Observer Online | Richard Downer

Edition of March 21, 2008

Richard Downer

Wants a Community Vision for Downtown Development

By Rebecca Plevin

Observer Staff Writer

Richard Downer has been an active member of the Herndon community ever since he was 11 and used to shine shoes in his father's local barbershop. The leaders of the small, farm town used to gather at the shop, Downer said, and he always "absorbed what was going on."

Downer has outgrown the days as a shoe shiner and barber, but he has continued to be involved in the community. He served on the Herndon Town Council from 1971 to 1974 and 1990 to 2000 and is involved in many local civic organizations. He said he has decided to run for a seat on the council again because the town is facing a number of important issues and "I can make a real contribution."

Downer said downtown redevelopment will be a top issue in the coming years, and he would like to see a change in the way the town approaches development. "The JPI debacle was a perfect example," he said, of "a developer trying to guess what the residents of Herndon would like to see" in the downtown. The town has "got to build it from the ground up," he said.

He said citizens, potential developers and landowners should work together to "figure out what we want and then find someone to build it." He cited Diamond Properties as a "perfect example of how it should be done," since that developer met with a number of community groups and revamped its plans for an upscale hotel based on citizens' comments.

He said he envisions the downtown as an "arts district" that features street art and a cultural arts center with art and acting classes for children and teens. Downer, who is the treasurer of the Herndon Foundation for the Cultural Arts and on the Elden Street Players' Board of Directors, said the downtown must be "something that's alive."

He said immigration is another issue that the town faces, but he views it mainly as a "diversion" that is "holding us back from doing some of the things we need to do." He said members of Congress need to craft and pass comprehensive immigration reform and in the meantime, Herndon should "deal with illegal behavior regardless of who's behaving illegally."

Downer said that as a member of the council, he would work to improve the town's reputation. He said there are too many negative references associated with Herndon and said, "Our reputation throughout this country has suffered." As a councilman, he said he would set a brighter tone by doing positive things to "build a better community for the rest of the town." "If you live in our town, you need to be treated properly and fairly," he said.

Downer is semi-retired from HRI Associates, the insurance company he owned since 1965, but he has not scaled back his dedication to local civic organizations. Downer, who is a co-founder and life member of the Herndon Historical Society, co-founder and treasurer of the Herndon Downtown Alliance, Inc., and founder and co-chairman of the local Dolly Parton's Imagination Library Project, run through the Rotary Club of Herndon, said he is involved in so many groups because, "I have always been driven to do it."

He said his goal is to "make our town look good" and added, "I have a lot of fun doing it."