#1 - People can and do live downtown for reasons other than proximity to employment. And that completely misses the point. People currently do live downtown because of its proximity to their jobs.....
#2 - It doesn't particularly matter to retailers and entertainment venues whether their customers own or rent - they are more than happy to take anybody's money.....
Again, all of this misses the point. Where rent verses own is relevant in this context is not how people spend their money but the degree of people's mobility and thus their stability in terms of how long they tend to stay in one place.
#3 - And, by the way, one of the potential pitfalls of an area having a high concentration of renters - even if they are high end renters - is the area can go into a downward spiral very quickly if it falls out of favor. .....
#4 - If the downtown Fort Worth housing loses an important portion of its current market then either new markets must be found or downtown Fort Worth will undergo some not necessarily pleasant changes.
#1 - Its gratifying to see you that you have come to acknowledge that "people can and do live downtown for reasons other than proximity to employment"; but disappointing that you emphasize that employment is the why the do. Instead the emphasis of employment over other reasons is still a continuation of a double standard. A number of reasons is why Downtown can be viable in the future; just not the employment reason alone.
#2 - Again its gratifying to see you acknowledge that who spends in Downtown is irrelevant to the Downtown merchants. It is probably accurate to suggest that the bulk of spending done in Downtown is by people who do not live Downtown; and that among those people who spend in Downtown will be found both renters and home owners. The point is not who is spending, but it is the spending is taking place. Your attempt to tie consumerism and housing is irrelevant in this market as it is any markets in general.
#3 - Isn't that the point. Traditional CBD businesses are in the end renters or leasers in the market and conceptually they are no different than residential tenants with the exception that residential tenants are a 7 day consumers base while businesses are 5 day consumers. As you suggested, "the area can go into a downward spiral very quickly if it [Downtown] falls out of favor". Well, isn't that also the point whenr Downtown has just recently experienced a "hit" from the falling out of favor of Downtown by D.R. Horton and XTO? If one argues ,first, that a certain type of business is better than another type of business by declaring one to be superior over the other; and mandates , secondly, that the superior business is the primary means to have a sustainable Downtown, then we disagree. Once again mandating for Downtown to be solely if not primarily a high end job center to be consider sustainable neighborhood while other so call sustainable neighborhoods do not have a similar mandate is clearly a double standard. By the way, it is the level of activity that is important, not its status.
#4 - Finally, we agree without controversy! This exercise has been an effort to discuss what new market can be created in the Downtown. Opinions have ranged from recruiting traditional businesses back to the CBD as if the City has any true leverage on how businesses make their workplace decisions. There has been reluctance to admit that Downtown is but one of two legacy CBDs in the region; and as it painful to admit as well as necessary to admit, one of the two legacy CBD is vastly outperforming the other. How then does Downtown make itself a sustainable place against the headwinds of business decisions and a very strong competitor - Dallas/Collins?
The opinion that the status quo is working and will work in the future seems questionable to me. Instead, evolving the CBD into a place of Residential/Entertainment/Hospitality (REH) that is a place of equal or of greater mix than the traditional job center of the past is an option I like much better.
If this evolution can be created, it should not matter whether the activity is of a certain character. What should matter is that Downtown would be teeming with shoppers, residents, tourists and sources of entertainment stemming from hotels, apartments and conventions; and that most of all, Downtown would be sustaining itself in spite of and weaning itself from the vagaries of today's businesses.