Renaissance Park needs a new marketing department
Today’s Word On The Street mentions the fact that three west bluff neighborhoods are not mentioned in marketing material for Renaissance Park. I noticed the same thing a few days ago while looking at the official web site, which is geared towards out of towners. In the “Urban Livingâ€? section, the surrounding neighborhoods who opted in are shown. Those that are not listed are the Arbor District, aka Bradley, and the two most stable neighborhoods in the area, Moss-Bradley, and The Uplands. “But we’re talking about a brochure that will highlight housing opportunities and hopefully attract outsiders to invest in Renaissance Park. You would think they would want to include the beautiful homes in the Arbor, Moss-Bradley and Uplands neighborhood associations. As nice as some of the neighborhoods technically within Ren Park’s boundaries are, very few homes within them can rival the mansions along Moss. Why not put your very best face forward to the world? The City Council will consider the Renaissance Park Commission’s recommendation not to include them, but they get the final say.” I understand that these neighborhood associations, in highly contested debates, chose not to officially be a part of the Med-Tech District, but to market the area without including them is almost criminal. In the real business world, the research and development departments are separate from the marketing departments. Leave the “opt outâ€? neighborhoods out of the meetings, don’t include them in official notices and emails, but for goodness sake, keep the petty politics and personal BS out of this and market the entire area properly by including the most stable anchor neighborhoods of the West Bluff.
March 21st, 2006 at 12:58 pm
If those neighborhoods want to be a part of the marketing, why don’t they ask to be inside the boundaries?
March 21st, 2006 at 1:37 pm
My point is not that I want to market the neighborhoods for the neighborhoods sake, but to include the neighborhoods in the marketing for Ren Park for Ren Park’s sake.
Why would they pretend these neighborhoods don’t exist in their marketing materials? Wouldn’t you want to play up every positive thing about the area?
Does the Peoria convention & visitors bureau, when trying to book a big event, not mention Weaver Ridge or the Shoppes because they didn’t pay their monthly dues or there’s a personal issue between those in charge? Of course not. They would use every positive thing about Peoria and the surrounding area to attract business.
Same thing here on a smaller scale. Set aside your politics and use every available resource to promote the success of Renaissance Park.
March 21st, 2006 at 11:26 pm
Neighborhoods have a right to some autonomy. These neighborhoods did not wish to be forced into an area, that had to do with much that was going on at the time. Whether they chose to join, or not join, wish to be mentioned or not be mentioned is their decision to make and should be left out of the constant politics that Peoria seems to foster in everything. If they did not want to be a part then and do now, so what. If they want aspects mentioned, but don’t wish to participate, it’s their right to do so. Renaissance Park is not about someone’s personal achievement, I thought it was meant to better the entire city. If it’s about someone getting or not getting credit then they are not in it for the community’s benefit. Stow the ego’s folks and just get the job done.
March 23rd, 2006 at 12:09 am
I doubt it will make much difference whether the other three neighborhoods are mentioned or not. Imagine you’re someone thinking of moving here, so you come scope out the place. Are you going to limit yourself to the neighborhoods listed in the marketing brochure? No, you’re going to drive around the area and check out the various neighborhoods regardless of the arbitrary boundaries in the marketing material. And if you get a realtor to help you, it’s not likely the realtor is going to hide any neighborhoods from you either. It’s kind of a non-issue, in my opinion.