Main St Develop LoBianco, DanDUBUQUE
MaIn Street
Ltd.
February 18, 2000
«FirstName» «LastName»
«Company»
«Address 1»
«City», «State» «PostaICode»
Dear «FirstName»:
Enclosed is a memo from me on behalf of the plaza area business leaders who originally proposed
the reconsideration of opening the Main Street portion of the Town Clock Plaza. This
communication is designed to update you on progress/acknowledgements made since the council
"tabled" the measure in January.
I also want you to be aware that as supplemental material to this general memo, Dubuque Main
Street has a "white paper" on the handling of plaza issues nationwide, distributed by the National
Main Street office in Washington, D.c.; a synopsis of a direct study of some specific cities
I personally conducted on behalf of this leadership group and my board of directors; and a
"numbers-report' derived from the City's circulation study of 1995. I would be happy to share
these three reports with you upon request. I may forward all or a portion of them to you in .
the future. The consensus of the business leaders was to present you with a brief summary,
at this time.
We lûok to you for direction as to the specific manner in which you would like us to proceed
in building and establishing consensus/compromise among all stakeholders. We have thoughts
as to meetings and mediation procedures, but feel pursuit of this without your input would likely
be fruitless.
Also, if this memo is not clear on one point, Main Street would like to go on record to say we
believe Tony Zelinskas and his team, assembled by WHKS, should be retained to lead the design
of the Plaza renovation, regardless of the direction you prescribe.
Should you have any questions or need additional information, please contact me at 588-4400.
Sincerely,
Daniel L. LoBianco
Executive Director
cc: Mike Van Milligen
February 18, 2000
TO: Dubuque City Council
FROM: Daniel L. LoBianco, Executive Director, Mall Street, Ltd.
On Behalf of Plaza Area Business Leaders
SUBJECT: Revised Direction for Mall Street Development
The plaza area business leaders and property owners have
been in discussions since the plaza renovation concept was
"tabled" at your January 18th meeting.
We believe that the reopening of Mall Street is in the best
interest of all Dubuque citizens, not just owners of Main Street
property, or citizens who work in the plaza area.
This communication represents our attempt to report the .
progress that has been made since your last official action and a
request that you assist us in facilitating a process that will keep this
project moving forward this fiscal year. For your information:
1. A community-wide effort is underway to collect
signatures of Dubuque citizens, which will demonstrate
broad-based support for reopening Mall Street.
2. A revised Mall Street "Plan" has been drawn at the
request of business leaders which may be used as a
discussion tool in meetings with WHKS, your consultant.
The final redesign may be accomplished for under
$75,000, based on conversations with Tony Zelinskas.
3. Among the business leaders that petitioned you to reopen
the plaza, concessions have been made which would allow
for parking along the "new" Mall Street.
4. Discussions with Cigna have led to the examination of an
acceptable alternative of utilizing adjacent city-owned
property along 6th street to serve as their "park or plaza"
space, eliminating their need to keep Mall Street closed.
5. If the present location of the clock presents a problem,
the council could authorize a private development effort
to move the Town Clock to Washington Park, much the
same as that effort which led to its current placement.
6. The Boards of Directors of both the Dubuque Area
Chamber of Commerce and Mall Street, Ltd. have
endorsed the reopening of Mall Street. As significant
"stakeholders" and representatives of over 1000 area
businesses, their support reinforces a position that "doing
nothing is only slightly more acceptable than doing the
wrong thing."
7. Plaza business owners acknowledge that reasonable
assessments may be necessary to accomplish the
reopening of the "street," and are committed to exploring
ways to achieve this objective for the benefit of all Dubuque
citizens.
We ask that you direct the consultants and staff to assist us in
finalizing revised specifications needed to bid and award this
project as soon as possible.
DUBUQUE
Main Street
Ltd.
February 2 I, 2000
Dear Council Members:
My understanding is that there may need to be a point of clarification to the memo/letter we sent
to you last Friday. Point "4" of the memo section may have been misleading. . . It was not our
intention to mislead you. It is factual to indicate we had discussions with Cigna representatives.
After independently exploring the possible alternative brought to them specifically by Nick
Schrup III, they did contact me to say they were open to looking at an opportunity of additional
space across the Plaza. Cigna did not; however, change the company's official position of
desiring a closed Plaza. We probably also should not have spoke of "their park or plaza." They
have never asked us for special considerations. If a new area would utilizeJòlt seating, etc., it
would be for everyone. If our memo lead you to believe that position changed, we apologize to
you and to this important downtown stakeholder.
Should you have any questions or need additional information, please contact me at 588-4400.
Sincerely,
Daniel L. LoBianco
Executive Director
Cc
Mike Van Milligen
909 Main Street
Suite 22LL. Fischer Bundlng Dubuque. Iowa 52001
Fax 319-588-0654 e-mail: dbqmalnst@mWCl.net .
319-588-4400