The Observation Deck

How to Save Main Street: One New Jersey city has started to turn its Main Street around, but political operators from either side won’t like how it happened.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/12/16/how- ... treet.html

Are there things we can learn?

Bryan Schwegler wrote:How to Save Main Street: One New Jersey city has started to turn its Main Street around, but political operators from either side won’t like how it happened.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/12/16/how- ... treet.html

Are there things we can learn?

Brian

This is exactly how simple it could be if the powers to be stopped trying for home runs and
applied themselves to small steady growth.

One of the ideas from the VAL was getting Lakewood's wealth of home based businesses into
store fronts if it would help them and generate traffic. It had to be retail. While this seems
easy enough it is the additional programs that spin off of this that would turn a city like
Lakewood around in a 100% organic natural way.

But then it does not have the glamor of an Applebees.

FWIW


.

This article does a pretty good job of highlighting the issues that so many cities face when trying to revive their downtowns. Convincing small, locally owned businesses to locate in your downtown seems to be the way to go. However, if you are thinking of starting a small storefront-type business, what's your motiviation to move into a redeveloping downtown area as opposed to an established suburban shopping center?

From the article:
“There had to be some financial incentive, otherwise … you would go to the mall” to open up shop, Swanson says. Forosisky, the economic development director, adds, “if not for the incentives, I wouldn’t be having people call me” asking about opening up shop on Landis Avenue.

Vineland seems to understand the reality that they have to provide "seed money" to get businesses to choose their downtown over other nearby options. They also seem to be using their resources pretty wisely, choosing only to loan money to businesses that they feel will be viable long-term. And they seem to get that the most viable businesses won't necessarily be ones that need to compete with the offerings at the local mall. While Vineland doesn't really have many geographic or demographic similarities to Lakewood, these are still lessons that would hold true here.

This article highlights balance. Like so many other things is life it is about staying balanced. Watch the news & listen to the rhetoric--it's not hard to see that we our off-balance.

The urban sprawl that has done so much damage to the areas economy was made possible by billions in tax dollars. It is only fair that a few crumbs be spent on maintaing the hollow core.

The half empty Drug Mart Plaza is a good example of bad government planning. The current owners were enticed into paying 3 times the appraised value with the promise that they could buy Kaufman Park. Now they are left with a half empty building, unable to even pay property taxes.

The recent rennovation of the Bailey Building was made possible in part by government tax credits. While it might no live up to all expectations what was built is far better than what was there.

The empty car dealerships in Lakewood are the result of bad government policy. It was the governments decision to close them down. At the time that decision was made congressional representatives had some leverage to get some money for the local communities. They failed to do so and we are living with the result.

I'm still peeved about Tri-C's decision to locate its new campus in an industrial park in Westlake on the borders of Lorain County. That seemed a missed opportunity.