Very Interesting Person: Linda Kunze, Downtown's Gatekeeper

If it happens downtown, she either knows about it or she's responsible for it. Linda Kunze, the executive director of the , knows the ins-and-outs of the downtown area better than anyone else around. She has to—it's her job.

Since 1999 Linda has been the woman responsible for keeping the downtown vibrant and stocked with restaurants and shops the residents of Downers Grove want. She works tirelessly, sometimes starting her day at 7:30 a.m. and wrapping up at 10 p.m. recruiting businesses, organizing downtown events, and managing all aspects of the downtown area. The argument can be made that no single person has had a greater impact on the downtown area than Linda has over the last 13 years.

A resident of Downers Grove for about 35 years, Linda's passion is the downtown area and has been since she started the job. Before the creation of the DMC, Linda served as the membership director for the Downers Grove Chamber of Commerce. When the village decided it needed something a little bigger than the Downtown Retail Council to spearhead the revitalization of downtown, Linda was tapped to create and spear the DMC.

“Everyone knows my hearts always been into the downtown,” Linda said. “There was no database at the time [the DMC was created] and I had to go door-to-door and building-to-building to find out who was down here.”

One of the more impressive aspects of what Linda does is that she convinces businesses and property owners to work with her and go through her when they really don't have to. One of Linda's core responsibilities is to act as a middle-man matchmaker between potential businesses and downtown property owners, despite the fact that neither side needs to use Linda if they didn't want to. But they do, because Linda has built up strong relationships with nearly every property owner downtown.

“Businesses don't have to come through us, but everyone will refer them to me because I know the property owners,” Linda said. “Even if they go directly to the property owner the property owner will usually send them to us. It took a long time to get the property owners to really trust me. I don't encourage them to take the first tenant that walks through the door. Give me a little time and i'll usually get them a tenant that will stay for a long time and not just do a monthly turnaround.”

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When Linda's not at work—which isn't often—she's a volunteer involved with numerous causes from Little Friends in Naperville to Aid for Women in Chicago. She lives with her father, her husband of 48 years, and their Shih Tzu Kery. She's an avid baker and gardener who swears by her gingersnaps.

Of course, free time is limited, and work never stops. Linda is already planning November's Gingerbread Festival. When she's not doing that, she's trying to improve the offerings of downtown. On her short list of places she'd like to bring to downtown Downers Grove: A sushi restaurant, a men's clothing store and a hardware store. And no, an Italian restaurant is not on the list.

“I've heard these jokes that we're going to change this to Taylor Street,” Linda said, laughing. “We always try to bring in a balance and encourage people and businesses that we don't have to come to our town. We try not to compete with other similar businesses we have down here, but sometimes people feel 'well, my food's better than theirs and we want to come.'”

Linda knows at some point she'll have to hand the reigns over to someone else, but that's not going to happen any time soon, she said. She has much to do and she is constantly inspired by the shape some of the community events have taken over the years. She's especially fond of the car show, which she says has grown so much over the years. She loves seeing young couples with strollers and dogs at the car show at the same time a grandfather is showing his grandchildren cars he used to own. In fact, there's not much about her job or the people she works with she doesn't love.

“I love it so much and I love the people down here,” she said. “I love seeing the excitement on people's faces when they come down here and say 'I can't believe how this town has evolved'. It really does my heart good.”

Very Interesting Person is a new feature we'll be running that highlights an important person in the community. If you know someone you think we need to spotlight, send an email to robert.bykowski@patch.com