However, he said, he envisioned a technology company like I.B.M. that might be looking for a fresher, more downtown image by leasing space in the building.
As befits the downtown image she has honed for a decade and a half, Ms. Ackermann layers textiles, printed matter, spray paint, metal hardware and other materials with an aggressively urban sensibility.
Opponents see the overall plan, called the Congress Plaza Renewal Project, as inappropriate and unnecessary, one that will further destroy Bridgeport's heritage, force out small businesses and bring in an institution (the detention center) that will hurt the downtown's image, at a time when perception of the city was beginning to improve.
Downtown (2011), Images courtesy of the artist.
Their other collaboration with Milk and fellow Creator Aaron Koblin, The Wilderness Downtown, incorporated images from viewers' hometowns sourced from Google Street View to compose a music video for The Suburbs' "We Used To Wait," getting their at-home audience involved on a personal level.
A Gift from SCAF to our beloved sons of our homeland… Currently in stock for an unlimited period!" The day before, two activists had been arrested by the Army for putting up posters with this image downtown.
Les Halles Downtown comes by its image the old-fashioned way.
"There's this image of Downtown Brooklyn turning into this great utopia; we're building diversity," Mr. Brown said.
A third is promotion: aggressive marketing of retail activities, special events and the new image of downtown itself.
But that image softens downtown, where businesses include the Oasis Cafe, a vegetarian restaurant known for its quiche du jour, and Bath Bookworks, a vintage bookstore and traditional book bindery transplanted from Washington.
The LA subculture, in which Chicanos style their own Morrissey quiffs, tattoo his lyrics on their arm and graffiti his image around downtown LA, has been around since the Smiths first split, but was brought to wider attention in 2005 thanks to William E Jones's documentary Is It Really So Strange?
