Plans are underway to redevelop another area of midtown Omaha. The Park Avenue neighborhood has projects underway to better the area. The public is invited to attend an open meeting from 4:30 to 6:30 Thursday afternoon.

I was able to attend the first 2/3 of this session. The audience was primarily potential developers and investors, politicians, real estate persons, Destination Midtown (DM) boosters, and the local homeowners/renters - a large and energetic group, too.

The leaders of the session primarily highlighted the housing achievements and plans for the area which are apartments and condos. A mix of market-rate and affordable housing is being presented - which is good, because we need that mix.

Here are the opportunities for Park Ave - Leavenworth communities as presented by the session leaders and myself:

1. People need to acquire properties. At this session investors were offered the chance to see what the area might offer. Another approach is to form an organization in the area which can acquire property, such as a community development corporation (CDC). The CDC approach was first suggested back in 2003 when the DM plan was being developed, but nobody has followed through on this advice.

Further, the development project hopes to offer more commercial opportunities at Park/Woolworth, Park/Leavenworth, and St.Mary's/Leavenworth. It would be great if we could offer more rehabilitation assistance to owners of older commercial properties. This could invite new investment.

2. People need to see VISIBLE progress in the area prior to making their investment. True, but here the large project was emphasized by the session leaders.

Cities grow organically, bit-by-bit, property-by-property, and person-by-person. Small is beautiful, too. The artist studio, colorful planting, interesting business signage, clean and crisp property frontage, sandwich stand, cop walking the beat, historic marker, Arbor Day tree tour, and entrepreneur kickoff can all be VISIBLE.

Sometimes in Omaha we are looking too hard for the big magic bullet - one development - that will change the whole neighborhood. This only leaves room for the big developer, and the neighborhood guy receives little encouragement.

3. Park Avenue is a pedestrian area which needs better connections to downtown, the rest of Midtown, and the new Midtown Crossing.

First, we hope to see a streetcar line running on Farnam and/or Harney in the next three years. With the dense residential Park Ave. district only several blocks away from the line, the streetcar amenity would be a drawing card for local residents.

Secondly, the Midtown Crossing (MC) project offers an opportunity to develop a Midtown shuttle transportation option. MC is seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for its project. One recommendation from LEED for a mixed-use project like MC is to offer shuttle services to nearby large employers and local destinations. If this shuttle service could be extended a bit to the Park Ave. area, another transportation amenity is available. And, I hear that there will be a shuttle service between MC and the Med Center.

Finally, the City and bike/walk enthusiasts need to work together to provide good connections via Park, 31st, and Turner Blvd. from the district to MC.

4. How do we create a positive, unique image for the Park Avenue district?

At the meeting I visited briefly with a real estate agent who was working with the Jamison Condos - a rehab project in the district. He extolled the kitchen, bath, and flooring in the redone areas, and it sounded great, maybe I would want to reside there. Then, I asked him how he presented the Park Avenue area to his potential buyers. He said, "Now, that is our problem."

So, let's work on the problem. Session leaders emphasized the history and "grandeur' of the neighborhood - so, we must accent that.

When you walk out of that condo, you need something interesting to see, to walk to, to take care of your daily need for exercise, to meet an errand need, to complete one-day or two-day food needs. to be educated, and to meet your friends/co-workers.

The commercial corners mentioned above offer us an opportunity to create that "main street" feel. WE NEED MORE THAN JUST HOUSING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

The funny thing is that any attempt to fix a blighted neighborhood will generally be met with protests.

Try to figure out if any of the new residents doing owner-occupied renovations are gay yuppies. If so, you've just found yourself a potential gold mine.

Why would anyone want poverty and people living on the streets eating out of trash cans?

To clean up the neighborhood you need to grab up all the property's in the area, may require thugs to bully some of the older and stubborn people to sell there cheap properties.

Then use the thugs to evict all the poor, homeless and other undesirable types from the neighborhood.

Then your investment will pay off.

Wasn't that the plot to the movie "Romeo Must Die"?

Try to figure out if any of the new residents doing owner-occupied renovations are gay yuppies. If so, you've just found yourself a potential gold mine.