Main Street Four Point Approach

A community's central business district often accounts for as much as 30 percent of a town's jobs and 40 percent of its tax base. But a downtown is more than an economic asset. It is a community's crossroad - a place in our hearts and minds that evoke strong emotions and helps define our identity. In recent years, many approaches to downtown revitalization, from urban renewal to paint-up and fix-up projects, have failed because they focused on just one or two problems, rather than dealing with the full spectrum of interrelated issues that affect traditional commercial districts. The Main Street program's approach to downtown revitalization has succeeded in more than 1,200 towns and cities throughout the nation.

The four points described below are the keys to the success of the Main Street approach:

Organization means getting everyone working toward the same goal. The work of building consensus and cooperation among groups that have an important stake in the district can be eased by using the common sense formula of a volunteer driven program, an organizational structure of a board of directors and committees and a financially strong organization.

Promotion means selling the image and promise of Main Street to all prospects. By marketing the district's unique characteristics to shoppers, investors, and visitors, an effective promotional strategy forges a positive image through advertising, retail promotional activity, and special events carried out by local volunteers.

Design means enhancing the visual quality of downtown through attention to all elements of the physical environment. An inviting atmosphere, created through window displays, parking areas, signs, sidewalks, street lights, landscaping, and the buildings themselves, conveys a visual message of what Main Street is and what it has to offer.

Economic Restructuring means strengthening the existing economic assets of the business district while diversifying its economic base. By helping existing businesses expand and recruiting new ones to respond to today's market, Main Street programs help convert unused space into productive property and sharpen the competitiveness of business enterprises.