The Main Street Program:
Lessons Learned
The Main Street Program has been very successful in its efforts since 1980, and has been shown to be one of the best approaches yet developed for revitalizing aging downtowns. Over the years hundreds of communities have entered the Main Street Program, and many others have adopted some of its strategies without receiving full support from the National Main Street Center.With its years of experience to draw on, the program has established some guidelines that are helpful in understanding the nature of downtown rehabilitation projects. They are:
- The revitalization process is incremental; change cannot all happen all at once. (Such a one-shot approach was the essential failing of earlier urban renewal programs.)
- Revitalization must be a self-help program, supported and implemented by members of the downtown community themselves.
- Accomplishments should be emphasized, rather than problems.
- As a corollary to the above, focus should be placed on the assets of a downtown, rather than on its weaknesses.
- In the first year of a program, the biggest accomplishment may be a change in attitude, from negative to positive.
- Quality should be the byword in all physical improvements.
- The rehabilitation process should be continuous and ongoing. A good program will always have short-term goals with projects that can easily be seen and appreciated, along with long term efforts which, though not always on the front burner, may be more critical in the long term.
