What does downtown Cedar Rapids need next?

You must remember this:

Downtowns, and really not all that long ago, were bustling, beehive-like centers with movie houses and live performance theaters — and often more than one! — restaurants, bars, even nightclubs, newsstands, small shops selling shoes or hats or flowers smack next to tall department stores rising up from their sidewalks, sandwiched by offices hosting all sorts of businesses.

And at all hours of daylight and well into the evening, people. People who worked there or shopped there or who sought out entertainment and the lights.

Cedar Rapids’s urban core still claims some of these positives. But a shifting economic landscape along with more than one flood in recent memory haven’t helped fill those now-empty spaces or populate those sidewalks. Or helped with property taxes.

What can we do? What should we do?

Well, let’s talk about that. On Tuesday, June 21, at 9 a.m., join me and Cedar Rapids reporter Marissa Payne as we convene of a panel of business and civic leaders who have thoughts on this very topic.

During “What’s Next: The Future of Downtown Cedar Rapids,” we will discuss lessons learned over the past two years and what’s in the works for downtown as population shifts, inflation and the economy continue to throw curves.

Panel participants will be:

You can submit questions and comment during our live conversation. The event will be free, but you will need to register at thegazette.com/business-breakfast.

Our entire 2022 Business Breakfast series is sponsored by BerganKDV, the business, financial and technology solutions company.

Join us, won’t you? It’s your downtown, too.

Community commitment

And right after our panel, on that very same site — https://business.thegazette.com — we’ll present the next installment of the “Gazette Spotlight on …” series of video interviews.

This next segment of “Spotlight on …” series will recognize businesses and organizations for their focus on community commitment.

Interviewed by Gazette reporters and me will be:

The Gazette’s 2022 “Spotlight on …” series is sponsored by TrueNorth Cos.