Reversing the downtown tide

Like downtowns across the country over the last several decades, Oshkosh's once-bustling heart has suffered at the hands of residential, retail and business flight to sprawling fringe developments.

With the retail decline of the Park Plaza Mall, a once-successful 1970s downtown renewal initiative, redevelopment is beginning anew thanks to a promising mixture of public and private initiatives that hope to reverse the tide by drawing area residents to work and shop - even live - in downtown Oshkosh.

To fully understand the path that city officials and private sector leaders hope to take with current downtown revitalization plans, it helps first to understand the underlying factors behind the decline of downtown Oshkosh.

"Downtown Oshkosh, like a lot of downtowns around the country, have undergone tremendous changes," says Richard Wollangk, city manager for 62,000-resident Oshkosh. "The last 30, 40 years have seen a move away from the downtown Oshkosh I remember as a kid. Back then, Oshkosh's downtown was the main area for commercial activities - banking, shopping, recreation. There's been a lot of reasons for downtown being in transition - and we're not alone in that."