Comments (0) | |

Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009

State officials, mayor pitch downtown program for Macon

Local and state development officials on Tuesday brought to a City Council work session their proposal to introduce the Department of Community Affairs’ Urban Main Street program to Macon.

They need Mayor Robert Reichert to sign a letter of support as part of the city’s application to enroll in the program, and Reichert in turn is seeking buy-in from the council.

He said he likely will ask the council for a resolution that authorizes his letter.

Locally, NewTown Macon is spearheading the attempt to access Urban Main Street resources, which are designed to help grow downtown districts. Urban Main Street is part of DCA’s larger Main Street program, which has been around for years but until recently has been available only to cities of less than 50,000 people.

The Urban Main Street program targets larger cities, and so far just includes Columbus. The program helps cities to organize and consolidate various downtown efforts into a single steering committee that can direct redevelopment work toward a common purpose. It brings stakeholders together and addresses issues of organization, design, promotions and economic restructuring.

The idea is to create a climate for reinvestment, said Billy Parrish, director of DCA’s Office of Downtown Development.

“This is a self-help, locally initiated effort,” he said.

Heather Holder, executive vice president of business and residential development for NewTown, said her organization already has the staff in place to serve as a headquarters for the Urban Main Street program. It is simply a matter of setting up a formal relationship with the city and other downtown boosters, she said, and creating a steering committee to oversee the effort.

“I think this is a great thing for y’all,” she told council members.

Some council members seemed somewhat skeptical — though not necessarily more than usual. Councilman Mike Cranford, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, wondered about funding for the program. Officials said participation in the program does not require money even though there may be spending needs in the future.

“I know these things have a tendency to evolve into stuff that’s going to cost us money,” Cranford said.

But Councilman Larry Schlesinger, whose ward includes the downtown district, said the city can’t go it alone on the development front. Macon should be supportive in getting off the ground a program that will encourage public/private partnerships, he said.

“I think we’ve got an opportunity here,” he said.

To contact writer Matt Barnwell, call 744-4251.