This is controversial, if only because it will cost downtown businesses money to conceal trash and other unsightly outdoor storage, fix up facades, or make other changes to their buildings and land.

However, will it entice businesses to the downtown area? That, my friends, is the key.

Nice to have the 1,000 Friends of Minnesota funding Jordan's Community Growth Options project.

(Mathias Baden is the editor of the Jordan Independent. He can be reached at editor@jordannews.com.)