Todd Ogden: The Future of Downtown Lincoln

Episode Summary

Todd Ogden has spent twenty years working in downtown Lincoln. As President & CEO of the Downtown Lincoln Association, he sits at the center of nearly every major project shaping the city's core right now — the O Street streetscape, the Music Box on Boehmer Street, a planned convention center, a new downtown library at the Centrum, South Haymarket Park, and a downtown that has grown from 3,000 residents in 2010 to roughly 15,000 today.

About Todd Ogden

Todd Ogden is President & CEO of the Downtown Lincoln Association, the nonprofit funded through a business improvement district that quietly does much of the heavy lifting behind the scenes downtown — from sweeping sidewalks and watering the giant planters to advocating for major capital projects. He grew up in Lincoln, was incubated through DLA in his early career, and has been at the helm during one of the most active stretches of downtown development in the city's history. He also serves on the board of the International Downtown Association.

About the Conversation

This conversation covers a lot of ground, because there is a lot of ground to cover. Todd walks the hosts through the catalyst projects laid out in DLA's 2018 downtown master plan — and how, more than seven years in, most of them are now actually happening at once.

He talks about the O Street streetscape and water-main project that's about to reshape the entryway to downtown for the next two years. He explains how the Music Box, a small live-music incubator tucked into a parking garage on Boehmer Street, came out of a focus group, an ARPA grant, and a 2,500-square-foot blank space the mayor offered up. He gets into the long road of the convention center — the studies, the turnback tax legislation, the site selection just east of the Cornhusker — and the new downtown library coming to the Centrum building.

Throughout, there's a thread Todd keeps coming back to: downtowns are about people, not just place. The infrastructure is being built. The next chapter is about activation — and the new Downtown Lincoln Coalition is already 250 members strong.

Conversation Highlights

• The O Street streetscape project — what's happening, why it has to happen now, and how to support downtown businesses through it
• The "Wizard of Oh Street" and how Cinnamon Dorkin's Parish Project is leading the block
• Boehmer Street and the story of the Music Box — Lincoln's local music incubator
• Why Boehmer Street is named for Larry Boehmer, who brought blues and jazz to the Zoo Bar
• The convention center: where it stands, where it's going, and how the community will shape it
• South Haymarket Park, the skate park, and Maggie Stuckey-Ross's leadership
• The new downtown library coming to the Centrum building
• How the Downtown Lincoln Association is funded — and why a business improvement district matters
• Downtown Lincoln residents: from 3,000 in 2010 to about 15,000 today
• The Downtown Lincoln Coalition and the Downtown Champions program
• The relationship between downtown and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln
• A viral ring-doorbell video involving a garbage bag, an ice storm, and Todd's dignity
  

The Mug

Todd brought his Downtown Lincoln mug — best brand in the world, he'll tell you, and not the moment to put his own face on the ceramics. It's about downtown, not about him.