Business View Magazine - November 2016

Business View Magazine - November 2016 109 Another moon shot is the redevelopment of Fond du Lac’s downtown to provide a premiere urban neighbor- hood for residents, workers, businesses, and tourists. “Our downtown is very similar to a lot of downtowns throughout the Midwest,” says Molitor. “In challenging economic times, it can go one way or the other. It can become vacant or it can become more vibrant. Down- town Fond du Lac is clearly resurging and our goal now is to make it increasingly more vibrant. A downtown is the heartbeat of a community. When people look at a community, if they’re thinking of visiting as tourists or moving to the community, or if a company is thinking of relocating, they’re going to look at the downtown. So, it is important that a downtown is thriving and healthy.” Once again, the city has taken its cue from the Envision initiative, by putting together a Downtown Exploratory Committee charged with making recommendations re- garding improvements to the City Council. “With the Ex- ploratory Committee, we’re bringing in the public who want to see downtown thrive,” says Benson. “So, now we’ve got businesses and residents working in concert with a vision for the downtown.” One of the initiatives launched by the city is a $100,000 grant program for businesses in the downtown Business Improvement District to help restore some of their buildings’ histor- ic, exterior facades. “And we’re really starting to see a change,” she says. “The number of businesses that are opening or planning to open in the downtown has been amazing.” Molitor believes that another way to redevelop down- town is to create a city Arts District. “Art is no longer a ‘want,’” he says. “It’s a ‘need.’ A community like ours has to embrace art because art is the outcome of creativity. And creativity is the engine that is going Great Communities Deserve Quality Design Serving as a trusted engineering resource to the City of Fond du Lac for more than 50 years. www.strand.com S T R A N D Municipal Wastewater Water _ Supply Transportation Green _ Infrastructure Aviation half page_Strand Associates_FdL Article.indd 1 11/9/2016 10:04:16 AM