The decision certainly wasn't a difficult one for the Monroe City Council, but its vote to extend the life of Monroe Main Street through 2011 was the right call. The organization's purpose and vision are worthy of the city's investment and commitment.
Now, during the time created by the council's vote, it is imperative that Monroe Main Street turn the recent flurry of discussions and dreaming into tangible, noticeable improvement projects to the downtown.
The streetscaping visioning process being conducted by Arnett Muldrow and Associates has involved a large number of people from the city's business, government and civic sectors. The "Downtown ... and Beyond" project designed to revitalize Monroe's downtown area has created discussions about business incubators, site redevelopments, aesthetic improvements, increased signage, traffic changes and even the creation of a culinary center. It's a very ambitious vision.
"Changes in the coming year are going to be dramatic," Tripp Muldrow, community planning associate with the Greenville, S.C., firm directing the project, told attendees at the Green County Development Corporation's annual meeting in February.
There also has been the recent creation of a downtown facade grant program to give a financial assistance to the restoration of building fronts.
All of these efforts, if they come to fruition, would indeed bring the kind of "dramatic" changes to Monroe's downtown that Muldrow and others are predicting.
And that is the task ahead for Monroe Main Street, the work that ultimately will determine whether the program is a success or falls short of its promise.
Barb Nelson, in her second year as the Monroe Main Street director, and the organization's board must now find ways to turn the plans and dreams from talk into action. Increased promotions and activities, and work toward more uniform downtown business hours are nice things for Main Street to achieve. But the real value in the program will come from a physical transformation of the downtown that sets the area up for future economic prosperity.
Nelson and the board can't do that work alone, obviously. But they must continue to bring community members and groups into the process. They must sustain the buy-in on a vision plan that is easier to build when the discussion is about what could be rather than about how to make "could be" happen.
The city resolution passed last week carries the Main Street program through Dec. 31, 2011. Now, the city still must assess its investment in promise and potential. By 2011, the program's value must be easily assessed in its results.
Now, during the time created by the council's vote, it is imperative that Monroe Main Street turn the recent flurry of discussions and dreaming into tangible, noticeable improvement projects to the downtown.
The streetscaping visioning process being conducted by Arnett Muldrow and Associates has involved a large number of people from the city's business, government and civic sectors. The "Downtown ... and Beyond" project designed to revitalize Monroe's downtown area has created discussions about business incubators, site redevelopments, aesthetic improvements, increased signage, traffic changes and even the creation of a culinary center. It's a very ambitious vision.
"Changes in the coming year are going to be dramatic," Tripp Muldrow, community planning associate with the Greenville, S.C., firm directing the project, told attendees at the Green County Development Corporation's annual meeting in February.
There also has been the recent creation of a downtown facade grant program to give a financial assistance to the restoration of building fronts.
All of these efforts, if they come to fruition, would indeed bring the kind of "dramatic" changes to Monroe's downtown that Muldrow and others are predicting.
And that is the task ahead for Monroe Main Street, the work that ultimately will determine whether the program is a success or falls short of its promise.
Barb Nelson, in her second year as the Monroe Main Street director, and the organization's board must now find ways to turn the plans and dreams from talk into action. Increased promotions and activities, and work toward more uniform downtown business hours are nice things for Main Street to achieve. But the real value in the program will come from a physical transformation of the downtown that sets the area up for future economic prosperity.
Nelson and the board can't do that work alone, obviously. But they must continue to bring community members and groups into the process. They must sustain the buy-in on a vision plan that is easier to build when the discussion is about what could be rather than about how to make "could be" happen.
The city resolution passed last week carries the Main Street program through Dec. 31, 2011. Now, the city still must assess its investment in promise and potential. By 2011, the program's value must be easily assessed in its results.
