This is the day we traditionally start afresh with renewed enthusiasm and an optimistic outlook on the year ahead.

Instead of making resolutions, I'm compiling a wish list of things I'd like to see in uptown Charlotte - things I believe could make it more inviting for us all.

Like a powerful magnet, construction of the outerbelt is pulling development away from the core to Mecklenburg County's suburban rim.

We can counter that force by creating an even stronger magnet in the center city with additional housing, entertainment, shopping and jobs, all of which are on urban planners' long-range improvement lists.

Big-ticket items - light-rail transit and an urban village, for example - are in the works but still a long way from completion.

I'm thinking shorter term about projects that could be accomplished relatively quickly if our leaders get behind them.

For starters: Get rid of those one-way streets!

The only thing more intimidating to visitors than navigating that confusing grid is finding parking - something the city is about to make more difficult by removing 100-plus metered spaces.

That leads me to No. 2 on my list: free daytime parking. Why couldn't we provide a citywide validation program for visitors and shoppers?

Merchants would be more willing to open shops in the center city, and suburbanites accustomed to free parking at the mall would be more likely to drive in.

Other things I'd like to see:

A town square. Instead of blocking off The Square for special events and surprising motorists with traffic jams many times each year, why not permanently clear the Trade-and-Tryon intersection of vehicles?

Plow up the asphalt, plant some grass, add tables and benches and you have a nice public space.

A public observation deck on an upper floor of a skyscraper. If you're not a private club member or a bank executive, forget catching a glimpse of a western N.C. mountain on a clear day.

A movie theater, a simple pleasure for urban dwellers and the after-five crowd. Developers are thinking in terms of 16 screens, but does it have to be that big?

Restoration of the Carolina Theatre as a North Tryon Street performance venue seems to have lost momentum since the referendum package failed in June. It was uptown's last movie theater when it closed in 1978.

Using the building for something seems to make better sense than allowing it to remain vacant for another 24 years.

Street musicians. Pike Place Market in Seattle has designated spaces for musicians, who must apply for permits to play. How much fun would it be to walk down a Tryon Street lined with people singing and dancing?

A funky streetscape. Uptown windows are boring. The biggest tenants - the banks - aren't going to decorate with $100 bills. But let's have a contest - kind of like the giant rocking chair displays - and award a prize for the coolest store window.

A gadget/hardware store, perhaps something like Restoration Hardware or Brookstone. It would be a great place to browse during lunch. And it would appeal to office workers, residents and visitors alike.

An expanded Gold Rush. Run the rubber-tired trolley-like buses to South End and possibly even to SouthPark mall.

Someone would have to come up with the money, of course, but connecting the areas would create more options and opportunities for visitors.

A fresh food market like the one at Reading Terminal in Philadelphia. I proposed this in my Sunday column, but I'll say it again: Take the old convention center out of mothballs at College and Trade streets and bring in vendors selling fresh produce, meats, seafood, baked goods and prepared foods.

Anything that generates people traffic would seem to be more desirable than an empty building that attracts only pigeons to the center city.

I didn't include a supermarket because it has been on uptown's wish list since the 1970s. A denser residential population is the only thing that will make it happen.

This is not an agenda, and it's by no means all-encompassing. But perhaps my wish list will start some conversations among our leaders and help nudge us toward a livelier center city.

What do you think?