One clarification to how a BID District is formed. It is not formed by a majority of property owners, but rather by the appraised value that the property owners represent. In other words a few can block or promote for the many. Not perfect, but it is probably as fair as it can be without setting up a complicated system.

Their focus should be bringing GM back.

I remember as a kid going downtown on saturdays shopping with my grandma it was fun shopping at Sears, Jupiters, Woolworths and the other stores downtown eating lunch at the Woolworths counter. It would be nice to do that again.

Forward Janesville. The eat, drink and be merry green machine!

Point of information: Janesville does not have a Chamber of Commerce. To be called such, a given group needs to submit a membership to the national Chamber organization and some years ago, it was decided not to join. Thus, Forward Janesville.

Let me see if I get this correct: They were a volunteer group who took the concerns of the downtown businesses to the City Council, correct or no ?

This volunteer group lost funding from the city ? What part is volunteer then and why do they need taxpayer funding ?

Is this group different from the Chamber of Commerce ? Is it different then Forward Janesville ? I guess what I am getting at is my core question here: Is the Chamber of Commerce splitting into splinter groups because they don't like or didn't get the votes they needed to fulfill their individual wants ? And if so, why should taxpayers fund them ?

"To isolate it as if Janesville's boundaries end at downtown and treat it as another community is offensive."

That is odd, I am not at all offended. They moved the downtown to Milton Avenue 35-50 years ago, that works for me. You might be surprised at how few care about the downtown remnants.

Maybe the majority of lawyers and other office dwellers could kick in a dollar or two! Nothing they do brings in daily support for retail.
The downtown looks bleak and drab from mere office frontage, which excites nobody.

Oreally, the downtown affects us all. To isolate it as if Janesville's boundaries end at downtown and treat it as another community is offensive.
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The most effective way to have proceeded would have been a Business Improvement District. It's really unfortunate that it was unable to get the support of a majority of property owners. I'm not sure what these property owners imagine is going to happen that will be better. But that would have been the only legal way for funding to come from the downtown itself, by itself.
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Now those interested in setting up a BID-like entity have to face the free rider problem -- those who do not contribute will also reap benefits. The downtown has already seen many people making private investments and many "haves" including foundations contributing to public efforts over the last decades, so it isn't as if they have been sitting on their hands, Hornet.

If the "haves" have money that isn't be taxed right now, why don't they look into an investment in the town with the money they're keeping? Don't many of us have great great grandfathers who donated part of their farm for a school, or a church, or even a cemetery? It's not always about collecting as much money as one can (for competition purposes). Sometimes it's about making a difference. Janesville needs a difference made. Even we "less than 'haves'" can contribute a little, then you/we'd have more to make a difference with--if not a lot.

Downtown is the most underdeveloped asset we have. I would rather put money into downtown than an ice rink.

"Everything we talk about is something we can't do because we don't have the money," Janesville resident Ed Pulliam said. "What are we gonna do about that?"

I think the people who live and work downtown as well as in the adjoining neighborhoods are the ones who are most likely to come up with a way to revitalize it. This project needs to be undertaken from the inside out, not the outside in.