Columbus, Georgia

Dothan Eagle article





Georgia city offers ideas on downtown renewal Peggy Ussery Eagle Staff Writer

Friday, January 7, 2005



> COLUMBUS, Ga. - It wasn't a musical performance that caused the

visitors from Dothan to gasp. It was the theater itself.



Columbus' RiverCenter for the Performing Arts features three theaters

- one of which is home to the largest pipe organ in the United

States.Permeating with touches of modern art, the RiverCenter shows the Georgia

city's determination to breathe life and culture back into its downtown.



"We can't copy Columbus," Dothan City Commissioner Pat Thomas

commented after leaving the RiverCenter. "But this is step one of a vision

process."



Earlier this week, a group of Dothan leaders found inspiration in the streets

of Columbus.



The group traveled to Georgia to see how Columbus took a declining

downtown and transformed it into a center for cultural arts combined

with a thriving convention business.



The group - three city commissioners, the mayor, the city manager,

city employees, and the executive director of the Dothan Area

Convention and Visitors Bureau - took a tour of Columbus' downtown

historic district, viewing landmarks such as the RiverCenter, the

Columbus Convention and Trade Center, the Springer Opera House and the

Coca-Cola Space Science Center. They also toured facilities such as soccer and

softball complexes.



All along they asked questions, but one in particular kept coming up - How did

Columbus do it?



In a nutshell, the answer was money and a lot of community support.

"What I see more than anything is Dothan needs to concentrate on

creating a vision and selling that vision," Dothan City Manager Mike West said.



The tide began to turn for downtown Columbus in the early 1990s when a small

group of city leaders came together and took a simple bus tour of their own

city. "They just really took a good look at Columbus," said Isaiah Hugley,

Columbus' interim city manager. "And they came back together and said we can do

better than this."



After 10 public forums around the city to get input from residents,

they came up with $169 million in improvements to enhance the city's

quality of life. In 1993, more than 80 percent of Columbus voters

supported a 1-cent special local option sales tax to fund the

improvements - including $36 million on a new civic center; $50

million on recreation and community centers; $18 million on a new

public safety complex; and $65 million on a 16-mile river walk.



The penny tax expired once the money was collected. And when it did in 1999,

Columbus voters supported yet another penny tax, this time to fund $255 million

in projects. Those projects include a new $50-million library; eight new fire

stations and $18 million in public safety equipment; $2 million to go toward an

animal shelter; $4 million to upgrade the city's 36-hole golf course; $7

million to renovate the city's Liberty District; and $13 million for

street-scaping. Sales tax money was also used for a feasibility study on

building a marina and to leverage state and federal money for road and bridge

improvements.



And in unique public-private partnerships, $86 million was raised by

the community and matched by private corporations to invest in the

city's cultural arts facilities. Money was also raised to build three

parking garages in downtown Columbus.



"I never imagined 20 years ago that we would need a parking garage,"

Hugley said.



One thing Columbus has done that Dothan officials said is needed

locally is taking advantage of outside funding such as the rails to

trails program or federal money to refurbish dilapidated homes.

Columbus also uses inmate labor for garbage collection and even

janitorial work, saving the city $12 million a year.



But, Hugley said, Columbus - a consolidated city and county government - is

struggling to keep up with sustaining the increase in operations that has come

with all the additions.



While the city, he said, enhanced facilities it didn't hire additional people.



"I'm impressed with their operations, how everyone seems to work well

together," Dothan Mayor Chester Sowell said. "I'm not sure Dothan can

support what we've seen. I think what we can do is take back a better

usage of the facilities we have."



And while nobody is specifically talking about a new tax, those who

went on the Columbus trip said they definitely liked what they saw.

"Just to get a snapshot of what a city like Columbus is doing is

refreshing," Dothan Commissioner Jason Rudd said. "It's a good

brain-storming time for us? We want to learn from others, learn from

their mistakes and their rewards."



Commissioner Amos Newsome said he thinks Dothan has the potential to

move forward the way Columbus did. But, he said, it will involve going to

community residents and finding out what they want.



Thomas said the Columbus trip showed him that if there is community

support, a city can change its colors. The commissioner said the trip

was one of the most beneficial he has been on, especially learning the nuts and

bolts of how Columbus financed their improvements.



"Columbus clearly decided what they wanted to be," Thomas said. "What

I get out of this is I want to go home and find out what Dothan wants

to be."



Eagle Staff Writer Peggy Ussery can be reached at

aussery@dothaneagle.com or 712-7963.