look around and see whats working other places.  Not what was working 30 plus years ago. 

Or perhaps you look to try something that is cutting edge that will create a "wow" factor that will draw interest.  You don't want to be like WHAS and pass on the chance to expand your clientele and thus The  Grand Ole Opry.  And you certainly don't want to be Louisville and just let things be.  That will get you nothing but empty store fronts.

But just like the both Louisville and WHAS, some people in Jeffersonville seem content to not only restrict Jeffersonville's growth potential, but to hinder it as well.  That is a shame. 

We should not be minimizing our customer base potential, but instead expanding it.  For some its purely selfish reasons.  Just hoping to save $25 bucks year on taxes. 

And for others its just about sticking to ideals or visions of years long past.  Hanging on to what doesn't work any longer.  Not willing to evolve and change with times.  Trying to tell people that they are wrong for liking different things now. 

But it is time for these people to wake up and smell the coffee.  Realize what works and what doesn't.  Times do change. 

Heck, WHAS doesn't even have a farm and crop report anymore.