Violet's View

Walkability means more than sidewalks.

Today is a personal holiday for me - which I am celebrating by working late tonight.  I had the privilege of officially starting as Waukegan Main Street's Executive Director on May 10th, 2010 and I'm so thankful to the the Board of Directors that gave me this amazing opportunity. One part of the job I didn't expect was getting interviewed for student projects, and yesterday I had to answer: 1.  who are you? 2. what do you do to help waukegan? how do you do it? Here was my attempt at an answer: My name is Violet Ricker and I work for Waukegan Main Street, the community and economic development non-profit organization working to bring more people and more businesses to downtown Waukegan.  I have been very honored to serve as Executive Director for two years and am proud to be a lifelong Waukeganite – I also live downtown now and walk to work every day. Our organization is part of a national network of Main Street communities, and we follow a proven approach to economic development through historic preservation. I work with our Board of Directors and four committees (all volunteers) to follow the 4 points, listed on our website here:  http://waukeganmainstreet.org/index.php/about-wms I believe that I help Waukegan by working with other community organizations, our members, and our volunteers to actively promote all of the exciting new things coming to downtown Waukegan and highlighting our history with events designed to invite people to experience what downtown Waukegan is really about.  I also get to do the same thing with developers and business owners and give them tours of downtown to show them why downtown Waukegan is a great place to have a business. The real purpose of economic development is to improve the quality of life for people in a community, which means growing income and creating wealth, which increases buying power and tax revenue.  The more money a community has, the higher the quality of services and amenities it can provide for its residents. My dad started his own business 20 years ago in Waukegan, and still runs it here today.  My mom is a teacher at the College of Lake County and at Waukegan High School.  Every day I think about both of them and all the families in Waukegan who will benefit from real, sustained economic development in Waukegan; they need better processes and more support from the City to grow their businesses, more tax dollars to support the schools and have fewer students in each class so they all get the quality of education that teachers would like to be giving them, drivers who want better roads and parents who want more parks for their kids to play in, people who want to buy houses, bicyclists who want safe public transit options, artists who want their community to be marketed as an arts destination, and my friends who want to be proud to tell people where they live.  There is so much we can do in this city to improve the quality of life for everyone who lives here, and I am very grateful for the chance to be a part of that and to always remind people that Waukegan is a great place to live, work, and play. We are able to do this through the generous support of our donors and members and a great partnership with the City of Waukegan.  We write a work plan every year and choose the projects we’d like to make happen, and I work like crazy to get them done.  I’ve learned a tremendous amount about economic development, business growth, developer recruitment and historic preservation  - but the most inspiring thing I’ve learned is how hard people are working to make Waukegan even stronger than it is now.  The small business owners and property owners in this community are the backbone of our economy, and they’ve all been wonderful teachers in helping me to actively work to bring more people and more businesses to downtown Waukegan.  (Apologies for the formatting, this originally had paragraphs but this probably makes more sense written this way to people who have heard how quickly I talk.)  The long and short of it is, this job is challenging and intense and has been an incredible learning experience for me.  I really am thankful for the opportunity to work with so many people dedicated to improving the quality of life in my hometown, and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Author, planner, sociologist, and all-around cool person Jane Jacobs would have been 96 years old today, and there are some great articles out there acknowledging her contributions to the world of neighborhood development.  Pick up a copy of her most famous book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, at the library!  Here's an article about urbanism and Jacobs' significant contributions to the field:  http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/robert-steuteville/17963/what-urbanists-learned-jacobs. We can all learn a lot from her philosophies on the importance of place, and how to make Waukegan an even better place to live.

This week I'm really excited to be taking another course with the professionals from the International Economic Development Council.  Not only do I get to learn the best practices and new trends in the economic development world, but I have great opportunities to network with local government and non-profit officials from across the country and discuss what's working in other cities.  Looking forward to coming back to Waukegan Friday night with lots of ideas!

Are you coming to ArtWauk Saturday?  This month's events will feature some incredibly talented artists in our downtown galleries and musicians at our restaurants, as well as three amazing movies as part of the Latino Film Festival at the Genesee Theatre.  Come down Saturday, April 21st from 5pm - 10pm and check it out!

Award-winning placemaker comes to First Baptist Church in downtown Waukegan!

When I started this job, I used to get this look from people when I explained that I worked for Waukegan's downtown development non-profit.  It was sort of a smile and sort of a sigh, and they'd always wish me luck and tell me how much potential downtown had.  It's been an exhilarating and exhausting two years working with our phenomenal volunteers, committed business owners, and dedicated City staff who are all changing the perception of our neighborhood and showing people that downtown Waukegan is a great place to live, work, shop, dine and spend time with friends.  I'm convinced that Waukegan is already amazing and I don't want us to negate the now by just promoting the future. This year I got a tattoo at Dinosaur Studio, made a stained glass project with my dad at Rainy Day Glass Studio, bought a painting at Dandelion Gallery, played guitar at open mic night at Green Town Tavern, got shirts printed at Lake Surf Designs, ordered flowers at Pierce Florist, bought my mom a present at Little Fort Media, listened to live music at Joplin's Java, Jerry's Tacos, Big Ed's, and Burgundy Room, danced at La Opera, saw some incredible shows at the Genesee Theatre and Clockwise Theatre, and a ton of other crazy awesome things.  Main Street put on some fantastic events and we're hard at work behind the scenes to bring some really cool new projects to downtown. I had a really great year, and I can't even wait for 2012.  We've got some great plans and we need your help!  Whether you can give a gift of your time or your money or just your voice in helping us promote what's happening in downtown Waukegan, we need you.  Thanks for all you've done to support our mission this year, and I'm looking forward to the best year we've ever had in 2012.

Waukegan Main Street is proud to announce that one of our new 2012 work plan initiatives includes the formation of a committee on sustainability and green projects.  For more information on our whole plan, click "Get Involved" and "Committees" above.  Do you have an idea that would make downtown Waukegan more sustainable and environmentally friendly?  Here's a link to what other urban downtowns have done recently:  http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/main-street-now/2011/may-june/ We'd love to have you on our committee!  Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more info and details on our first meeting in January.

Have you been down Washington Street between Genesee and West lately?  There are 3 very cool projects happening right now.  The biggest is the Karcher Artspace Lofts project, which is officially underway!  If you've been following Main Street updates, you know that this renovation project is going to bring 36 artists and their families to downtown Waukegan next year and I can't wait to have them as neighbors.  Another project is happening at 217 Washington Street, next to Burgundy Room.  The old facade has been torn off the building to reveal and even older facade - with beautiful iron work!  Stop by and check it out.  And of course, the Waukegan Building at the corner of Genesee and Washington - this historic downtown office building is undergoing exterior repairs and we look forward to more progress.  Thanks to all of the construction workers doing these great projects to improve our buildings on Washington Street!

Welcome to our newest business member of Waukegan Main Street, Federal Supply!  Located at 116 Washington Street, Federal Supply is an impressive source of high quality restaurant equipment and food service equipment.  They're open to the public and have some really cool kitchen appliances you can use in your own home.  Stop by tomorrow for their 80th anniversary celebration with ribbon cutting ceremony at 3pm, or check out their online catalog at federalsupply.com.   Thank you to the whole team at Federal Supply for all you do for downtown Waukegan!  We are proud to have you as a partner.

If you've been down Genesee Street lately, you've seen how festive everything is looking!  A huge thank you to the amazing team of volunteers and especially Kris, Jane, Chris, Jen, Aimee, and friends who have been stringing lights, decorating storefront windows, and filling our planters with winter greenery.  They've done an amazing job and Waukegan Main Street is extremely grateful for all of the time and effort they have put into decorating the neighborhood.  And another round of thank yous to all of our downtown business owners who have put beautiful displays in the windows, and to the Public Works Department who put up the wreaths on our light poles today!  Everything is looking beautiful just in time for HolidayWauk on Saturday and I have never been so grateful to have such caring Waukeganites doing so much for downtown Waukegan.  Thank you!

My dad and I are taking a stained glass class at Rainy Day Glass Studio and I LOVE IT!  You've got to check them out at 108 S. Genesee Street.  You can also see the project I'm working on, and sign up for a class to make your own.  I'll be there at ArtWauk tomorrow trying to finish it up!

This morning I went to a forum on financing sponsored by Lake County Partners, our county economic development organization.  There are so many good people who really get it - working in and for Waukegan - toward the goals of creating jobs, supporting existing businesses, broadening the tax base, and improving the overall quality of life for all of our residents.  It's an honor to work with these professionals and I'm looking forward to updating all of you on our plans for downtown.  2012 is going to be an amazing year.   One piece of the strategic plan we're developing for downtown includes promoting the new urbanist aspects of Waukegan.  New Urbanism is the movement in planning and community development that recognizes the value of walkable neighborhoods - something we've already got going where I live.  I'm taking a course in how to develop this further, including building more mixed-used developments, creating public spaces, building green, supporting historic preservation, working with market demand and developer interests, as well as how we can most effectively market our successes.  I'd love to talk more about this if you're interested!  Feel free to email me anytime at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Did you see today's News Sun article about the mural on La Opera?  Check it out here:  http://newssun.suntimes.com/8691509-417/community-input-sought-in-waukegan-name-that-mural-contest.html If you've got an idea for the marquee line, post it here!

Have you been to Clockwise Theatre yet?  I've seen all of their plays and loved every one one of them.  It's absolutely amazing what the Clockwise family has been able to do with the huge space next to the Genesee Theatre that used to be the old Main Street office.  I had no idea how much I could appreciate theater and the impact it has on us until Clockwise came to my neighborhood.  Through moving performances of beautifully written plays, Madelyn & Rebecca's team have made me even more proud to live in the Waukegan Arts District.  Our winter ArtWauks are going to focus on the performing arts, and there's no better place to kick it off than Clockwise Theatre.  On November 19th you'll get to see free performances of the hilarious and clever humor from the Highly Improvables, meet the actors, tour the theater, and hear play-readings - all for free!  We've got a lot of cool things happening in downtown Waukegan, but one that's unique here is how accessible we make the arts.  ArtWauks are FREE!  Galleries, restaurants and bars with live music, and now theatres, are open to the public so EVERYONE can experience the arts.  So check out Clockwise - next week for the closing weekend of "The Long Awaited," or November 19th during ArtWauk or December 3rd during HolidayWauk.  More info at clockwisetheatre.org

We've got some huge equipment in downtown today working on demolishing the vacant News Sun Building on Sheridan Road.  Check out their progress when you're in the neighborhood today, and then take a survey on what you'd like to see the College of Lake County put there next!  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NWJMB7F

This week I'm in Galesburg with our Board President Mary Clare and we're learning all kinds of new things at the Illinois Main Street conference.  We've heard some great ideas about historic preservation, volunteer recruitment, business retention and economic development.  Check out the new IMS website to follow what we're doing and to get more involved!  http://www2.illinois.gov/dceo/mainstreet/Pages/default.aspx

If you come downtown right now you'll find Jack Benny plaza covered with zombies!  Tonight's films at the Genesee Theatre include indie film Dead, followed by Night of the Living Dead - starting at 7pm.  Tickets are only $6 for adults and $3 for seniors, kids and military.  More info on tonight's events at: http://www.waukeganweb.net/zombiewauk.html

Culture shock.  This morning I had to drive to class.  DRIVE.  On a highway.  And there was traffic.  I am way too used to walking one block to work in the morning and I absolutely can't wrap my head around how or why so many people do this everyday.  And I miss Joplin's Java.   Can't wait to be back to where I can walk to everything!

Greetings from another downtown!  This week I'm in Naperville for the 43rd Annual Accredited Basic Economic Development Course sponsored by the IEDC (more info at IEDConline.org).   I'm meeting with other economic development professionals and staying up to date on trends in real estate finance & development, business retention & recruitment, marketing, surveying, neighborhood development and a lot more.  Looking forward to being back home on Thursday and putting all these great new ideas into practice!  Okay, back to the homework...