The Vision 2020 Destination Downtown committee is planning Fall Fest 2014 on Saturday, Oct. 25. There will be family-friendly activities and some exciting live entertainment for adults after dark. Because the first Fall Fest was a year ago, I got to thinking about all the changes in downtown Austin in the last twelve months.

A year ago there were two holes in the downtown streetscape — the old bank building and the fire site. These two challenges were distinct. We had one beautiful, restored building in search of a tenant and one large open space in search of the right idea.

The Destination Downtown committee received a wealth of creative ideas from the public on how to approach these two properties. Even back in 2011 when all the ideas on improving Austin came in from the public, hundreds were submitted relating to downtown. People mentioned downtown districts that they had visited in other communities which inspired them. The Main Street Project had shown what was possible in downtown renewal.

Vision 2020 did research into thriving downtowns and even visited a few communities to learn from their leaders on this topic. One finding was a surprise. Even though downtown is primarily a retail district, the strongest downtowns have a mix of retail, residential, professional service, non-profit and educational tenants. Austin already had this healthy mix. Our main goal was to add more activity.

Now we have the ArtWorks Center open in the old bank building and the Spam Museum is coming to the fire site in 2016. We’ve welcomed new businesses Willow Cove, the Downtown Pawn Shop, Sako African Food Market and Lewis Physical Therapy to the neighborhood. I understand we’re going to see a new hobby shop on Fourth Avenue in the next few weeks. I’ve also heard about a new store opening in the 100 block of North Main.

The city of Austin is investing resources into an updated Master Plan for Downtown. I think the timing is great to take advantage of the positive momentum of the neighborhood and help our leaders focus on strengthening the downtown. This plan is still in draft form and the city Planning and Zoning Department is working with CR Planning to bring it forward for public comment this fall.

Since I’ve been privy to the draft, I’ll give you a preview of some of the many items in the plan. Goals for the area include developing second floor spaces on Main Street, increasing multi-family housing, improving bicycle and pedestrian access and safety, adding a visual gateway to downtown, improving signage especially to parking lots, adding public art and adding outdoor seating. The plan also highlights downtown’s connection to the Cedar River and the Mill Pond and suggests strategies to leverage this asset to create more downtown traffic.

It is exciting to see the community take a proactive approach and to connect downtown to many other important goals for Austin: economic development, healthy vibrant waterways, multi-modal transportation and additional housing. I have a feeling that we’ll be able to look back and see many changes for the better when we are planning Fall Fest 2015.