I am the co-founder of the Pennsylvania Downtown Center and I attend their annual conference. I have not been a main street manager for a few years, so it is more a labor of love to attend than a necessity. The conference is always a good time, but this year I retired early because as I age, 10 PM has become the new 11 PM.

At this conference, they asked that people stand if they were a current main street manager. As I looked at the group standing there, it definitely was the smallest group attending since the days when there were just a few communities designated in the late 1980s. Jimmy Zubler, the main street manager of Lewistown, was the last manager standing. Jimmy has been a main street manager for 25 years, and now is the longest tenured main street manager in Pennsylvania.

I was somewhat troubled as I headed to the managers meeting. It appears main street is on its way out. The new program is termed “Keystone Communities,” and the Main Street designation is on the wane. The National Main Street Center has departed from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and I have heard there have been problems in that transition. Now, on the state level, the Main Street program is in trouble.

When I got to the managers meeting, there were not that many people in attendance because there are not that many managers left. For about the fifth time, I voiced my concern about the future of the program. The difference was, that at this meeting, it became obvious that we are nearing the end of Main Street. One man literally wept as he promised me that he would not let it happen.

Sooooo… I formed a committee of eight, and we will see what can be done. I’m not sure how effective we will be, but we are going to proceed with confidence and vigor. The Commonwealth cannot afford to let this program die; it is lifeblood of downtown revitalization. I have been a main street manager in Lock Haven, DuBois, Downingtown, Phoenixville and South Street, and I swear by the program.

The four points— design; promotion; economic restructuring and organization— when used correctly, provide a blended strategy, offering a great blueprint for downtown revitalization. The original Pennsylvania model was based upon a progressive funding mechanism that provided salary dollars for a main street manager for three years. The program eventually showed so much promise, the funding increased and the number of years increased. Main Street became a major line item in the budget, and thus became a target for budget cuts.

Fast forward to the Corbett administration, where the Keystone Communities program was born, a program that was based upon providing no funding for administration of the programs. It has been a monumental failure, with not much money making it to the community until this year. I am sure Governor Corbett and his policy people thought it was a good idea, but it wasn’t. No administrative money and newly imposed massive bureaucratic reporting requirements are killing the program.

When the program was under attack during the great budget crisis in 2009, I attended a meeting of the budget committee and explained that these kinds of programs do not come back once they come to an end. I believe there is normally a lull in activity, and the program may never come back until the cast of local characters change. The Main Street program is not a start and stop kind of thing, because of the nature of the organization necessary to operate the program. 

Most of the grant dollars available under the program for physical improvements were not awarded until recently. Not only is the administrative money ending, but also the other dollars that make the programs effective have been withheld. $30,000,000 in program funding was awarded recently, right before this election year. Lack of staff was the culprit, from what I was able to piece together, and I do not want to believe that someone was holding back the money to present checks before election time. I guess it is open to interpretation… I always like to think the best of people.

This is a bad situation for the towns across the Commonwealth, as collectively they put the hopes and dreams into a program to revitalize the downtown, and became mixed up with some bureaucratic mumbo jumbo that makes us all look bad. It makes the downtown professional staff shake their head. It creates confusion in the process. Most of all it impacts the very core of economic development across the commonwealth.

Eight of us are going to give it a shot, to try to change things for the better. I am not sure we will be successful but our intentions are honorable.

Barry Cassidy is a freelance grant and economic development consultant. He can be reached at barrycassidy@comcast.net.