Night on the Campustown

For such a large campus, it seems to me that we have a relatively small Campustown. Not that we don't have some good places to hang out at south of campus, it's just that there isn't a whole lot to see if you don't want to get drunk off of your seat over the weekend. Sure, we have a few coffee shops, a bunch of Asian food restaurants (probably the most I've ever seen in one particular area, not that it's bad or anything), and one OK pizza place, but the rest of the area seems to be taken up by bars and such. The streets and buildings themselves don't look all that bad, but it could definitely use a face lift. Luckily, it seems like the city of Ames agrees.

There might be some interesting talk in the article, but it seems to be just commentary more than anything else. If anything, the news story seems to deal more with wishes than actually doing anything, although I can see their problems. It would be a big project. The businesses that would set up shop would get very little traffic over the summer, and there would be a large amount of capital involved too. It wouldn't be easy, but there has to be a way, huh?













I would first try to clean up and remodel the place -- not only will it remove a bit of the "place for drunks" stigma, it would make it more inviting for businesses to set up shop. Next, renovate any empty buildings to make them easier to rent for new businesses. A big advertising campaign will be needed to get entrepreneurs to notice these new improvements too. Heck, handing out flyer's to business majors would be a great idea. A couple former students starting up a pizza place would be awesome for everybody involved!

Yeah, there might be a stigma of drunkenness to the place, but that would change gradually as new, unique businesses are let in (although it will always have a bit of that reputation -- after all, it is a Campustown next to a major university). Since the new shops won't get too much business over the summer, the product that they sell will have to be good (and popular) enough to make enough money during the school year. Ideally, whomever finances the project would pitch in with financial incentives and advertising costs, although this might get a bit expensive overall. (You got to spend money to make money, you know?) If things are successful, then eventually the place will change around, and successful businesses will lure more entrepreneurs in to claim a slice of the new financial pie. Of course, a person (or group) that could finance such a task would be hard to find, but I never said it would be easy, huh? Maybe donations by students could help? The University itself? Other local businesses? The city of Ames? Who knows?

This would be a great project for those with the will to do it. If the College of Business gets involved, then we could get some real student involvement too! Hopefully, with a bit of love and care, we can get Campustown back up and running for all of us who don't like to get plastered downtown every week or so.