Happy New Year to all the readers of this fine publication.  I would like to start the new year with an update on the Main Street program. 

On a national level, the National Main Street program has split from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and has moved to Chicago. They are reworking the “four points” to be more current. One of the four points, “economic restructuring,” has been changed to “economic vitality.” It appears that some local folks thought they were being restructured out of town. I call that resistance to change. Worrying about something like that is characteristic of dealing with people unable to muster much resistance, and instead, want to change the name of a process that will remain the same.

In Pennsylvania, Main Street is now a “concentration,” not a program. The term is Keystone Communities and you can have a main street (commercial development) or an elm street (housing), or you could just be a keystone community, but that has more to do about funding than practicality.

The elimination of the administrative funding for the programs has created problems for the communities. Where there were once 50 Main Streets and almost as many Elm Streets, now there are less than 20 combined. The program has tanked. New lows of achievement and not a lot of funding.

Starting at the end of Rendell administration, and during the Corbett administration, the Keystone Communities program was born. The idea was that you provide a bona fide plan for development, and you will get priority funding.  Through the first years of the Wolf administration, as well as the Corbett administration, the funding has been cut several times.

It was during this time that the Community Revitalization Program  (CRP), also known as “Walking Around Money” (WAM), the so-called holy grail of political patronage, was eliminated. I guess you can see where this is headed. Take a politician’s political lifeblood away officially and there will be other avenues that open.

It appears that the Keystone Communities line item was one of the ones to take a hit, as one half of last year’s budget was not given competitively, but instead for other priorities that are not clearly evident. This means that even though you have planned and went through all of this hocus pocus inspired bureaucratic paperwork, that you really have no better chance of getting funded than someone who has no plan. 

It is disheartening to deal with this kind of situation for sure, as I look at the impact to the human capital doing downtown economic development. The money for projects is just an aside.  Since I have been doing this kind of work since the early ‘70s, I have pretty much seen the rise and fall of the program. 

There is a big difference in the caliber of people now performing the tasks. When I went to work in Castle Shannon, I had to get a waiver to do the work there. The amount of dollars available for the program has seriously cut into what is being offered as salary.  It made sense for me to do it as a contractor, and do some other communities too while I am working there.  The state meetings for the Main Street program and what is left of the Elm Streets are very limited and bring out some folks without a whole lot of training.

I think they may be better not offering the Keystone Communities at all, and just tell people to talk to your representatives. Or better yet, move into a key district in a competitive political area and deliver 78 percent of the vote or something. The way things are fragmented today, I am not sure if there is any rhyme or reason for the dollars that have been given out. Maybe it would be better to bring back the WAM. At least that way, everyone got some and you do not have to be in a caucus chair, or anything like that as your representative. Or maybe you could have your representative hold out on some key vote until you get the money. Not sure how that works or if it would even work, but I am throwing it out there as an idea.

How bad is it? It is pretty bad. But… nevertheless… things change, and it still is important to secure the designation as a Keystone Community so when they do change… the community may have a chance.

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