John Sarvay of Buttermilk & Molasses provides excellent insight about the upcoming Downtown master plan workshop.

Interested in maintaining — or even enhancing — public access to the James River? Have a hankering to see more shabby chic boutiques sprouting up in Manchester? Tired of the condominium lifestyle driving rental prices up in Jackson Ward? Want more art, fewer politics downtown?

Well, you’ll have your chance to sit nose-to-nose with planners, your neighbors, and well-spoken developers at the end of September as the city’s Department of Community Development presents “The Downtown Plan: Round 2.” Round 1 involved four hundred of your closest friends — and hundreds of hangers-on — hammering out a collective vision for a new Downtown Plan at Plant Zero at the end of July, assisted by the urban planning team from Miami-based Dover Kohl.