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A new look for downtown

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STANDING BYE
Thursday, April 29, 2010: 11:11 am
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If this will revive downtown,then go for it.We have a beautiful downtown Centerpiece in the Courthouse, but its sad to drive thru there at night and half the street lamps are working.Hope they included getting those to ALL WORK at one time. How about including illuminating the courthouse at night also???

Mrs. A
Thursday, April 29, 2010: 12:26 pm
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I would love to open up a shop on the square, but all the current vacancies are a major negative for a prospective small business.

Tomcatt68
Thursday, April 29, 2010: 1:24 pm
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Why put all this money into a town no one wants to come to? No one wants to visit Martinsville.

Artie Alum
Thursday, April 29, 2010: 1:39 pm
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Love the idea and hope that support is provided for this much needed revitalization effort!

be real
Thursday, April 29, 2010: 1:49 pm
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Fixing up alleys is a waste of money... its an alley!!!

downtown customer
Thursday, April 29, 2010: 5:13 pm
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The plan looks great on paper. Even the alley is beautiful.If all the empty buildings could be filled and not just with offices or antique stores. Every one does not have an interest in antiques.If people have to walk 2 blocks they need to have a beautiful alley to walk through.

lynn
Thursday, April 29, 2010: 5:20 pm
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LOVE IT!!!

The Voice
Thursday, April 29, 2010: 8:13 pm
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This is a wonderful idea! It reminds me of St.Charles, MO. A historical district that has revitalized even the alleys! They have tons of visitors who actually travel there to shop the antique and craft stores. I think its a wonderful idea. I do think that there are other areas that Martinsville needs to invest in, such as our police force.

Johnr602
Thursday, April 29, 2010: 11:47 pm
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I worked downtown for almost 40 years and remember a presentation made to the public in the basement of the Christian Church by architecture students and faculty from Ball State University. This work was probably completed in the 1970s or early 1980s and the results were almost identical to the current study. I recommend that someone contact the Architectural Department at Ball State to try and obtain the results of their Martinsville Downtown revitalization project.

NicJo80
Friday, April 30, 2010: 8:31 am
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�We have to figure out how someone will make money here,� Hart said.

I hate to jump on Tomcatt's bandwagon, but there is an issue much larger than prettying the place up. Martinsville is a bedroom community with a (mostly) undeserved, unfortunate reputation.

True revitalization is going to have to come from people driving through to and from Indy and Bloomington and spending their money. All those folks see is 67 and 37 and what runs between them. Nobody is going into downtown Martinsville for kicks.

If this endeavor is designed to make the residents of Martinsville feel better about their surroundings, then so be it, but if the goal is to drive people into town to spend, it's wasted money. The outskirts of town are going to have to be more appealing.

I say this as someone who doesn't live there, but travels quite a bit through, so I'm just giving my honest opinion as an outsider.

Danny Stewart
Wednesday, May 5, 2010: 8:42 pm
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Johnr602 said:
I worked downtown for almost 40 years and remember a presentation made to the public in the basement of the Christian Church by architecture students and faculty from Ball State University. This work was probably completed in the 1970s or early 1980s and the results were almost identical to the current study. I recommend that someone contact the Architectural Department at Ball State to try and obtain the results of their Martinsville Downtown revitalization project.

We tried to get a hold of those plans last year. Ball State no longer has them and the city never kept a copy because they were considered the property of Ball State because it was a student project.

11 comments found