One idea being bandied about is to create a special downtown taxing district that would raise money for improvement projects. Who would pay the tax, what the district's boundaries would be and exactly what the money would be spent on are still in development. Support for the idea is also unclear.

Very clear is the state of Downtown. Due to unprofitability, retirement and other reasons, more than a few retail shops have become vacant storefronts in the past few years. They are following the lead of larger traffic generators, including Safeway and the US Postal Service office. Safeway left in 1994 and moved a half mile to the east, and the Postal service followed it earlier this year.

All told, the historic city center is home to at least a half-dozen empty storefronts, and such a situation rarely begets anything but more empty storefronts. Nonetheless, to try and stop the bleeding, the Cottage Grove Chamber of Commerce has elected officials to form a committee on how to rejuvenate the Downtown area. Aside from the tax idea, which would likely take a year or more to implement, there are nearer-term goals, if no concrete plans to achieve them.