Dozens of business owners and community members came to Reedsport City Hall on Aug. 9 to help develop a plan for improving the downtown area.
It was part of the Main Street Program, instituted by the Oregon Historic Preservation Office. The coordinator is Sheri Stuart, who attended the meeting and help facilitate the discussion on what needs to be done.
Attendees were split up in four groups, two representing the downtown area, one representing “midtown,” and a fourth representing “uptown,” or the area above the Scholfield River bridge.
“First, I’d like to recognize the Main Street steering committee,” City Manger Jonathan Wright said, “who have working for a year and a half in the background, trying to coordinate this effort.”
Fred Jacquot, of the Lower Economic Development Forum, is the chair of that steering committee. Other members of the committee are Kathleen Miller, Joe Coyne, Debra Yates, Donna Train, Susan Martin, Kathi Wall-Meyer and Bill Karcher.
Wright said this latest effort should not be confused with another effort, a decade ago, that petered out.
“I want to switch the paradigm away from the previous experience,” he said, “and look at this as a new experience. We’re going to hit the ground running. We’re going to start afresh. Things have changed. Our economy’s changed. Times have changed. We’re going to try to adapt and overcome some of our major challenges.”
Wright introduced the city’s new Main Street program coordinator, Emesha Jackson, who comes to the city for 11 months through the Resource Assistance for Rural Environments program.
Stuart was pleased at the large turnout.
“It’s really exciting to have you all here,” she said.
She presented a refresher to what she called the “Main Street Approach.” The two-hour meeting also included a series of questions each group addressed.
Stuart told the group the program got a restart seven years ago.
“We were restarted in 2007,” she explained. “We base our services, how we deliver technical assistance to communities, on the national Main Street model. We call that “The Main Street Approach.” It’s a registered trademark used for main street as it relates to commercial district revitalization.”
She said the approach has four parts.
She explained the first part is having an organizational structure in place.
“That’s something to sustain a long-term revitalization effort,” she said, “to ensure you have the people, in terms of volunteer capacity, as well as financial resources to sustain a long-term effort.”
Another prong is design. That’s described as “physical improvements to the district — both public and private sector.
A third consideration is economic restructuring or “strengthening the district’s economic base.”
The final part is promotion. Stuart described it the group as “promoting the district as the town’s social, cultural and economic center.
“We look at those private sector improvements. We also look at things like visual merchandising through the design element. Are people making the best use of window displays. You’re already paying for that space. So, if you’re not marketing your business by making good use of window displays, then you’re not being as successful as you possible could.”
The city’s steering committee will hold a meeting Sept. 23 to create a “vision statement” for the Main Street Program.
Another full stakeholder meeting is scheduled Oct. 7.
Originally Published in The Umpqua Post
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Reedsport, Oregon 97467
Phone: 541-271-7474