A Proposal for Salisbury’s Downtown – Duplicate Success

So far we’ve talked about a possible group to market downtown Salisbury to (as investors and entrepreneurs), and we’ve glossed over the parking issue. Today I thought we could look at something else pretty obvious:

Why try to re-invent the wheel when we can look at what other successful downtown revitalization efforts have done.

I know, Salisbury’s different. Salisbury’s special. We’re too good to worry about what other people and other towns have done. It just wouldn’t work here.

Well, why don’t we just bulldoze the whole area, or abandon it to whatever.

If you look around, you can find great examples of other towns of similar size that have done a great job with their downtowns. I like to look at Harrisonburg, Virginia as a great example. Size is similar. It has a university. There are a lot of similarities. Besides Harrisonburg, there are lots of other examples.

Here are some common themes (we’ve already talked about parking) taken from a speech by Eddie Bumbaugh, Executive Director of Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance:

• Authenticity. People appreciate that downtowns are real and historic. No new development, no matter how good it looks, can replace that authentic feel. Main Street participants can build upon that.
  
  
• Recruiting new businesses and other volunteers to help with the effort but retaining the ones you have. Existing merchants groups can co-exist with Main Street programs.
  
  
• Getting more people to live and work downtown. That attracts businesses, including possibly a grocery store.
  
  
• Providing plentiful free parking, but setting time limits so it’s not abused.
  
• Tax incentives are only “marginally important,” Bumbaugh said. A thriving downtown will sell itself to business prospects.
  
  
• Streetscaping and facade-improvement projects help make downtowns feel more welcoming.
  
  
• Holding regular events and attracting a hotel where visitors can stay within walking distance.
  
  
• Marketing downtown as the best place to shop and dine and developing gift certificates that can be used throughout downtown.
  
  
• Putting together a monthly newsletter to keep people informed about the efforts.

Some of these things Salisbury already has in place:

• Authenticity / Historic factor.
  
  
• Getting more people to live and work downtown.
  
  
• We have a hotel. However, Third Friday (while great) isn’t sufficient to bring regular traffic downtown.

We need to work on the remaining items and glean more wisdom from those who have been successful at reviving their own downtowns.

G. A. Harrison is the Managing Editor of “Salisbury News”.Delmarva Dealings appears each Wednesday and Sunday at SbyNEWS.com.