by Penny Parsekian

I recently had a conversation with a well-informed New London resident who, I discovered, had no idea of the scope of work undertaken by New London Main Street, the nonprofit program that has been working to revitalize New London's historic downtown since l998.

More often, I hear from people who know what we do, but believe that we should be devoting our energies to all of New London, not just the 26 blocks of downtown. Still others feel that we should have a regional focus to realize economies of scale and package assets. So, why is New London Main Street so stubbornly focused on downtown?

The answer lies in the strategy the city adopted back in 1998, when it decided to re-start the Main Street program after a false start in 1995. Historic downtowns were dying across America. The National Trust for Historic Preservation offered a solution, generously funded in Connecticut by CL&P, a program that claimed these historic town centers were the key to making cities like New London recoup their losses to malls and strip development.
Instead of looking for the outside expert or guaranteed solution, such as big development projects, the trust approach was incremental and local. It advocated a return to community self-reliance, local empowerment, and the rebuilding of traditional commercial districts based on their unique assets: distinctive architecture, a pedestrian-friendly environment, personal service, local ownership, and a sense of community.

The trust's how-to formula was a commonsense approach that required work in four areas: 1. The downtown had to be made clean and safe and undergo upgrades; 2. The public had to be told about these improvements through marketing and image campaigns; 3. Existing businesses needed to pull together and make the shopping experience user friendly in terms of coordinating hours and activities; and 4. A corps of volunteers, funders, and supporters had to be mobilized to do the work and relieve the city of some of this burden.

The National Trust and its Main Street Center had tested their ideas in pilot programs. They learned that to compete with the malls, downtowns need a mall manager, a go-to person or organization. The city leadership and departments have the whole city to manage, so Main Street programs were structured to play this role. Unlike the mall, however, Main Street does not own the properties or control the leases, which, in the mall, dictate store hours, activities and updated window displays.

Main Streets operate by consensus, with a board of directors setting strategy and policy and, here in New London, over 300 volunteers working toward that vision.

New London Main Street's focus on downtown is as sensible as the mall manager taking care of the mall, and its scope of work is as broad as the mall manager's.

The value of a successful downtown to the whole region is more easily answered in the obverse: a derelict downtown in the region's midst is a drag on the whole. On the other hand, a strong and vibrant business and commercial district creates an economic force that enables the community to afford the services necessary for a desirable quality of life - fire, police, sanitation, education, parks and recreation, and other services that benefit the whole community.

Finally, an economically healthy downtown is also a valuable adjunct to sustaining an equally healthy region.

Has the strategy worked in New London? Downtown property values have increased 61 percent since Main Street's inception in 1998, compared with just 2 percent overall in the city. Those downtown improvements have resulted in significant increases in taxes for the city. At the same time, public and private investment downtown has exceeded $100 million.

Working with support from corporate partners, the city, the City Center District, New London Landmarks and others, significant design improvements have been made, a new image campaign, with logo and Web site, launched, marketing publications produced and distributed, and the businesses are beginning to work together to cross promote and plan. Hundreds of volunteers have contributed thousands of hours to the effort.

Much remains to be done. Foot traffic will grow with more activities and attractions, and these visitors will discover that shopping and dining downtown is pleasant and safe. More than ever, with all that has been invested and accomplished, New London Main Street needs to retain its focus and keep striving for a downtown that will realize the dream of a regional center of commerce and culture.

Penny Parsekian is Chief Executive Officer of New London Main Street.

Published in The Day, February 21, 2010