Downtown energy.

[mgh7676]

Sustained energy is always tough w/o an event....on a typical tuesday night with no event, just not going to be that many residents out, no matter how many live down here....not sure that's any different than 99% of other cities in the nation.

Been over this a ton of times but Crossroads is hard due to the numerous surface lots and long time industrial tenants who have no desire to move.

Loop is always going to be tough north of 12th. I don't think the goal should be every street bustling at every hour...just not feasible...need to continue to concentrate on activity centers.

Very true for any city. It's nice to see downtown bustling, but not practical every night. Have you ever walked around Chicago's loop in the evening? The streets are dead. Most of the downtown activity is centered where the food and retail is....Michigan Ave.

[IraGlacialis]

Sustained energy is always tough w/o an event....on a typical tuesday night with no event, just not going to be that many residents out, no matter how many live down here....not sure that's any different than 99% of other cities in the nation.

Loop is always going to be tough north of 12th. I don't think the goal should be every street bustling at every hour...just not feasible...need to continue to concentrate on activity centers.

Of course you are not going get even a fraction of activity that you get during a weekend or event night. And there will always be a concentration of activity in certain places. However, a slight uptick in activity overall is better than nothing.

In the case of weekday activity, you emphasize the daytime and late afternoon vs the night.
And on the subject of diffusing activity, of course concentrate on you activity hubs, but also encourage the development of corridors as a way to connect those hubs (in which case, I guess "diffusing" is not the right term in retrospect). I am hopeful that the streetcar is something that can help with that. Going along with that, encourage people to park outside the districts with activity and walk/transit their way in.

In the case of Chicago's Loop, yeah the district itself tended to be except for the area along Michigan Avenue and, to a lesser extent, State Street. However, there was still considerable pedestrian traffic to/from those spots due to the train stations being set a couple blocks west of the Ave, especially if you take the Red or Blue line. And along the way, there were convenience stores, shops and eateries to service people.