‘I Wish This Was’ Campaign Aims to Add Life to Downtown Houma

Houma Woman Drowns in Intracoastal Waterway
May 25, 2022
White Boot Stroll returns this weekend!
May 25, 2022
Houma Woman Drowns in Intracoastal Waterway
May 25, 2022
White Boot Stroll returns this weekend!
May 25, 2022

‘I wish this was _’ is a powerful statement starter and it has taken over downtown Houma. The Hache Grant Association’s passion is to revitalize the area and the campaign was kicked off this past weekend.


 

‘I wish this was_’ was inspired by a New Orleans artist, Candy Chang, who posted thousands of ‘I wish this was_’ stickers on vacant New Orleans buildings to inspire growth and give residents voices to better the area. The experiment led to creative ideas and gave an idea of what specific areas were needed. The Hache Grant thought this idea would be perfect for downtown to get a positive conversation going and partnered with the Houma Downtown Development Commission.

 

Instead of putting the stickers directly onto the buildings, Hache Grant made boards and placed them by vacant and blighted downtown properties so visitors could share what they think would be neat in the once-bustling downtown area. For reasons unknown to the organization, the signs were taken down, “I’m not looking at speculating or accusing anybody, but for some reason, they were taken down before nightfall,” Hache Grant President Noah Lirette said. He said the situation was most likely a communication issue and they have always had a great working relationship with the parish government and revitalization up to this point. “We hope to maintain that positive relationship going forward,” he said, “because we can’t rely on the government for every little thing that we want to see downtown. It’s up to the community and the nonprofits to collaborate with the government to spawn ideas and get some work done. That’s the whole spirit of this project.”

 

Councilwoman Jessica Domangue confirmed it was a lack of communication about the initiative. She assured progress is happening when it comes to revitalization starting with a meeting scheduled for Thursday with the director of the zoning and planning department along with the downtown Main Street manager to discuss things going forward. “I think that there is a lot that we can do, but it’s going to take more than just government to get things done,” Domangue said. She said it takes private input and private investors to be able to make these changes. “I think that we need to give tax incentives to people who do want to invest in downtown. I also think that we need to work on blight work in order to maybe impose some restrictions,” she said. She also said she thinks there is a disconnect when it comes to the government on what they actually can do: “We need to be a little more strict on how we’re going to impose that, and that’s working with the government, with planning and zoning, to be able to move forward to do those things… they’re absolutely great ideas, but we’re going to need private people to have to invest in [the area] to make it something great.”


 

The Hache Grant Association is moving forward with the campaign, just in a different way, because of the importance of giving people a positive voice to revitalize an area that once was the center of Houma.

 

“The purpose of this experiment is positivity and to perhaps invigorate business owners and future investors with ideas of public ideas about what people would like to see,” Lirette said. “It’s a way to crowdsource a vision to revitalize downtown.” He said it’s been used in many main streets in similar situations to what our area is going through. “It’s a perfect time because the apathy is starting to take hold on downtown. It’s has been a problem for a while and the hurricane just highlighted it,” he said. “The longer apathy takes hold, the stronger it gets, and the harder it is to fight, so this is a conversation starter.”

 

Through the Hache Grant Association’s Facebook and Instagram pages, they are posting photos of vacant buildings and lots on Main Street daily asking everyone what they wish they envision the property to be. They have received a good response from the beginning. Lirette said as they were putting the signs up on Saturday, people would stop to see what was going on and participate. The data collected will eventually be presented to the parish government for consideration for future downtown revitalization efforts. The first post was Monday (pictured left) and it has now reached over 11,000 Facebook users. Comments from the public wished the property “was a place to make groceries…A place for quality meat, seafood, wine, cheese, etc!”, along with a music store, a place that offers healthier alternatives to the area, an indoor playground or something for children to do, and more.


 

Lirette said he would like everyone to stay positive, have a voice, and work together for a better life, “I would like to express that it takes everybody’s input to make a change and the longer we allow blight and crime to take hold in downtown Houma, and beyond, the harder it is going to be to fight. It really is everybody’s responsibility to voice their opinion. The more we work together, the more we are going to be able to do and the farther we will go in the quarter amount of time. So I just encourage everyone to participate virtually through Facebook or Instagram, stay positive, and the idea of it is to be cooperative and collaborative.”

 

What do you wish to see in the downtown area? Follow the Hache Grant on Facebook to share your ideas!