Downtown Kalamazoo Questions

1. Write a short evaluation of Downtown Kalamazoo's business area using specific examples from Friday's observations.
Downtown Kalamazoo is effective for people who live in the surrounding area including college students, but not so great for visitors. The Kalamazoo Mall is a very pleasant shopping area and is easy to find if one is walking, but it would be very easy to drive right past it. It is a one way street with parallel parking on both sides which is helpful for the elderly or parents with small children. The traffic is sparse enough that pedestrians can safely cross at any point. The brick sidewalks were clean except for a few scattered leaves, but that is to be expected at this time of year. There are many planters with trees and colorful flowers alongside benches and tables with umbrellas. If parking is not available on the street there are many parking garages near by. The Mall is not far from K College's campus or Western's and has many restaurants and a few shops that would interest a college student. Overall, the Mall feels safe and welcoming.
The area around the Rave movie theater, one block away, is very different. The Rave sits on a corner, across from Pfizer's animal genetics complex, the courthouse and a lone shoe store. There is a large parking garage next door that seems to service the Mall. The Rave feels isolated and can seems a bit scary. I would not want to go there at night without a large group of people.

2. Give at least three recommendations to improve the downtown.
Fewer one way streets that can confuse visitors
More trash cans and benches on the streets that are not part of the Mall
More police presence

3. Select a brief passage from the article about Robert Gibbs or the reading from City by William Whyte and relate it to Kalamazoo's Downtown. Use specific observations from Kalamazoo to illustrate the point.
Food and the eating of it is Lexington's major activity and most of it takes place right on the street. Many of the shops have open counters: the fruit juice and pizza places, for example; the soft ice cream shop, which for good measure pushes the freezer out onto the sidewalk in fair weather. Some food shops have folding fronts; when they are folded back it is hard to tell where the sidewalk ends and the shop begins, a distinctions further blurred when the proprietors put out tables and chairs. (City, 86)
A Friday afternoon in November certainly is not peak hours for the Mall but I could imagine this happening on a warm summer evening. The tables and chairs the city have provided are perfect for carrying out food and people watching while you eat.
The Bootery is the one store that I noticed had a blurred entryway. There is a large covered area that is technically outside the store. The rectangle is surrounded on three sides by windows that showcase the various styles of boots the store has to offer. Window shopping in this area feels like actual shopping because of the roof overhead. I expect that the store displays tables full of shoes out here on nice, busy days.