So, is anyone ever going to do anything about Hart Plaza?

[EastsideAl]

The problem with keeping it as a festival site is the lack of festivals. This list can easily be boiled down to 4-5 events that make good use of Hart Plaza. The Hoedown and others moved out due to the cost of renting the site. Not certain what the solution is, but lots more events are necessary to justify it as a festival site.

But a big part of the reason for the lack of festivals is the state of the plaza, especially given what the city now charges for its use. Other than the central location, why would you have your festival there when you have to pay an arm and a leg for a space that looks like it's been barely maintained for 20 years and where basic facilities are lacking or in poor condition?

Hart Plaza was full of festivals for many years after it opened. Pretty much one every weekend during the warm weather months. Obviously one big reason for the decline in the number of festivals was the decline in everything around here, from the economy to the population, for many years. But another big reason was the city's ill-fated move to make the plaza 'profitable', by raising the rates for it use above those of other comparable venues, which chased away several of the remaining festivals and turned the place into a very unprofitable ad ill-maintained wasteland for much of the year. Instead of being an attraction to people and a center of activity and life for the city as it had originally functioned, it became a dead zone.

But now the city has moved past those bad times and there's all kinds of life sprouting up in and around downtown. That could include more festivals, more people, and more life right at the heart of the city [[as it does during Jazz Fest and Movement). But only if someone can get Hart Plaza back together again as a decent place to hold them.