FORT LAUDERDALE -- While attention is being focused on downtown redevelopment, areas bordering the city's core should not be ignored, participants in a special conference said on Saturday.
More than 80 members of the local business community, developers and residents attended the two-day brainstorming session called by city planners.
"This could be brought into a regional concept that could include the area of Sistrunk (Boulevard) and (Northwest) Seventh Avenue to Broward Boulevard," said City Commissioner Carlton Moore, who was joined in his plea that the bordering minority neighborhoods not be overlooked by others in the audience.
"There is a barrier in everybody's mind that revitalization stops at the railroad tracks adjacent to Andrews Avenue," Moore said.
Another idea that came up more than once was making downtown a better place for walking.
"There is a lot of interest in making sure new development and redevelopment in the core and in Progresso (north of downtown) be more pedestrian-sensitive to give a greater sense of place and humanity," said James Cloar, who with partner Cy Paumier have been hired as consultants to rewrite the city's outdated zoning laws.
Several people who attended the conference also said they wanted a mix of offices, stores and housing, especially around Riverwalk.
They also said they wanted much of the redevelopment to be linked to Riverwalk, a proposed $13.9 million project to beautify both banks of the New River from Federal Highway to Southwest Seventh Avenue.
"There has to be something that will make the people get out of their cars and walk," City Commissioner Shiela Harrigan said.
Harrigan also said the city might want to consider asking developers who want to come into the city what they can offer. "We might want to consider saying, 'If you want to develop, we want day care in that building,"' she said.
City Manager George L. Hanbury II said that he was pleased that so many people attended.
Consultants said the downtown bulges with offices but lacks housing, stores and night life , which would attract people and create a character.
"You can't really have a great city without a balance between living and working," Paumier said.
Buildings should be allowed to mix those uses, and the city should consider spending more money to improve the environment, Paumier said.
The downtown needs more useful, public open spaces and amenities like better sidewalks. Paumier said the walks are smack against the road, where walkers -- including him -- are mere feet from speeding cars and puddles.
"It's very uncomfortable to walk around here. The automobile is very dominant in this city," Paumier said.