[MainstreetTowns] City support

Fri Jul 7 14:32:30 CDT 2017

Karen and Main Street Friends,

I agree with your thoughts totally on the budget split, Karen.  This is the "perfect" formula.  However, I know that some successful Main Street towns have other ratios that work for them.  The perfect formula is an incredible one to use as a basis.  I say try to stick as close to this as possible.  Good suggestion!

If I remember correctly, way back when, as in last century (or before the turn of the century), you broke down your city's contribution in an incredible way.  I don't remember the exact numbers, but I think it went like this:  You divided the $10,000 Main Street investment by the number of residents (2,100 approximately-you may have the exact number at the time) which meant the town was investing $4.76 per resident in the Newkirk Main Street efforts each year.  You then equated that to "that's a cup of coffee and a couple of doughnuts" per person that it cost the city.  (You may have even had a promotion like a Mornings on Main Street coffee to promote this.) You then followed up with the reinvestment figures showing that there was a significant return on this investment.  It was so simply stated and yet so easily understood, making it hard to decline Main Street financial support.  HINT:  Break your city's financial investment down to a small increment of some type.  Karen's was a great model!

With the risk of really coming off as an old-timer here, I read all the exchanges earlier in the spring about salaries and benefits. I want to weigh in on this as well.  Back in '86 (1986, not 1886), when we took the first round of towns, the state was in a totally dismal shape with the oil bust.  However, the Main Street committee who crafted the program set some standards.  This was when the program was taking towns of populations between 5,000 and 50,000.  Each program had to hire a full-time manager.  The salary had to be at least $24,000 a year (at least-not limited to).  The manager (now director) must have health insurance, paid sick leave, and paid vacation leave.  That was in 1986 in the middle of a nightmarish decade.  For that first round of towns, there were 12 applications for 5 spots.  The unofficial mantra was, "If your town is not worth $2,000 a month, should it be on the map?"  It made us all think about the value of our towns-at a time when absolutely nothing seemed to have any value at all.  In 2017 dollars, what would be the equivalency of $24,000?

As we added the Small Towns Program in 1992 and the Urban Programs in 1992, we had different standards for these communities.  Sometimes that got sort of weird as some urban areas had smaller districts and fewer buildings than some of the small towns did.  However, the complexities of being in a larger city sometimes outweighed the available resources at hand, making the urban areas more difficult than the smaller towns.  We tried to adjust as needed so that all programs could be successful.

During the last spring legislative session, there were so many  proposals for raising more revenue.  I don't remember hearing about or reading about any ideas that really addressed ways to increase sales taxes in all these towns.  I don't remember hearing anyone talk about the importance of having and supporting small, existing downtown businesses.  HINT:  Here's a refreshing campaign platform that I can get excited about!

In the early years of Main Street, we tracked sales tax collections before a town became Main Street and then after.  Every town was a success!  Nationally, we all know that retailers (even the big corporate ones) are having a terrifically bad year this year-the worst since The Great Recession almost a decade ago.  Malls are where Main Streets were 30 years ago-struggling for the most part.  These struggles translate to decreased sales taxes.  HINT:  For all the Jessica's out there in the Claremore's all over the state, I would focus on how sales taxes have increased since Main Street has been in your communities.  I am not sure a Main Street program ever could be self-sufficient...but I do know these programs always provide a return on investment.  One of these returns is increased sales taxes.

I know money is very tight out there for everyone.  However, I've also seen incredible local leadership in very lean times before.

I've just gotten back from a trip to Quebec City, Quebec.  On tours it was interesting to hear about what a slum the historic part (now a UNESCO World Heritage Centre) of the city was in the 1970s and 1980s.  Their Great Oil Bust version of the 1980s was the succession movement from Canada-with the following isolation that occurred as non-French speaking people felt unwanted and totally avoided the province, decimating the tourism industry.  And then there were "the formidable winters."  HINT:  How many of our towns are bilingual?  Congrats to Guymon (English and Spanish as well as other languages); Tahlequah (English and Cherokee); Okmulgee (English and Muscogee Creek); and Muskogee (English and Okie--everywhere).  Towns along Route 66 get a lot of international tourists.  Towns with universities have students and faculty who speak other languages.  Military bases (Enid, Altus) and international businesses (Bartlesville, Ponca City, Duncan) have people who speak other languages. What businesses offer that they have bilingual services as a way to make people feel welcomed?  I focus on this language thing because we heard many times about the "only French spoken here" phase of Quebec and how it alienated so many people-especially those from other parts of Canada.

One of the most interesting language "barrier" stories that I've heard in the past couple of years was in Natchitoches, Louisiana, a GAMSA town.  There was a store owner (small little grocery with fresh produce) whose family hometown was Natchitoches.  However, while her father was in the Air Force and stationed in Germany, she was born, growing up speaking German.  Once her dad retired, they moved back.  She opened this small grocery.  As a German-speaking African-American store owner, she let it be known that anyone could come shop for groceries in her store and speak German as a way that they could practice the language and she could retain it.  Other merchants (including our bed and breakfast owner), high school kids, and college kids shopped there.  As there is a strong German heritage in this part of the state, this also kept that element alive and well.  She had fun with this.

Well, the old walled city, the Lower Town, and the entire downtown of Quebec City are incredible.  I could go on forever about all the great things there.  Everything is now bilingual (thankfully because I would have been limited to French fries and French toast).  However, the winters are still there.  The place is bustling!  There is still a lot of city support.  Everywhere.  Still.

We have such incredible towns.  We need more people who generate more sales tax.  All of you Main Street directors are important and influential people in your towns.  Keep up the 4-Point successes.

My apologies for such lengthy comments.  What you are doing out there is so important.  I hope these scattered comments help.  Enjoy your weekend.

Ron

From: MainstreetTowns [mailto:mainstreettowns-bounces at lists.onenet.net] On Behalf Of Karen Newkirk Main Street
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2017 1:38 PM
To: Mainstreet <mainstreet at claremore.org>; MainstreetTowns at lists.onenet.net
Subject: Re: [MainstreetTowns] City support

The point to this is that it is necessary to have support from the City for a Main Street community.  When Newkirk first started the program, the City's investment was 1/2 of our budget of $20,000 at $10,000 - Over the years our budget has increased because we do more projects etc and we have never asked for  more than the $10,000.  But  I think the ratio should be 1/3 from City; 1/3 from membership and 1/3 from fundraisers.  Have you ever shown them the ratio of reinvestment to their investment?  They, honestly, could not have a better investment than Main Street!  We are worth  our weight in  gold.
Karen Dye
Newkirk Main Street
116 N. Main - P.O. Box 235
Newkirk, OK  74647
580-362-2377
www.newkirkmainstreet.com<http://www.newkirkmainstreet.com>

"We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems."  John W. Gardner
"You can change the future of your community or you can sit back and allow whatever happens to happen."  Jack McCall

________________________________
From: MainstreetTowns <mainstreettowns-bounces at lists.onenet.net<mailto:mainstreettowns-bounces at lists.onenet.net>> on behalf of Mainstreet <mainstreet at claremore.org<mailto:mainstreet at claremore.org>>
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2017 5:17 PM
To: MainstreetTowns at lists.onenet.net<mailto:MainstreetTowns at lists.onenet.net>
Subject: [MainstreetTowns] City support

All,

I had a Board member request I contact the group and find out a few things about your city's investment in your Main Street program. Ours is committed to Main Street, but someone on City staff recently asked this particular Board member when we would be "self sufficient" so we're wanting to have some info about other communities to help with that communication.

Community Size:

City Investment (dollars):

City Investment (in kind value):

What percentage is your city's contribution in your overall operating budget?

Has it increased/decreased/remained the same in the last five years?

Thank you!

Jessica Jackson

Claremore Main Street, Inc.

419 W. Will Rogers Blvd.

Claremore, OK  74017

O/C: 918-341-5881

F: 918-342-0663

downtownclaremore.org<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.downtownclaremore.org_&d=DwMF-g&c=qKdtBuuu6dQK9MsRUVJ2DPXW6oayO8fu4TfEHS8sGNk&r=uEzvK2mbrxHpom6DmnuWwQ&m=ikFgRiPT_aZQNNT4c4baKIQCVPur7Ki7tmC9o0eAM38&s=h7lcpUUSXvSMvoGbLgK3l5WdxiEUC4UVEx5VfCUUXf0&e=>

[MainStreet-email4]

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.onenet.net/pipermail/mainstreettowns/attachments/20170707/35a6c326/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 3420 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://lists.onenet.net/pipermail/mainstreettowns/attachments/20170707/35a6c326/attachment-0001.jpg>