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The
Economic Impact of Georgia's Main Street
Program:
A Public/Private Success Story
Mary
Anne Thomas, State Coordinator *
Georgia
Main Street Program
Department
of Community Affairs
Background
In
the late nineteen seventies, concerned citizens
from the public and private sectors of several
small cities in the mid-west approached the National
Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) with a
problem. NTHP
had helped these cities save landmark buildings in
their downtowns. The problem was these buildings,
while grand to look at, sat empty; and around
them, the downtowns were dying.
NTHP
at this time had no previous experience in
downtown revitalization.
However, they decided to begin a pilot
project to see what could be done.
After holding a regional competition among
70 small cities, three communities, ranging in
size from 5,000 to 38,000, were chosen for the
project: Galesburg, IL; Madison, IN; and Hot
Springs, SD.
With
a grant from Bird and Son, a manufacturing firm,
NTHP hired a full time downtown manager for each
of the three communities. Working closely with the
public and private sectors, these first Main
Street Managers became catalysis for change. The
now well-known Main Street Approach ™ to
downtown development with its four point
guideposts: organization, design, promotion and
economic restructuring, was under way.
After
only three years, the economic conditions in the
project cities had begun to turn around. Sales tax
revenues increased by 25%; occupancy rates rose
dramatically; and for every dollar spent managing
the downtown programs, $11 was spent by the
private sector on rehabilitation and adaptive use
projects.
Interest
in this new approach to downtown revitalization
spread rapidly throughout the United States.
In 1980, NTHP formed the National Main
Street Center (NMSC); and in collaboration with
the International Downtown Executives' Association
(IDEA), decided to go national with the project.
States were invited to apply to become part of a
pilot program, with offices of state government
providing: coordination; criteria for designation
as a Main Street city; training for Main Street
managers, board members and other volunteers; and
a vehicle for admitting new cities to the program.
Steve
Storey, then and now with the Department of
Community Affairs (DCA), and Bruce MacGregor, now
with the Georgia Building Authority, wrote
Georgia's application. Joe Burnette, at that time
executive director of the Athens Downtown
Development Authority (DDA), the late Dan Sweat
with Central Atlanta Progress, and Art Jackson,
then with the Waycross DDA, were among the early
Georgia leaders in downtown development who helped
MacGregor and Storey ready the application.
Georgia was accepted with five others states to
take part in the first nation wide effort in
downtown revitalization using the Main Street
Approach. ™
Bruce
MacGregor was named the first state coordinator
for Georgia's new statewide Main Street Program.
Other
states selected were North Carolina, Texas,
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Colorado.
Thirty-eight states entered the competition.
DCA
wasted no time getting the new program under way.
Of the five original cities designated in 1980,
Athens, LaGrange and Waycross are still active in
the program.
1980 to 1993:
Each year, new cities with populations between 5,000
and 50,000, were added to the growing Main Street
roster. However,
in 1991, with budget cuts in departments of state
government, DCA dropped coordination of the Main
Street Program on a state level. DCA had helped to
develop strong local programs, and these programs
continued to grow with guidance from the Georgia
Main Street Association (GMSA) formed in 1988.
In
1993, leadership from GMSA requested the Department
of Industry, Trade and Tourism (DITT) take the
coordination of the Main Street Program. A budget
was developed with the assistance of GMSA and
included in DITT's FY94 budget.
There were 32 cities in the Georgia Main
Street Program when DITT began full time
coordination of the program on July 1, FY94.
The
statistics from Main Street cities complied by DCA
and GMSA from 1980
to 1993 show a program that is succeeding.
Investments
in Central Business Districts (CBD) (Figures
for the first four years of the Georgia Main Street
Program are not complete)
| Private
Investment: |
$204,413,072 |
| Public
Investment: |
$79,915,167 |
| Net
Gain: |
|
| Businesses: |
1200 |
| Jobs: |
7,773 |
The
median yearly budget for a local Main Street program
during this time period was $37,000, and is not
included in the public investment figures. The
private/public leverage ratio is approximately 40 to
1 ($40 private dollars spent for every $1.00 public
dollar). (Figures
supplied by Department of Community Affairs).
Georgia
now has 46 designated Main Street cities. Statistics
continue to prove success and underscore the
economic development impact of planned and managed
downtown development.
| FY94
- FY2000: |
|
| Investments
in CBD |
|
| Private
Investment: |
$356,891,085 |
| Public
Investment: |
$165,528,529 |
| Total
Investment: |
$522,419,614 |
| Net
Gain: |
|
| Businesses: |
2,691 |
| Jobs: |
8,789 |
The
median yearly budget for a local Main Street program
during this 6-year period was approximately $56,000
for a total of $340,000. This figure includes
contributions from the public and private sectors,
and is not included in the above investment figures.
Median yearly budget for local Main Street programs
in FY2000 was $85,000,
up from $54,000 in FY1999.
| Investment
in CBD: 1980-2000: |
|
| Private: |
$561,304,15 |
| Public: |
$245,443,606 |
| Total
Investment: |
$806,747,763 |
| Net
Gain: |
|
| Businesses: |
3,891 |
| Jobs: |
16,562 |
On
the national level in 1999, with 46 states
representing over 16,000 communities reporting their
statistics to the National Main Street Center, the
results are:
| Total
in investment in CBD: |
$12.8
billion |
| Net
Gain: |
|
| Businesses: |
51,000 |
| Jobs: |
193,600 |
| Private/Public
leverage ratio: |
$38.34
-$1.00 |
Investments
and jobs are important tools in measuring the
economic impact of a Main Street program. Another
important measure of a Main Street program's
economic impact is the tax base of the central
business district.
The Office of Downtown Development of the
Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) has done an
excellent study on the tax base in three Georgia
Main Street cities, covering the period prior to
their Main Street program starting (1976) up to
1996.
In
each of the cities (Milledgeville, Rome and Tifton),
the tax base was flat or declining prior to
beginning an organized and managed approach to their
downtown development. After several years using the
Main Street approach, the tax base began a steadying
climb upward, benefiting not only the city but also
the county and particularly the public schools.
Bruce
Green, then with GMA's Office of Downtown
Development, conducted the study with help from the
Main Street managers in the three cities.
In his conclusion, Green states that his
study indicates that cities with an organized,
systemic approach to downtown development, along
with active downtown business associations and a
broad base of community support, experience the
greatest levels of economic development in their
downtown districts.
For
a copy of GMA's important tax base study, please
contact Linda Wilkes at GMA.
Conclusion
The Georgia Main Street Program returned to
the Department of Community Affairs
(DCA) on July 1, 2001.
The Office of Downtown Development was
created to include the Better HomeTown Program, the
Main Street Program and the proposed Urban Program.
The Georgia Main Street Program is proud of
successes of Georgia’s designated Main Street
cities over the last 21 years. With DCA’s
commitment to downtown revitalization for Georgia
cities large and small, we look forward to even more
dramatic success stories in the next 20 years.
We
are also proud of the working public/ private
partnerships, on the local and state level, that
insure the continued success of what Roberta Gratz,
author of The
Living City, has called one of the most
successful economic development programs in the
United States.
*
Written for presentation at the Celebrating Rural
Georgia Conference held in Perry in August 1998.
Statistics revised in September 1999 and again in
September 2000. Text revised September 2001.
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