NFL Draft Party offers insight into what’s needed downtown

“It's going to be a great first step to the redevelopment of the Civic Esplanade at city hall,” said Mayor Drew Dilkens.

Ouellette Avenue between Park Street and University Avenue was packed for the after party, bringing the total attendance at the event to about 6,000 people.

“I think there's going be some pressure to get things moving a lot quicker than they usually do because we could see the benefits from what happened here this past weekend,” said Coun. Renaldo Agostino.

There is no economic tally from the weekend, but Jim Arbour, owner of Lefty's on the O, said he had his best night in about 13 years.

“I know we can't do it every weekend, but it would be nice if we could do this once a month just to draw people downtown and show what downtown can be again,” Arbour said.

A few doors down, Vito’s was open for the event.

“If they do the same thing [that] they did last weekend, I'll open my doors every day,” said owner Vito Maggio, who has opened his downtown location randomly since taking over the building at the corner of Park Street and Ouellette Avenue.

He feels there aren’t enough people downtown to operate regularly.

“I want to go downtown because I love downtown just like I love Walkerville, so I'm there. They do what they have to do I'll be there,” Maggio said.

Agostino would also like more street closures and is looking into having hydraulic bollards set up across the downtown core.

“You're going to see someone say, ‘Wow, there's all these people coming down here, let's buy that space over there. Let's open up a restaurant over here. Let's do this here so it all works together.’ We [have to] start that ball rolling,” Agostino said.

The city is hoping the ball starts rolling when the Strengthen the Core plan is voted on in May.

“They're saying this is great. Let's see it move forward, so if it's not this plan, what's the plan and how are you going to fund it and how are you going to get it done?” Dilkens said.