You get used to your home as it is, with the stack of papers and magazines here and the box full of junk over there. Then somebody comes to visit and you think, “Jeez, the place looks like a landfill.”

You get a similar feeling when you read the latest proposals for development along Court Avenue and you see the idea about turning the Randolph Hotel at Fourth Street and Court into boutique lodging instead of using part of the vacant lot across the street for the same result.

Oh yeah, you think, the Randolph. That isn’t some art exhibit about urban decay, complete with window fans and 1940s-era curtains. It’s a hotel. Just not a hotel that, shall we say, beckons graciously to our fair city’s visitors.

So, no matter who builds what at Fifth and Court, this might be a great starting point. Turn the existing hotel into a hotel that people will actually venture into, then proceed with something a little more interesting, something for those of us who aren’t just passing through, on the site nearby.

At this point, we’ll take whatever we can get to jiggle the Court Avenue planning loose, because the spot next door to us here at the old railroad depot has become the most-agonized-over piece of property in the history of Iowa.

The suburbs have not been plagued by this kind of hesitancy. When somebody says, “How about building a …” West Des Moines says, “Hey, great idea! Let’s start right now!”

Up in Ankeny, you can just load up a cement truck and start driving. Somebody will flag you down and buy every cubic yard you’ve got.

But nobody has found the nerve to put the first brush stroke on this downtown canvas, even as major projects pop up around it.

Don’t let the pressure paralyze you, folks. It’s a great location, but the whole world is not waiting to pass judgment. We’re not talking about replacing the Taj Mahal with something “a little nicer.” We’re just trying to find something that works better than nothing.

We’ve been referring to the “Court Avenue entertainment district” for 20 years as if it were comparable to the Las Vegas Strip. Actually, it’s about a block and a half that consists of whatever Larry Smithson dreamed up last weekend.

Now progress might be in sight. Five developers are scheduled to present their ideas to a city committee this week, and they have come up with lots of things to think about.

Some of the ideas bring bad memories of a long-ago proposal that failed. Sherman Associates is talking about a movie theater, and Nelson Development suggests an inPlay Gaming Center. But we should give all of the plans a look. Let’s just make it a reasonably quick look.

Will we find the absolutely perfect plan? Uh, no, probably not. Those areas carrying the vague “retail” label on the developers’ plans could turn into tattoo parlors.

But there’s only one way to find out. Let’s pick a project and start digging. Soon. Before the solar system collapses.