Editor's Note: We are fortunate this week to have a good partner and friend, Katharine Czarnecki of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation as our guest blogger. Katharine is a member of our Michigan Main Street Advisory Committee and the Michigan Downtown Conference Planning Partners. She manages the Community Assistance Team, who, by the way, are a great resource for communities looking to tackle bricks and mortar projects. Without further adeu, Ms. Czarnecki...

By Katharine Czarnecki, Manager
Community Assistance Team (CATeam)
Michigan Economic Development Corporation

WHAT IS THE CATeam?
The Community Assistance Team (CATeam) was created in 2001 within the walls of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. We are charged with being a community’s first point of content within State government. Our primary focus is to provide technical and financial assistance to Michigan’s communities. We have built partnerships within MEDC, neighborhood organizations and other state agencies to facilitate the development or redevelopment of Michigan’s downtowns. Our goal is to help you prosper.

WHAT TYPES OF PROJECTS DOES THE CATeam WORK ON?
The CATeam targets redevelopment in traditional downtown settings and commercial corridors throughout Michigan's urban areas with programs such as brownfield redevelopment. These areas are most often associated with groupings of commercial parcels, with multi-story buildings of historical or architectural significance, and are zero lot line. These pedestrian friendly gateways have an appropriate mixture of commercial, retail, and residential.

WHAT IS A BROWNFIELD?
Most commonly, a brownfield is thought of as contaminated property brought about from historical industrial and manufacturing uses. However, properties considered functionally obsolete and/or blighted may also be considered a brownfield in Michigan. It may also be helpful to visualize a vacant, abandoned, vandalized or underutilized commercial or residential property as a brownfield.

WHAT INCENTIVES ARE AVAILABE FOR BROWNFIELD PROPERTIES?
The state of Michigan provides MBT credits, on a case-by-case basis, for projects that redevelop a contaminated, blighted or functionally obsolete "brownfield" property. Credits are available for up to 12.5% of eligible investments or 20% for certain core urban projects. In addition to Michigan Business Tax credits, projects may also be eligible for TIF (capture of state and local taxes) to reimburse developers for performing non-environmental activities, including demolition, lead and asbestos abatement, or if in a Qualified Local Governmental Unit (PA 146 of 2000) additional reimbursement for public infrastructure improvements and site preparation.

WHAT TYPE OF PROJECTS ARE TARGETED FOR BROWNFIELD CREDITS?
Brownfield MBT credits are targeted at projects that are mixed-use, increase density, and are located in traditional downtowns or commercial corridors. Recently, the MEDC has placed an emphasis on sustainable or "green" development, and looks favorably on incorporating the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification or another comparable program.

WHAT ABOUT OTHER GRANT OPPORTUNITIES?
The CATeam provides funding to Michigan’s non-entitlement communities through our Community Development Block Grant program. We provide matching funds for Façade Improvement, Signature Buildings, Downtown Infrastructure, Planning grants and Blight Elimination. Communities can qualify for CDBG dollars through job creation or area-wide benefit if you community meets certain income qualifications.

WHO DO I CONTACT FOR ASSISTANCE?
To find your geographic CATeam Specialist, please visit our website: http://themedc.org/Products-Services/Community-Assistance/Default.aspx

[Read More]

By Joe Borgstrom, Director
Specialized Technical Assistance
& Revitalization Strategy (STARS) Division
Michigan State Housing Development Authority

With the explosion of numerous downtown organizations using social media, communities are out on the Internet like never before. Combine that with the evolution of the newspaper industry to new media and there is an amazing digital universe to now inform and market your community in. In this universe, you are free to send whatever message you want about your community. Feedback is nearly instantaneous. Most people get into this filled with the best of intentions – hoping to promote only the positives of their community. However, spend a little time online, either reading the e-edition of newspapers, in chat rooms or in the blogosphere, and you’ll find there are LOT of people who are willing to rain on your parade. Don’t believe me? As my friends from Team HALO suggest, try the “Love/Hate Test”: Google “I love (your community’s name)” and then “I hate (your community’s name).” Most people are shocked at how many people have nasty things to say about their community.

Times Have Changed
In the good old days of the early ‘90s (and before), we used to write letters to the editor. Most self respecting editors would never print a letter that was unsigned. But now, anyone can come up with a nondescript or clever screen name and feel they have license to criticize anything or anyone with little fact to back it up. Worse yet are those who maintain “hate blogs” who do nothing more than offer vicious, non-constructive criticism without offering alternatives. Make no mistake, people who write unsigned letters to the editor or hide their identity online, a.k.a. E-Critics or E-Bullies, are nothing but cowards. They are infuriating and emotionally draining. But what can YOU do about it? Plenty.

What to Do
First Things First- If you’re doing downtown work, you are going to be open for criticism. Accept it and develop some thicker skin. The old saying goes, “You can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs.” Remember, you do your best to make as many people happy as you can, but there is no way to make EVERYONE happy. Deal with it. If you’re using an inclusive process like Main Street, be sure to include the fact you engage the public through the volunteer committees regularly in any response. Nothing quiets dissenters like majority rule.

Electronic News Sources- The “Comment” section is a free for all where some of the nastiest comments are made. My honest advice is to ignore it. The comments left are often forgotten by the time the browser closes by everyone except those who they were made about. The people who do write comments are generally a small group that spends all their time making negative comments on most every article they can find. Don't waste energy on this. Engaging in this forum can rapidly degenerate into a quicksand of negativity. Just move on.

Blogs & Bloggers- This is an emerging area. Many people are unsure whether or not to consider these folks “media.” Many bloggers use their e-powers for good and not evil (like us!) Most can be quite helpful. However, from time to time there are those who choose to use the medium in a negative way. Make sure to reach out and include all bloggers in your area on your press release distribution list. Half the time these folks are anonymous so that may be hard. If they do make themselves known, do include them on your lists. Make every effort to ensure they are getting the correct information rather than what they hear on the street. Offer to meet one-on-one to clear up any misunderstandings. They might attend meetings and say nothing then wait for the comfort of their screen to let the vitriol fly. These people clearly like to cause conflict. The best thing you can do is put as much correct and positive information out as possible. Speaking of which…

Offer an Alternative- Does your downtown organization have a blog yet? You should. This offers you the opportunity to tell your side of every story outside the parameters of the standard press release. Many blog tools, like Blogger, offer comment moderation which allows you to view and approve comments before they are posted. When you write, don’t acknowledge the individual negative blogs/Bloggers in your posts, just use it to tell your story. Make sure to be inclusive and transparent.

Know Your Rights
I’m not a lawyer. I don’t even play one on TV. Keep that in mind. Also, keep in mind posters and bloggers are still subject to the same defamation and slander laws as everyone else. They probably believe the anonymity of the Internet protects them from this. They are wrong. If there are such personal and vicious attacks being launched on these sites, you have the right to pursue it legally. Internet service providers and newspapers can be quite accommodating if they believe they might be thrown into a legal battle if they don’t cooperate. It’s a last ditch (and costly) effort, but it could bring about finality to the situation. Talk to your lawyer more if you think you might need to go this route.

Online media holds such tremendous promise. Don’t let a few nay-sayers ruin your good work. As Zig Ziglar says, “Don't be distracted by criticism. Remember - the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.”

Go do good.

Editor’s Note: Special thanks to the numerous people contributing advice and stories this blog was based on, notably, Marianna Hayes, Andy Chapman, Patrick Reagan, and most importantly, YOU for reading this longer than usual post.

[Read More]

By Jamie Schriner-Hooper
Organization Specialist
Michigan Main Street Center
Michigan State Housing Development Authority

So, it’s that time of year. The flowers are blooming, the birds are chirping and in-boxes are blowing up with requests to volunteer for every event imaginable. In the last two days, I’ve received requests to volunteer for several spring plantings and clean-ups, a festival, a golf outing, two poker tournaments, a bowling event and a few others. Granted, I do volunteer quite a bit, but even for me, this is a lot. I grew up volunteering or being “voluntold” as one of my favorite Scottville Main Street volunteers puts it. My mom taught my sisters and me that if you can help someone, you should. There will always be a point in your life when you need help, and better to have helped others when that point comes. Not only that, studies show that volunteers live longer than people who don’t volunteer. I’ve never seen a study on it, but I’m relatively sure that volunteers are also happier people!

As the former director of a Main Street program, I worked with and relied on volunteers to do the majority of the projects that were done in my community. Plain and simple, if they weren’t there doing the work, the work wouldn’t be done. That truly is the case with so many organizations around. So, you ask. How do you decide what to support and where to volunteer? Is it coaching your kid’s baseball team? Manning the neighborhood garage sale? Taking part in a walk for the American Cancer Society, Komen Foundation or other worthy cancer-fighting cause? Being a Big Brother or Big Sister? Sitting on a Main Street Committee? Well, the answer is, you have to decide what means the most to you, prioritize and find the things that you can and want to do, and then help to find volunteers and help for the things that you can’t support.

How, exactly, does this work? Take someone who would like to improve their downtown. They want it to look and smell nice, have interesting businesses that attract and serve visitors and are open during convenient times, have fun festivals and special events in the downtown and have people and funds to take care of all of those things. Well, that’s where Main Street comes in to play. Main Street® is a four-point approach that looks for volunteers to focus their efforts on one of four areas: design (looking nice), promotion (attracting people to the area), economic restructuring (ER) (having successful businesses) and organization (having the volunteers and funds to make everything happen). As much as we’d love to take care of all of those things on our own. Let’s be real. We may be control freaks but we simply can do all of those things on our own. Believe me. I’ve tried. Heck. I even made a career of it!

What the Main Street approach preaches is to pick one thing that you love and focus in on that thing. You may love festivals. You love planning them, finding sponsors, reserving the porta-potties, the hectic day-of set-up, managing volunteers and then the moment when you look out over the crowds and know that you’ve done a good thing. In your case, you should sit on the promotions committee. You may also think it is important that your downtown look pretty, so you might occasionally volunteer to plant flowers if you have a spare couple of hours or, better yet, pick up that piece of trash that you see when you’re walking down the street, but special events are really your thing. If you know a great gardener, architect, designer or someone with a talent for making things look good, encourage them to sit on the design committee. You definitely want great businesses in your downtown, but when you hear market analysis; your eyes start to glaze over. Well, we can definitely rule out the ER committee. However, you know an attorney or real estate agent who would definitely fit the bill. Or, if you know someone with a particular penchant for fundraising, organization committee it is!

What Main Street says is that the responsibility shouldn’t fall on the shoulders of one person. Many hands make light work. Plus, one person can not have the expertise that the hundreds of Main Street volunteers have. If they did, I can’t imagine the size of their hat! So, find what you truly love and what you’re good at. Focus in on that thing and then find others to help fill the other voids. Don’t forget, enjoy what you do and know that your help is truly appreciated!

[Read More]

Editor's Note: In lieu of a blog post this week, we present this shameless plug for the Michigan Downtown Conference...

The Planning Partners of the Michigan Downtown Conference are seeking nominations for the 2009 Michigan Downtown Awards. Nominations are due by July 1, 2009. Click here to nominate YOUR downtown for an award in one of the following awards:

Project-Based Awards (Open to all Michigan downtowns)

Green Project (Small-Scale*) - Successful entries in this category will demonstrate principles of sustainability and/or green building design that enhance downtowns or traditional commercial neighborhoods. The project or promotion submitted must achieve measurable energy-saving/efficiency standards, and have documented evidence that the project utilized sustainable products, programs, and practices. Describe the project and results; in addition, submit photographs, news articles, brochures, newsletters, web-site pages, or other information to support the nomination.

*Scale represents the scope of a project, not the size or population of the municipality where Green Project is located.

Green Project (Large-Scale) - Projects that are large in their scope will qualify for consideration in the Green Projects (Large-Scale). See award description for “Green Project (Small-Scale)”.

Redevelopment - This category is for projects that reuse or rehabilitate existing downtown properties. The successful entry must show measurable community impact demonstrated by news clippings or other proof that the property has been returned to productive use for the community. Projects that have garnered significant private investment and/or leverage of local, state and federal incentives will earn additional consideration. Describe the project and results; in addition, submit photographs, news articles, brochures, newsletters, web-site pages, or other information to support the nomination.

Innovation - This is the all-purpose category to showcase your communities’ “big idea” for your downtown. Any project, program, or promotion that has enhanced the downtown in a cutting edge fashion should be considered. Demonstrate your “big idea” with a brief description of the project and measurable results; in addition, submit photographs, news articles, brochures, newsletters, web-site pages, or other information to support the nomination.

Living Downtown - This category is for downtown-based, mixed-use housing projects. Communities must demonstrate the positive impact to the downtown area in narrative form. Give us the facts and figures too - number of units, affordable vs. market rate, costs to develop, public and private investment, etc. Describe the project and submit before/after photographs of interior and exterior views and other information to support the nomination

Small Community Façade Rehabilitation Project - Small communities up to 10,000 in population will qualify for consideration in façade improvement projects. These projects should be downtown-based, mixed use with improvements made in the spirit of historic preservation. Before and after photos are essential to evaluate the visual impact to the community. Any historic photographs of the façade that are available should also be submitted to support the design and integrity of the façade rehabilitation. Projects in this category can be for façade work only, or for façade work that was part of a larger building rehabilitation project. The nominated project could be for a single façade, or multiple facades that were completed at the same time under a special façade or building rehabilitation program. Consideration will also be given to projects that have a high community impact such as a corner building with multiple facades, or rear facades that are highly visible.

Large Community Façade Rehabilitation Project - Large Communities with populations over 10,000 will qualify for consideration in façade improvement projects. See award description for “Small Community Façade Rehabilitation Project”.

Blueprints - This award will be given to a local Blueprint for Michigan's Downtown community for the overall impact the program has had on the downtown since going through the Blueprint process. The successful entry will describe both major and minor activities and/or projects completed by the program that has led to positive changes within the community. Describe the program's successes and submit photographs, news articles, statistics, and/or other information to support the nomination.

Collaboration - Working together is the key to successful community transformation. Successful entries will demonstrate the breadth and depth of collaborative relationships. Describe the project or projects around which the collaboration has occurred. Quantify and identify the collaborators and their contributions. Describe results and submit photographs, news articles, or other information to support the nomination.

Main Street Awards (Open to Michigan Main Street Selecet & Master Level Communities Only)

Main Street Four Points - Design - This category is for a successful project completed by the local Main Street community’s Design Committee. The project should be unique and focus on at least one component of the committee’s responsibilities including: design and/or historic preservation education, design assistance, public improvements, downtown planning, and/or design incentives. Describe the project and results and submit photographs, news articles, or other information to support the nomination.

Main Street Four Points - Organization - This category is for a successful project completed by the local Main Street community’s Organization Committee. The project should be unique and focus on at least one component of the committee’s responsibilities including: volunteer management activities, volunteer recruitment and retention strategies, promotion or the local Main Street program, training opportunities for local volunteers, and/or fundraising activities. Describe the project and results and submit photographs, news articles, brochures, newsletters, web-site pages, or other information to support the nomination.

Main Street Four Points - Promotion - This category is for a successful project completed by the local Main Street community’s Promotion Committee. The project should be unique and focus on at least one component of the committee’s responsibilities including: special events, retail events, branding and marketing activities, downtown/business directories, and image-building projects. Describe the project and results and submit photographs, news articles, event posters, directories, or other information to support the nomination.

Main Street Four Points - Economic Restructuring - This category is for a successful project completed by the local Main Street community’s Economic Restructuring Committee. The project should be unique and focus on at least one component of the committee’s responsibilities including: business retention strategies, business recruitment activities, utilizing market studies, business/building incentives, business education programs, and community-initiated development projects. Describe the project and results and submit photographs, news articles, or other information to support the nomination.

Michigan Main Street Program of the Year - This award will be given to a local Michigan Main Street program for the overall impact it has had on the downtown over the past year and its utilization of the Main Street Four-Point Approach. The successful entry will describe both major and minor activities and/or projects completed by the program that has led to positive changes within the community. Describe the program’s successes and submit photographs, news articles, statistics, or other information to support the nomination.

Michigan Main Street Manager of the Year - This award will be given to a Main Street Manager for the overall impact he/she has had on the local Main Street program. The successful entry will describe how the manager has coordinated and facilitated activities of the Board of Directors and committees, been a resource to downtown property and business owners, fostered collaboration with other organizations, and been a positive force behind the program’s success. Describe the Manager’s impact and submit photographs, news articles, statistics, or other information to support the nomination.

Robert Busby Volunteer of the Year - This award will be given to a Main Street volunteer for the overall impact he/she has had on the local Main Street program or a specific committee. The successful entry will describe how the volunteer has been an integral part of the local program. Describe the volunteer’s impact and submit photographs, news articles, number of volunteer hours, statistics, or other information to support the nomination.

You can;t win if you don't nominate your downtown! Enter now!

[Read More]