QUINCY NEXT Strategic Plan Core Initiatives Executive Summary · QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives –...
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QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives – Executive Summary
QUINCY NEXT Strategic Plan Core Initiatives Executive Summary
Cities must continually adapt in order to survive and flourish. We can build a stronger tomorrow by promoting high-quality, forward-thinking, productive growth and development through investments in people and place. TOP INITIATIVES
Quincy is the kind of place where going the extra mile in everything is an everyday thing. Extra effort – extra caring some would say – can color your whole view of a place. Sometimes extra effort comes exactly when you need it most. For your family, your business, your education or maybe just for the perfect night on the town. It comes right on time. Or as we like to say in Quincy… right on Q. To us, being right on Q permeates every aspect of life in Quincy. It’s about hard, honest work. It’s about excellent schools. It’s about developing a highly skilled workforce. It’s about working to make our community a vibrant place to work, play and live.
•Train a Skilled Workforce
•Grow a Diversified Economy
•Foster Startups and Innovation
JOBS
•Encourage Infill Housing
•Plan for the Future of Retail
DEVELOPMENT
•Placemaking
•Access and Connections
•Hospitality District
PLACE
•Develop the Riverfront
•Build a Greenways System
RIVERFRONT & GREENWAYS
QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives – Executive Summary
1) Initiative: Train a Skilled Workforce
Summary: Support Quincy’s industrial/production economic base through workforce development
resources.
Benefits:
• This sector has traditionally been Quincy’s strength, and although the sector has shrunk
significantly, it is outperforming national averages.
• The industrial/production sector is changing rapidly with changing technologies, and a strong
workforce development infrastructure with the ability to train workers to adapt to these
changes will strongly position Quincy to attract more jobs in the sector.
• The sector is struggling to fill jobs, and needs the right hard and soft skills training to address
this challenge.
Implementation Recommendations:
• Continue and enhance financial and marketing support for workforce development initiatives
being administered by GREDF, Adams County, the State of Illinois, and other entities.
• Increase public and private funding and marketing support for GREDF to create a stable financial
base from which they can continue to engage in company attraction and retention activities.
• Continue investment into the Mid America Port development.
• Work with QU and JWCC to expand internship and apprenticeship programs in the
industrial/production sector, including for management jobs.
• Focus on growing programs around workforce readiness skills, particularly for grade school
students and for disadvantaged demographics.
Key Players: GREDF, JWCC, QU, QPS, Business Community
QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives – Executive Summary
2) Initiative: Grow a Diversified Economy
Summary: Support growing industry sectors such as healthcare, tourism, hospitality, and the arts in
order to capitalize on national trends and diversify Quincy’s economy.
Benefits:
• The majority of new jobs added in Quincy over the past 30 years have been in healthcare and
professional services. These are also among the fastest-growing sectors nationally.
• A diversified economy is more resilient to changes in market forces that affect specific
industries.
• Visitors to Adams County spent over $100 million in 2014, and the arts and culture institutions
in the region had an economic impact of over $15 million. The two sectors support over 2,000
jobs, which would make them one the largest employers in the region.
Implementation Recommendations:
• Grow training programs at JWCC and QU for healthcare occupations.
• Grow and formalize programs aimed at helping new professionals and their families get
connected with Quincy, in order to increase attraction and retention of needed trained
professionals.
• Increase funding for tourism marketing and for resources for tourists (i.e. information kiosks and
wayfinding signage), potentially through hotel/motel tax revenues.
• Conduct an Arts Plan to coordinate efforts of different parts of the community around this
growing sector.
Key Players: Chamber of Commerce, Arts Quincy, GREDF, CVB, Healthcare Employers, OLC, Arts
Institutions
QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives – Executive Summary
3) Initiative: Foster Startups and Innovation
Summary: Enhance and diversify resources for small business and start-ups to attract and train
entrepreneurs and to grow an innovative, diverse, and adaptive economy.
Benefits:
• Approximately one-third of new jobs created annually in the U.S. are from startup companies.
• Entrepreneurs are looking to locate in places that are dynamic, vibrant, offer good resources
and internet connectivity, and have a high quality of life. Quincy can offer all of these things at
an affordable price.
• A city known for supporting and encouraging entrepreneurship can retain recent graduates from
local higher education institutions and attract future students to those institutions.
Implementation Recommendations:
• Develop an incubator and co-working space for start-up companies.
• Establish a grant program to attract start-up companies to locate in Quincy (modeled on St.
Louis’ Arch Grants).
• Provide mentorship connections for entrepreneurs with local Quincy business executives.
• Enhance entrepreneurship and STEM skills training, particularly in grade school and higher
education institutions.
Key Players: GREDF, Mayor’s Office, Business Community, Quincy Business and Technology Center,
Lending Community, Adams Network, JWCC, Quincy University
QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives – Executive Summary
4) Initiative: Encourage Infill Housing
Summary: Take steps to encourage the development of infill housing citywide, with a focus on dense
development, preservation of historic buildings, and a mix of uses.
Benefits:
• Denser development yields higher property values.
• Denser development reduces the cost of extending city services and utilities.
• Increased interest among professionals, particularly young professionals, to live in dense,
walkable environments with historic character.
• Historic architecture in a city is a valuable asset in attracting tourists and residents.
Implementation Recommendations:
• Establish Revolving Loan Fund for infill development, with a focus on existing historic districts
around Downtown (modeled on Downtown Residential Rehab Program).
• Implement local tax credit for historic rehabilitation, and continue to work with state
representatives to get state historic tax credits extended to Quincy.
• Institute a tax abatement for infill development in existing neighborhoods.
Key Players: The District, Northwest and Southwest neighborhood leaders, Preservation Commission,
Quincy Preserves, Developer community
QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives – Executive Summary
5) Initiative: Plan for Future of Retail
Summary: Provide support with retail development in Downtown, on par with support provided to
Quincy Mall and Prairie Crossing, by leveraging changing preferences in retail spending.
Benefits:
• There is an increased interest nationally in shopping local and supporting small businesses.
• Ten percent of all retail expenditures in Quincy occur Downtown, more than at the Mall or at
Prairie Crossing.
• People are spending more money on experiences, such as dining out, and a significant
proportion of that money is spent by visitors to the community.
• The more unique retail options that exist and the more dynamic the environment, the more
attractive the city will be to visitors and new residents.
Implementation Recommendations:
• Establish Downtown retail tax rebate program that would provide grants for developing retail
businesses in existing buildings Downtown and for investing in streetscaping and placemaking in
Downtown (modeled on retail rebate to Quincy Mall and I-72 interchange).
• Establish a food and beverage tax citywide to raise funds for the implementation of Strategic
Plan initiatives.
Key Players: City Council, Downtown merchants/retailers
QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives – Executive Summary
6) Initiative: Placemaking
Summary: Make investments in streetscaping and more comfortable street crossings to improve
walkability.
Benefits:
• Increased interest among professionals, particularly young professionals, to live in walkable
environments.
• Visitors will stay longer and spend more money in an environment that is more dynamic and
inviting.
Implementation Recommendations:
• Identify priority streets for streetscaping investments
• Utilize Downtown retail tax rebate (see #9 below) to invest in streetscaping in Downtown
Key Players: The District, Planning Department, City Council, IDOT
QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives – Executive Summary
7) Initiative: Access and Connections
Summary: Implement districting and wayfinding to create better connections between different areas of
Downtown and to the rest of the city.
Benefits:
• Visitors will stay longer and spend more money in an environment that is easy to navigate.
• Making it easier to walk to amenities and activities decreases demand for parking and increases
physical activity.
Implementation Recommendations:
• Implement a wayfinding strategy along the Riverfront, in Downtown, and in other key visitor
areas that emphasizes major attractions, amenities, and parking facilities.
• Evaluate conversion of one-way streets to two-way streets to ease navigation.
• Create districts in Downtown and other key areas of the city.
• Develop gateway signage at major entrances to the city.
Key Players: The District, Planning Department, City Council, IDOT
QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives – Executive Summary
8) Initiative: Hospitality District
Summary: Make investments in streetscaping and walkability in the area around the OLC and
Downtown hotels and in its connection to the Downtown core.
Benefits:
• Business travelers are biggest share of hotel market, and represent a large potential spending
pool if provided with easy and clear access to dining and entertainment options.
• Conventions and conferences often look not only for the best meeting space, but also for an
appealing place for attendees to experience outside the conference events. OLC struggles to
compete with peer cities on space, but its competitive advantage can be on place.
Implementation Recommendations:
• Invest a portion of the hotel/motel tax into streetscaping around the OLC and along 3rd and 4th
streets connecting to Downtown core.
• Enhance wayfinding signage around the OLC.
• Conduct a convention center study to help the OLC best position itself to attract events that will
utilize the space most productively.
Key Players: OLC, IDOT, Civic organizations (i.e. GREDF, The District, CVB, Chamber of Commerce)
QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives – Executive Summary
9) Initiative: Develop the Riverfront
Summary: Raise funds via a citywide sales tax and private contributions to invest in residential, retail,
and recreational development along the Riverfront.
Benefits:
• The riverfront is one of Quincy’s greatest amenities and attractions for residents and visitors.
• Development of the Riverfront was consistently rated by the public and Strategic Plan task
forces as a top priority outcome of the Strategic Plan.
• Approximately 40% of retail expenditures in Quincy are made by visitors, and therefore only
60% of the investment in this initiative would fall on Quincy residents.
Implementation Recommendations:
• Conduct a Riverfront Master Plan in order to formulate an appropriately-scaled, comprehensive
strategy for developing the Riverfront area.
• Explore short, mid, and long-term projects for the Riverfront in order to maintain momentum in
its development.
• Raise a 0.5% sales tax for Riverfront and Greenway development [see below as well].
• Work with business community for assistance in promotion and funding.
Key Players: Quincy Park District, Riverfront Development Committee, Institutional and Business
Community, City Council, Riverfront Property and Business Owners
QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives – Executive Summary
10) Initiative: Build Out Quincy’s Greenway System
Summary: Raise funds via a citywide sales tax and private contributions to invest in a regional greenway
system.
Benefits:
• A multimodal (bike and ped) greenway system will encourage active lifestyles among residents
and provide visitors with alternative options for exploring the city.
• There is increased interest among professionals, particularly young professionals, for
multimodal transportation options.
• Respondents to the Strategic Plan Public Survey and the Quincy Parks Department public survey
indicated high support for greenway development, as well as support for raising taxes to pay for
their development.
• Approximately 40% of retail expenditures in Quincy are made by visitors, and therefore only
60% of the investment in this initiative would fall on Quincy residents.
Implementation Recommendations:
• Re-evaluate Quincy Greenway and Trail Plan to explore options for better connections to all
parts of the city, with a priority on getting people to places rather than just providing a
recreational amenity.,
• Raise a 0.5% sales tax for Riverfront and Greenway development [see above too].
• Work with business community for assistance in promotion and funding.
Key Players: Quincy Park District, Institutional and Business Community, Friends of the Trail, City Council
QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives – Executive Summary
QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives – Executive Summary
QUINCY NEXT Core Initiatives – Executive Summary
How do we make it happen?
Put people first. Learn from the past. Focus on the future and innovation.
Citizen Champions
Identify leaders to promote different initiatives and projects, and citizens who want to be a part of the
implementation process. Find out what motivates people and help them get involved.
City Leadership
Demonstrate the commitment of the city and other public entities to the Plan through promotion, policy
changes, and specific plans of action. Public investment attracts private investment.
Civic Partners
Engage Quincy’s major businesses and institutions as champions and investors in Plan initiatives that
align with their missions and values. They are critical implementers, as well as major beneficiaries of a
more dynamic and attractive city.
Community Pride
Market Quincy’s assets and plans to current and prospective residents, workers, and visitors. People
want to be in a city that is working to make itself great.
We need to FLIP the SCRIPT and BET on OURSELVES for Quincy’s NEXT.