I always get the same reaction as I hurry through the heat, my tongue darting like an overheated dog’s so I don’t drip.

“That looks good.”

“Where’d you get that?”

“Do we have an ice-cream parlor downtown?”

Apparently, few people know about the ice cream at Alamance-Andrews Drug on Maple Avenue. You can get a huge scoop in a cone or a cup for 85 cents. With the cost of everything going through the roof, it’s one of the best deals around.

The challenge of getting a cone from Alamance-Andrews to the newspaper in 95-degree heat without getting my hands messy is my favorite way to break up the afternoon. The old drugstore is also one of my favorite parts of downtown.

I spend a lot of time walking around downtown during the week, mostly because having a toddler means I have a lot less time to run or go to the gym and I need to move my fat butt. It’s also relaxing.

I miss talking to Diane Ingelheim at the newsstand, but I like going by the library, and reading in the sunken theater at the depot. The helpful ladies at the Burlington Woman’s Club thrift store put handwritten tags on all the clothes so you don’t have to dig around looking for the size, making it my favorite thrift ever.

I like downtown Burlington, but I’m only one person. Making downtown even better will require more people, and more people with some money, to feel the same way.

For the first time in a while, I think that the city’s leaders may be on their way to making that happen.

The Burlington Downtown Corporation is moving from organizing downtown events to becoming an economic development agency and has a new master plan.

Burlington City Engineer Jim Lauritsen this week suggested the city spend $700,000 to put in tree planters and decorative brick pattern stamping at crosswalks. Lauritsen also suggested changing the parking pattern to allow for more spaces on downtown streets and replacing the downtown power poles.

It will take private investment to make downtown better, but hopefully a commitment from the city and a plan from the downtown corporation will make downtown look like a good place for that money to go.

Now, a few other suggestions for downtown.

I understand that parking must be enforced so workers can’t take up prime parking in front of retail spots from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. By the same token, I’ve seen business owners who have to keep a stopwatch so they can move their cars several times a day to avoid a ticket. Let’s find a middle ground.

Bribe Stephen Cox to serve lunch again at Roasters Café. There are other places to have lunch, some of them pretty good, but none have the atmosphere of Roasters. When Cox was serving lunch, it was the best gathering place downtown.

The shift in focus for the downtown corporation is encouraging, but paying an extra property tax for business owners who are probably struggling is tough. The city should do anything it can do to reduce the downtown district levy.

Six words: patio bar, patio bar, patio bar.

As cooler weather approaches, and I don’t have to sprint to get my ice cream back into the air conditioning, I hope I’ll be able to take a leisurely stroll through a downtown that is growing and becoming even better.

 City editor Brent Lancaster can be reached at  brent_lancaster at link.freedom.com or 506-3040. Read his blog at brentsblog.freedomblogging.com.