The more I am out on my own working, the more I realize that politics is the essence of doing downtown development deals. Since I have worked in so many places, I have a fairly good idea of what it takes to get a project done. Elected officials, commission members and citizens all have a say in development. When a developer attempts to work in a town, there is always a need to work with the locals.

If the developer is local, it makes the process a little easier because he or she knows all of the people involved. On the other hand, it might make it harder if people know the developer and have an ax to grind with the individual. In most cases, the people presenting the new development are from out of town and are viewed as having deep pockets.

I have a couple of development projects going throughout the state, and I have found, depending upon the project, that people can have widely divergent opinions concerning what is and what is not acceptable. In towns where not much happens, there is always a desire to “make it happen,” and in towns that are less than struggling, there is always a “why should we attitude.”

Given the fact that all development projects are not created equal, it appears that people in struggling towns try to find a way to look at the positive side of development. I have always liked to work in the towns that have problems. “My kinda Town,” I often say to the elected officials. The realm of possibilities is endless, in terms of what good you can do.

I have found that some towns will never revitalize because of the politics. Politics of exclusion, politics of hate, politics of the ridiculous, all rein either exclusively or in tandem. There are times when the politicians in these towns realize that there is nothing they can do, so they punt. Normally when they are ready to punt and take a chance, they tend to fall back to normality once things start going better. I call it “too many geniuses in the room syndrome.”

I see it all of the time, “Hahaha, well Barry, I think we can take it from here.” What happens after that is, a decline occurs in small increments, because the room full of geniuses dismantle what is important, because they are deft to the “feel” of the town.  Their concern is more about politics and how their friend could get a job, or how Joe from down the street has a better idea.

I recently interacted with a different kind of politics, the politics of self-centered gain.  Not that I am a stranger to it, as after all, I worked for a couple of years on South Street.  In this case, I had an elected official on my board admit that they had taken money which was donated as a contribution.  It was a surreal moment at the meeting, and there was an eventual resignation.

When I look back to what I was told when I accepted the assignment, people told me they were concerned about where the money was going. There was no political will to change it, because the person was an elected official and the politics of whom you know played prominently in the calculus of interaction.

When a professional is hired to do the job, I would suspect that people expect results.  Politics play a large role in the person being successful, or even whether or not they are hired. If a person does not have a lot of experience, they may be swayed by “conventional wisdom” of the town’s political establishment.

I remember my first day in Lock Haven, when I was hired to be the main street manager in 1985. I was called into the local politician’s office and told, “I know you have a lot of big ideas, but we like things the way they are … don’t make waves.”

Another politico would call my office at 8:30 every morning to make sure I was in the office. They were looking for someone to show up, not someone to do something.

In Phoenixville some of the council people hated me so much they appointed a guy that I got fired to be on my parking authority board. I will never forget how one councilperson said “he is good with analyzing the finances,” and I am thinking this is the same guy that forgot to file 15 audits. Yeah man … he is good with the finances I thought. 

One time in DuBois Pa, I had one council person come out against the revitalization of the downtown because he said it was drawing business away from his hardware store that was on the edge of town. Plus, his political rival was a strong supporter of the program and that was an influence.

The politics in Philadelphia were just brutal. Elected officials tried to respond to their constituency, and did things like trying to make me move a street musician off the street for what I considered racial prejudice on behalf of the complaining person. I had people attempt to make me a bag man by asking to secure payments for the right to have wifi in headhouse square.

It is like that everywhere you go.  It is only a matter of degree.

Any way you look at it, a main street manager has to be a skilled politician and know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em and move on to another town.