It is a three-letter word but it can mean the difference between success and failure. Yes, YES is a powerful word. I used the word yes quite a bit when I got to Phoenixville.  Using yes and no at the right times is a crapshoot at best, but one must use one’s best judgment.

There are times that people want to do something in the downtown. You cannot be stringent and exclude people who want to be part of the revitalization. Being a downtown manager, you hear it all. People coming into the office to discuss ideas for businesses, a volunteer project, or support for a cause is a big part of a manager’s job.  Being receptive to those ideas is a key in making a downtown a desirable place to locate a business.

When I arrived in Phoenixville in 2003 I found that there was a penchant for saying no.  I remember going to my board president at the time and saying that I wanted to exercise a little bit of leeway from the status quo. I wanted to invite ideas, I wanted people to be a little creative and enable those ideas. 

I remember Lisa Mueller coming up with the idea to burn a large Phoenix Bird every year at the solstice. I also remember Henrick, the guy that never wears shoes, coming up with an idea for a downtown park on a parcel of vacant land on Bridge Street.  Raelene Bestwick came up with the idea for a First Friday. All are creative projects that it really did not cost anyone anything other than the costs to implement them.

Those three projects, the Firebird Festival, Downtown Arts Park and the First Fridays were the backbone of the beginning of the revitalization. I learned to say yes and let the people be the revitalization. By learning to say yes to people, more and more ideas came forward and a creative atmosphere developed. A creative vibe permeated what took place on the street.

So when I read in the Philadelphia Business Journal that the Great American Pub was coming to the old Columbia Hotel building in downtown Phoenixville, I was amazed when I read that owner Tom Hemcher said he liked the vibe in the town. I guess it is hard to explain a vibe but it is the special feeling you get when visiting a place. If you go to a church, religion permeates the air and there is a religious vibe. When you go to an arts district, you have another kind of vibe that is somewhat liberating. 

I remember when I took over the South Street Headhouse district in 2001 people took that creative vibe a little too loosely and got involved in aberrant behavior. That kind of thing happens more in cities than smaller towns, where things seldom get out of control.

However, the vibe is not enough. People have to have some reason to visit a downtown rather than shop at a strip center or a mall. Malls have a difficult time dealing with liquor licenses and small independent business. You will not see a restaurant like El Burrito in a mall just like you will not see back to back restaurants with liquor offering any kind of food you wish.  I had to learn to say yes to the import of liquor licenses into the borough and sell that idea to the powers at the time. 

A series of yeses brought forth revitalization. Many times when you look at the processes that go into the events, you need to be careful and use your best understanding of what is proper and what is not proper. It is important to listen to ideas when they are presented.

Of course as a downtown manager, you want to add your own touch, but you cannot be disappointed when the governing body does not adopt your strategies. Others were still saying no, using their best judgment. When I was down on South Street I had problems with tattoo parlors and drug paraphernalia shops and I lobbied hard to have them excluded from the list of by-right businesses (zoning) in the downtown. Much to my chagrin, I was turned down and the council decided to embrace tattoo parlors based upon the fact that downtown Paoli had a tattoo shop.  I thought that was a weird reason but hey man… is what it is. 

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