Phase 1

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Following his first year in office, Mayor Friday Ellis announced the kick-off of the Downtown Monroe Strategic Plan with the goal to revitalize and capitalize on Monroe’s assets. This Strategic Plan intends to identify specific initiatives designed to increase downtown livability, encourage private sector investment and job creation, spur public interactions that contribute to a unified vision and become a catalyst for the continued growth for many years to come.
Since August 2021, Campo Architects has worked with the City to listen and collaborate with the community and its stakeholders in the development of a shared vision for the future of Monroe. The Strategic Plan is divided into 3 phases: Phase 1 – Inventory & Assessment, Phase 2 – Community Engagement, and Phase 3 – Implementation.

“Part of ULM’s strategic plan is to develop and strengthen our identity as a family and a close-knit community. To truly embrace and maximize our mission, we know that we must collaborate with the City of Monroe and our greater Northeast Louisiana region. Mayor Friday has been quoted as saying, ‘we are not a town with a college, but we are a college town.’ He’s right! Monroe is a college town. We want to serve the community of Monroe and beyond, because we know that Monroe offers a reciprocal relationship. We believe this study will set us up to be more impactful than we knew possible. The quality of life for our faculty, staff, and students will be greatly enhanced by downtown development.”

“I think the study is extremely important because it helps the current businesses and future businesses, including the City, to know what the people want and how to accommodate the public better. It’ll draw more people and new businesses downtown, and in return keep us small businesses around for a much longer period of time. That in itself will help the City generate more sales tax dollars. This study also shows that the City genuinely cares.”

“For too long we’ve overlooked downtown. It’s right off the river and is prime real estate for economic development. In the past it was the main thoroughfare of getting things in and out of the City. The importance of that still stands true to this day. History has shown us that when we let downtown die, our community started to die. Since we started pumping business and activity back into downtown, it has allowed other areas of the City to see growth as well. Downtown is a very crucial and vital organ that powers the growth of our entire community.”

“This downtown study highlights what makes a downtown special: great dining, shopping, arts and culture, and recreation. We had the opportunity the night of the Gallery Crawl to go downtown and experience a vibrant atmosphere with people walking from gallery to gallery, coffee shops, bars and restaurants full of patrons. There is excitement in the area. The plans on both banks of the river highlight the emphasis of development on our most precious resource. The recreational opportunities are unbounded. We are just beginning the intentional development of an area where citizens from north, south, east, and west can come and enjoy our downtown areas.”

“The redevelopment [of downtown] will help keep students here over the weekend and their semester breaks, since it will be providing them with more attractions, stores, and shops. Also, it can provide them with a reason to stay after graduation and help build on some of the small businesses that are downtown.”

Phase 1

The Downtown Strategic Plan will be conducted in three phases. Phase 1 was completed at the close of 2021, and the initial findings and supporting information are published below.

Desiard Street has a repetitive vacancy that interrupts the public’s willingness to linger. The active storefronts that attract visitors are regularly clustered at the North end and become more sparse moving towards the Ouachita River. Other storefronts may appear vacant to a passerby due to poor facade treatment, lack of sidewalk programming, and lighting.

Discontinuity in activity leads to limited pedestrian travel. Pedestrians, especially tourists, may find a lack of curiosity to continue exploring and may question their safety because of the lack of others on the street. The breaks seen in the rhythmic gold and black line (pedestrian route) following Desiard St. is representative of a visitor’s walking experience.

Highly trafficked intersections of vehicles and regional trains can cause a safety concern and disruption of pedestrian-oriented experience or avoidance altogether by someone commuting on bike.

Bus Stop While Monroe offers public transit into downtown, the abundant amount of parking (often free parking) distracts from the possible pedestrian, biking, or public transit commute.

Phase 1 Activities

#oneroe

These are the latest statistics regarding the development of Downtown Monroe. These analytics are updated on a weekly basis.
LAST UPDATED: 11/15/21

Industry of Employment

Top 3 Industries:

Healthcare
Education
Business

Distance of Residence from Downtown

Top 3 Categories:

5 miles or more
3 miles
within 1 mile

Frequency of Downtown VIsitation

Top 5 Categories:

Weekly
Monthly
Everyday
Yearly
Never

Strength of Downtown

Ordered from highest to lowest:

The people
Affordability/Cost of Living
Sense of community
Density
Education
Culture/arts
Diversity
Opportunities
Inclusion
Safety

Recommendations for Downtown Improvements

Top 3 Categories:

More restaurants / bars / coffee shops
More family friendly activities
More cultural attractions

Cultural Features of Monroe

Top 3 Features:

Riverfront
Special Events / Festivals
Landmarks / Historic Sites

how participants heard of this survey

Top 3 Categories:

Social Media
Poster / Coaster
Word of Mouth

Age of Participants

Under 21	2.34%
21-25	9.24%
26-35	27.09%
36-45	22.66%
46-55	17.36%
56-64	10.84%
65+	10.47%

Gender of Participants

Male	41.50%
Female	55.44%
Other	0.25%
Prefer not to answer	2.71%