Business View Civil and Municipal | April 2021

64 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL ARIL 2021 The city’s downtown core is currently in a transitional phase, but action is starting to ramp up once again. The historical district is set up to require mixed-use buildings that include a combination of residential and commercial space, bringing in a combination of retail offerings and affordable housing. Rowlands notes, “Our downtown is kind of set up like a movie set. If you were to walk downtown… if you watch movies and commercials, it’s recognizable. We’ve got a couple restaurants down there, one is more traditional American bar food and another one is Mexican food – they do very well with their tamales in that location. And there are the typical mom and pop businesses. We also have an artisan bread shop that attracts people from around the region to come out here on Wednesdays and Saturdays. People drive 50 miles for the bread on a Saturday.” Fillmore’s administration is hoping to build on that downtown momentum and bring in more