Imagine the downtown of Stanley with a newly renovated but privately owned old City Hall clock tower—or else not. In a closed session that lasted just over 32 minutes during the Committee of the Whole meeting Monday August 3, the Stanley Common Council ultimately decided not to take any action on minimum terms for a potential sale of the historic downtown icon, likewise tabling action on a potential land sale to the Halterman’s. The Council’s choice was ultimately in line with the results of a recent Imagine Downtown Survey, which among other findings

Photo by Joseph Back.

found that local residents thought having something to represent Stanley as a whole was important to revitalizing the main business district. Meanwhile, a closer detailed breakdown of the recent Imagine Downtown survey put out by the City tells a story common to many small towns.

Formerly available for residents to take on the city website and available over a period of roughly two weeks up until July 14, the survey aimed to find ways that the downtown area might be revitalized by polling those who live and work nearby, alongside others. With over 412 people choosing to take part, the results of the present survey will be used by the City Plan Commission in concert with the West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission to build upon Stanley’s strengths, as well as to address what needs improvement and find ways to implement the various findings. First things first though: just what qualifies as being ‘downtown’?

Regarding the boundaries of the area in question, downtown Stanley was defined as being roughly equivalent to Broadway Street and the immediate area, from just past Sixth Avenue on the north side all the way to Oak Street in the south. Significant places also considered as being “downtown” included the Sunset Homes housing development on Fourth Avenue and First Avenue from McKnight to Emery Streets. So with ‘downtown’ defined as such, what did the survey’s respondents think of it?

Asked just why downtown Stanley was important and allowed to pick more than one answer, 49.27 percent answered that it was walkable and accessible by everyone, while 41.99 percent answered that one “must travel through downtown to get to other places in the community.” Meanwhile, 21.12 percent said that it was a gathering space for the community, while 23.06 percent said that the buildings and businesses added to the tax base. 59.95 percent said that it provided shopping opportunities, while 21.84 percent said that it provided recreational opportunities. 34.22 percent said that it provided job opportunities, and 19.90 thought it was an active community center. 4.37 percent listed “other,” which included owning a business in downtown, businesses like the Kwik Trip, Movie Theater, and Bar; along with the small town atmosphere and its help in defining the community; along with historical reasons such as being where people’s families lived or their ancestors settled.

Just as important, 88.4 percent of question respondents in a recent online survey on the City of Stanley’s website indicated that they feel safe in the downtown area, while just 1.9 percent of respondents or 7 people total rated local downtown safety as being “poor.” Meanwhile, 84.28 percent of those answering the question felt that the ease of walking & biking to and within the downtown area was “good/satisfactory,” with 89.02 percent saying the accessibility of the downtown area was also good or satisfactory. Meanwhile, just 66.76 percent of those answering the question felt that the visual cues and signage encouraging visitors to explore the downtown was “fair/could be improved,” and 69.14 percent of those answering the question thought that the visual cues and signage in downtown connecting it to other areas of the community were fair or could use improvement. Finally, 73.4 percent of those who responded to the survey rated as “poor” the present ability of the downtown area to entice travelers from Highway 29 to come and look around. With so much to offer then, what’s the problem? The recent downtown survey gets into the nitty, gritty details of it all.

In the first place, none of the survey respondents rated the uses or activities of downtown Stanley as “good,” while a full 231 respondents or 73.8 percent said that the mix of stores was “fair or satisfactory.” 8.95 percent rated the local mix as “good,” while 17.25 percent rated it as poor.

Among those things the downtown could improve, an overwhelming majority of respondents listed more community events and activities, along with more things to do with children or families. Things for seniors, winter activities, better nightlife options, and quality housing within or near downtown were also listed as ideas for needed improvement.

As to what people liked best about the uses and activities of downtown Stanley, a word cloud (so called because it links word font size in a larger group to its use in individual responses) prominently displayed such words as “Broadway,” “Theater,” “park,” and “Movie theater” as among the key attractions of downtown. “Chapman,” “community,” “Kwik Trip,” “nice,” and activities were also cited, while other responses were minimal. As to the sociability of the downtown area, the input was similar.

In the first place, no respondents listed the overall sociability of downtown Stanley as “good,” while things rated as fair or in need of improvement included evidence of active volunteers (72 percent), a sense of pride and ownership (75.33 percent), the presence of children and seniors (79 percent), and “welcomes the entire community, at 70.33 percent. Rated as “poor” was the ability of downtown to bring people together and encourage interaction, with 74.67 percent of residents answering such.

Among the words that jump out of the word cloud in the recent survey on downtown sociability are “Everyone,” “people,” “park,” “gather,” and “know.” “See” and “nice” were also prominent, while other responses were minimal.

As to the types of businesses visited most often, gas stations and the grocery store won out by a long shot, with 22.82 percent of respondents visiting the gas station every day and 50.97 percent of respondents visiting the grocery store once a week, according to the survey responses.

As to other local businesses, the high mark for time spent was “up to four hours” in the last month, with 46.60 percent of respondents answering this question accordingly, and none of the 412 respondents skipping the inquiry. The next highest mark for overall time spent in the last month was four to eight hours, with 24.03 percent of survey respondents answering in like fashion on this point. 12.38 percent or 51 people had spent more than eight hours downtown, and a total of 42 people or 10.19 percent answered that they worked in the downtown. In contrast, just 28 people or 6.8 percent said they had spent no time in the downtown in the last month. With Boyd and Thorp residents non-differentiated from Stanley residents in the survey and eighteen different zip codes responding in total, a non-response need not mean indifference—it could just be the relative distance.

Meanwhile, among the things that the 368 who answered the survey question rated as “fair or in need of improvement” were cleanliness and property maintenance (73.1 percent), places to sit and linger (63.86 percent), a sense of place and identity (75.54 percent), reflects who Stanley is (69.84 percent), and Showcases Community Assets (71.2 percent).

Among those images that stood out in the word cloud of appearance for the City of Stanley, “Clean,” flowers,” “buildings,” and “Veterans Park,” were prominent among them, with “businesses,” “benches,” “Broadway,” “banners,” “look,” “small town feel,” “old buildings,” “new,” “updated,” and “Theater,” “well kept,” “new benches,” and “storefronts” got secondary mention. Other input to the word cloud was minimal. From the present, the survey to “Imagine Downtown” turned to the future.

First asked to identify what would be could be done “right away” without costing “a lot,” survey respondents identified landscaping, music in the park, outdoor events like a farmer’s market, a dog park, plus signage and banners. Also identified as a relatively easy fix was to clean up old buildings, paint and update them, get more retail businesses, and tear down old buildings that hadn’t been used in years, without specifying what these were.

As to more long-term changes that would have the biggest impact on downtown, respondents listed the tear down and demolition of old buildings, landscaping and renovation of existing business buildings, brings in new businesses such as Aldi’s or a high end variety store, restoring the old City Hall for use as a community center, and park improvements.

Also listed in the long-term improvements that would help the city was a repurposing of the Don Smith buildings as a teen and/or senior center, arcade, motel with pool, and other uses left unspecified. More restaurants, community events, something to exemplify the city, a senior, community and kid center and more community gatherings were listed among the needs of the local area. It was additionally thought that cleaning up the town would enhance community pride. For those of a more demographically detailed orientation, a breakdown of the 412 total survey respondents follows below.

Faced with the first question of whether they lived in the City of Stanley, 164 people or about 60 percent answered “yes,” while 109 people or about 40 percent answered “no.” An additional 139 people chose to skip the question, a pattern that would endure with little variation throughout the personal data section. For those who did choose to answer, the breakdown was as follows.

Asked if they worked in the City of Stanley, 165 people of just over 60 percent answered “no,” while an additional 108 answered “yes.” Asked further if they owned a business in Stanley, just 36 people or 13.19 percent of respondents answered “yes,” the other 86.81 percent or 237 answering “no.” Asked if they had volunteered time in the last year to make the City of Stanley a better place, a thin majority of 54.95 percent or 149 people answered “no,” while another 123 or 45.05 percent answered “yes” to this question, without specifying in what capacity they did so.

As to the age and gender of those who responded to the survey, more women than men took time to complete their personal information, for a score of 72.22 percent or 197 women versus 76 men who took the time to respond. And while those between ages 35 and 49 won the contest by far for respondents giving age data with 41.18 percent or 113 of those answering the age question, 12 young people under 18 also took the time out to answer questions, with the second largest group of respondents being ages 25 to 34 at 21.32 percent or 59 of those answering the question.

When asked if they had children age 18 living in the household, 123 answered “no,” while about 149 or 54.58 percent answered “yes,” suggesting a healthy demographic age curve to the City population, absent official census figures or analysis. And while survey respondents provided a total of 18 different zip codes, the vast majority or around 240 of survey respondents reported zip codes mapping out to Boyd, Stanley, and Thorp or the surrounding area, while a full 76.9 percent came from 54768, or Stanley proper.

Switching from personal demographic data to opinions on the downtown area, there were 412 responses and 0, spelled z-e-r-o , as in skip to the point! If you’ve read this far, the article began with that point, thereby flipping the survey data’s original reporting order.

Photo by Joseph Back.

The north side of downtown photographed last week from the tower of the former Stanley City Hall. Central in it are the former Don Smith Sales building which goes up for auction in September and a vacant lot to the north of it that has an interested buyer.