What the new director should know about The District

SAD TO SEE Travis Brown leave as executive director of The District. He'll be missed. Sheryl and I have enjoyed working with Travis since we became downtown business owners, then building owners, in the past two years. Click here to read the message about his departure.

Blues in The District

Travis was good at many things, and music was his passion and goal. He didn't tinker with the massively successful Blues In The District and continued to grow it, with the help of a great committee. He helped get local acts involved in the annual street dance, the Midsummer Arts Faire and the Concerts On The Plaza, and I hope those events continue.

Perhaps his greatest accomplishment was seeing the downtown building occupancy rate go up, and stay up. We have more people living downtown and not nearly as many empty buildings.

Travis moves across the street from us at Second String Music to work for Rokusek Design, and I'm glad he'll still be downtown.

Now it's up to The District board members to find a new director. I hope they have a good pool and some quality candidates. If you are interested in the job, here's a couple of observations from a downtown guy and small business owner.

- You have to be a good listener. There are a lot of different people downtown, and most of them are decent, but there are some ... interesting personalities. Hear what they have to say.

- Organize your time. It involves a lot of nights and weekends, and you live, eat and breathe your job. It defines you.

- Lead, don't follow. You will get all kinds of advice, and you'll deal with every kind of personality and agenda. Do what you need to do for downtown Quincy, not for one business or one point of view.  Make a decision and stick with it, and live with it.

- Think outside the box! There are all kinds of fun ways to grow downtown.

Best of luck to the board in finding the new director, and to Travis, congrats on your new adventure!