Downtown Marketing and Development

Insights and observations on the redevelopment and revitalization of post-industrial towns on the Route 422 Corridor in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

like0

Stochastic Events and Change, Trust the Narrative

All, all that you dream 
Comes to shine in silver lining 
And clouds, clouds change the scene 
Rain starts washing all these cautions 
Right into your life, make you realize 
Just what is true, what else can I do 
Just follow the rule 
Keep your eyes on the road that's ahead of you 

            Paul Barrere / William H Payne

Sexual Identity and Change

I recently changed my pronouns to "It" and "Itself" because pronouns are not something I wish to address in my life. However, I still say "yes sir" and "yes mam" without regard for the nuances in public discourse.

Last Days of Lockdown

Within days I will be rolling out a new website highlighting to my trip across the country from May 15 to June 15, 2021. I am glad I could make the trip to visit cities across America. Thank my benefactor, Manny DeMutis, for letting me work on creative projects.

I took special care to visit friends along the way as we shared stories of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Hazy memories of hazy times added to the lure of the visits. Being in Charleston, WV, where I went to school, and Memphis, Tennessee, where I was a union organizer, made me a little nostalgic. 

Change: The Ability to Say What You Think

Knowledge and technology have a way of inserting themselves to change customs and traditions of the past. What a person believed and spoke about in one era could be accepted as true, only to determine that it was false later because of a deeper understanding of the subject. I still believe Galileo was a heretic.  

Change: Law and Order in the Cities 2022

As I visited cities across America between May 15 and June 15, 2021, I felt very secure walking around 70 towns and cities. I had a couple of incidents but nothing major. Most of my career has been spent working in less than stellar areas and performing community development tasks. I am familiar with the routine of hard-core teenagers and unstable homeless seeking to be aggressive.

Preparing for a Disaster

As I muddle through the plethora of options on flood recovery and mitigation in Downingtown, I have been struck by the FEMA and PEMA staff's professionalism. We have been able to make inroads in flood recovery due to their involvement and participation.

Flood Relief in Downingtown

Recently I was asked to help with the flood relief effort in Downingtown. As in many cases, I am helping at no cost. Unfortunately, the Borough of Downingtown is up against it with the flooding this year. There have been two floods, and the lower-income areas that have typically been located in flood plains and industrial areas were hit hard.

The Borough Building was flooded and the flood mitigation plan was destroyed. My mission was to expedite the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) buyout program.

Equity and Inclusion

What I have found interesting is the debate over what is being taught in schools. For example, when I was young, in Fords, New Jersey, school #14, we said the "Lord's Prayer" right after the Pledge of Allegiance. Then someone would be required to read a bible passage in front of the class. It was almost putting you on the spot. You had to be able to read, and if you went up there and stumbled around, it did not reflect well for you.

Institutional Poverty

While at the recent statewide downtown conference in Reading, I spent a couple of days checking out the city. One of the mobile workshops was held at a public housing complex close to the hotel. 

What Makes the Reading to Philadelphia Train Project so Compelling?

The first time I tried to work on passenger rail service to Phoenixville (Greenline project), I thought we had a good chance of completing the project, and, at the time, the Citizens for the Train group was in high gear. There was a contribution from Liberty Property Trust to do the initial study, and there was participation from Norfolk Southern as we negotiated for the line. 

Planning for a Main Street Manager in a New Fiscal Reality

When government money becomes tight, as it has in recently, requests for funding need to be more competitive. The key to submitting a reasonable application relies on doing your homework on the front end. There cannot be any loose ends and there cannot be any holes in the funding application.

The key to a competitive application is a good plan. How are good plans developed? They are developed through stakeholder participation and talent. Many times, I am asked to help a town get some money for a project or an idea and I run into the same problem … not a strong plan.

The End of Main Street as We Know it

The Commonwealth funded Main Street program is about to come to an end. Say goodbye to the Main Street program and say hello to Keystone Communities. The proposed new program will offer fewer dollars for downtown revitalization as the Department of Economic and Community Development (DCED) budget contracts. The proposed new program is a one-year program that is designed to get people started in downtown development. 

Main Street Manager and Business Recruitment

One of the goals important to board members of a Main Street program is business recruitment. I know that many board members feel that the culmination and result of the main street effort should be to bring in more new stores to the downtown. Recruiting makes your town more vital and helps to diversify the business mix. This is a good goal but it is not an easy goal to attain. 

Revitalization and Government Budgets

Many remember the days when main street projects were plentiful and many boroughs in the region were participants in the state sponsored Main Street Program. In the past couple of years there have been issues with governmental budgets and there has been considerable belt tightening. Many of the programs were terminated as cities and boroughs tried to balance their budgets and still keep essential services.

Downtown Infill

Many times when doing downtown economic revitalization you encounter “holes” in the streetscape. These are lots in the downtown that for one reason or another do not have buildings on them. The lack of continuous buildings creates problems with foot traffic flow. 

Economic Restructuring in the Downtown

When a town gets together to revitalize there is always a lot of discussion concerning they want to accomplish and how they want to move forward with any number of projects. When the projects start moving ahead there is a sudden realization concerning what they really want, and that is economic restructuring. In the beginning the question always arises just what is really economic restructuring, and what can be done to effectuate it? If in the initial stages, the group simplified economic restructuring to be too general, it could present a problem.

Organizing for Revitalization

Perhaps the first step in the revitalization process is the organizing process. You know how it goes— a few people get together and say they need to do something about their town. Usually they refer to how things were in the past when people walked four abreast down the street. But also, it could be a couple of people seeing potential and seizing the moment to plan some improvements for the future.

The Standard Event

One of the issues that towns struggle with all the time is how to bring more people downtown. There is nothing like putting people on the street as a way to give your town the feel of revitalization. If the town has had a “heyday” in the past, people will always compare what happens in a revitalization to the “heyday.”

What is Your Town's Vision?

Each town is a unique entity with different strengths and weaknesses. Some towns have a strong building stock, some have strong retail and others have little of anything. The focus on what your town has to offer can many times be overlooked.

The Importance of a Sense of Place

One of the hardest things to do as a main street manager is to develop a sense of place for the town.  Many times when someone is hired to revitalize a town there is really just a thought of what the town “used to be” back when it was in it’s heyday. People talk about how the crowds could not be accommodated on the sidewalk because there were so many people shopping. In most cases that perception of what it “used to be” is not relevant to what it is now. 

No questions have been added to this group.
No polls have been added to this group.

Recent activity in this group

Barry Cassidy's picture
Barry Cassidy posted Flood Control Along Beaver Creek in the Downtown Marketing and Development group
Fri, 1/24/2025 - 12:51pm
Barry Cassidy's picture
Barry Cassidy created Flood Control Along Beaver Creek in the Downtown Marketing and Development group
Fri, 1/24/2025 - 12:18pm
Barry Cassidy's picture
Barry Cassidy posted When Agencies Go Away, Some Programs Stay in the Downtown Marketing and Development group
Wed, 12/18/2024 - 4:39pm
Barry Cassidy's picture
Barry Cassidy created When Agencies Go Away, Some Programs Stay in the Downtown Marketing and Development group
Wed, 12/18/2024 - 4:01pm

Group contributors

Organizers

  • Barry Cassidy's picture

Contributors

  • Bill Haley's picture