But Meyer said she thinks downtown Dayton can pull through this stronger than ever, with bold and creative ideas, actions and collaborations.
“I can tell, from the people who I have met with, the amount of momentum, the amount of passion and care that this community has for downtown,” she said. “And so if everybody is rowing in the same direction, toward a common vision ... I see great, great things ahead.”
Meyer, 39, took over as executive director of the Downtown Dayton Partnership on Sept. 5, replacing Sandy Gudorf, who retired after leading the nonprofit organization for more than 16 years.
Meyer said she has spent a lot of time with Gudorf in the last couple of weeks learning the ropes. She said downtown and the partnership are in good shape because of her predecessor.
“I am inheriting, for a lack of a better term, a very well-run organization and it is critical that I maintain that and continue to grow the budget and the investment in downtown,” she said, adding that she believes she has a strong and dedicated team.
Meyer has significant experience leading downtown revitalization efforts. For about nine years, she was in charge of Renaissance Covington, a group that focused on revitalizing the historic downtown of Covington, Kentucky, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.
Meyer most recently worked at UniCity, altafiber’s smart city division that’s based out of Dayton.
Dan Meixner, president of Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School and co-chair of the Downtown Dayton Partnership, has said the nonprofit’s search committee and the people Meyer met during the interview process were very impressed by her experience, energy, connections to the region and commitment to the urban experience.
Meixner told this newspaper, “From my interactions with her in the two weeks she has been on the job, she is thoughtful, inquisitive, appreciative of the progress made by the partnership and the staff and ready to help accelerate the momentum of the past decade.”
Meyer said she loves Dayton’s grit, authenticity and lack of pretentiousness, and she thinks of downtown as the beating heart of the city.
But downtown Dayton, like many urban centers across the nation, faces some challenges that could make the next several years particularly consequential.
One major area of concern is the shift to remote work that happened during the pandemic and continued since for many companies, leading downtown employers, both large and small, to downsize their office spaces.
Downtown already had some large office towers that were empty or nearly empty, but COVID resulted in additional buildings being hollowed out, including some that were newer additions to Dayton’s skyline.
Before retiring, Gudorf told this newspaper that she believed downtown’s biggest challenge is figuring out what to do with its glut of office space.
New strategies and creative thinking will be needed to promote downtown and figure out how to reuse and fill these office spaces and properties, Meyer said.
Trying new things will be important, because what worked in the past probably will not work now and moving forward, given how much the world has changed, she said.
The good news is that many people continue to love and be drawn to downtown because of the experiences and economic opportunities it provides and their strong emotional and personal connections to the urban center and the fond memories they have of it, she said.
The partnership’s success depends on collaborating with downtown’s many stakeholders to create and work towards a shared vision of a vibrant urban environment where people want to be, Meyer said.
Sometime in the not-too-distant future, the partnership will help create a new, 10-year vision for downtown, which essentially is a next version of the Greater Downtown Dayton Plan, she said.
Unveiled in 2010, the Greater Dayton Downtown Plan has been widely credited with helping turn around the urban core, which had been struggling. Many people had thought it was in grave danger of seeing further decline.
The plan was a blueprint for revitalization that contained many transformative ideas that have become a reality.
More than $2 billion has been invested in downtown since the launch of the plan, and there’s a lot of investment still in the pipeline.
In addition to this work, Meyer said another high priority is the ongoing effort to reactivate and reinvent Courthouse Square. The square was an activity center and important urban renewal project decades ago, but it’s become tired and seldom-used. Many people want to see it refreshed to once again become a celebrated public space.
More immediately, the partnership and Meyer need to prepare for the Dayton Holiday Festival, which is a major event that last year was marred by someone firing a gunshot into the air. This led to panic and a chaotic scene, and it will be important to make people feel safe returning to the family-friendly event this year.
The partnership also will be laser-focused on promoting downtown retail and shopping for upcoming the holiday season, because that time of year can help make or break local businesses.
Gudorf, whose last day with the partnership was Sept. 15, said a big part of her job was meeting regularly with downtown stakeholders to listen to their concerns, challenges, hopes and dreams.
She said she believes the partnership’s new leader, in cooperation with the downtown community members, can find creative ways to move downtown forward.
Meyer told this newspaper, “It’s not lost on me how important this role is. I have so much gratitude for the opportunity to be in it. My goal is to be the best ambassador for downtown and to build on the legacy of Sandy Gudorf and the work she and the community have done.”
She added, “I am not coming in with any sense of, ‘It’s broke, let’s fix it.’ It’s more like, how do we adapt and how do we build momentum?”
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