MAIN STREETS PROGRAM REVIEW

November 2010

DOCUMENT OVERVIEW

The main street program has become an elemental planning strategy in the culture of Canadian local economic development. The following is introducing this program. The list below illustrates the layout of the document.

Introduction American main street consulting Virginia HDC Rues Principales Quaticook Rues Principales Contre Coeur Rues Principales Saint Romaud Point Saint Charles Other Main Street Programs Additional resources

Important contacts identified by interACTION appear in grey text throughout these pages.

INTRODUCING MAIN STREET

The Main Street program is a widely recognized initiative that embraces a four pronged approach to local economic development: merchants organization, local economic development strategies, design strategies, monitoring strategies. The program had its start in Canada in the early eighties under the Heritage Canada Foundation.

In the United States this program began atroughly the same time. It is currently administered under the national historic trust in Washington DC. It has become a popular resource for community groups who wish to develop strategies for the economic development of their local main street. The American model has followed a private sector, consulting format whereby services are purchased from the organization (see the following page). Main Street programs are spread throughout the U.S. In this document a project from only only one will be examined.

Quebec has chapter of the same organization called Rues Principale headquartered in Quebec City. They have been very active in Quebec for over 25 years, and their collaboration with different communities across the province has resulted in a number of valuable projects. Many of their best practices and annual updates are available online. A sample of these which might prove instructive for the SDBSL can be found in the following pages.

Fig.1 Terrasse photo: interACTION

PRIVATE SECTOR MAIN STREET MODEL

This is a typical advertisement for information available from the American Main Street model in Washington DC

This webinar can be purchased for $10.00, for example, from the website of the national historic trust. http://www.preservationnation.org/resources/case-studies/

AMERICAN EXAMPLE

This group acting as a business improvement association used the Main Street program to to develop a campaign for filling vacant store fronts with temporary businesses. The campaign was called “pop up shops”

Using simple marketing and good research they were able to make this idea of temporary or itinerant store fronts viable and sexy.

Virginia Department of Housing & Community Development

Main Street Centre, 600 East Main Street,

12th Floor North Conference Room

Richmond, Virginia 23219

Douglas.Jackson@dhcd.virginia.gov

Rue Principales Quaticook

This group was able to implement a program for business development funding to the tune of $75 000. The program that helped to stimulate existing businesses and kick start a few new ones.

The money for this project was gathered from the municipality and the association with and the support from Rues Principale helped Rues Principales Quaticook to attain the funds from the municipality and activate those funds through a participatory process involving case by case project evaluations.

On Saint-Laurent money is already available for business development through the PR@M program. At the SDBSL it is Laure who administers interaction with the merchants concerning this program. Perhaps communicating with Rues Principales Quaticook would offer new ideas and directions.

Julie Favreau

Agente de liaison commerciale

150, rue Child

Coaticook (Québec) J1A 2B3

Tél. : 819 849-9677

Courriel : jfavreau@ciril.qc.ca

RUE PRINCIPALES CONTRE COEUR

Rue Principales Contre Coeur marketed their business development campaign using “Buy Local” rhetoric and ran a Christmas decoration competition during the holiday season. The winner was awarded a spread in the local paper and a $700.00 gift certificate for future publicity.

The Christmas decoration competition is an excellent idea. On a street as diverse as Saint –Laurent the variety decorating styles alone could become an attraction.

The incentive this group offered the winner of the competition was also very good. The promise of a credit for publicity is an appropriate reward geared for developing the business.

Marie-Noëlle Girard, chargée de projet

4865, rue Legendre, bureau 209

Contrecoeur (Québec) J0L 1C0

Tél. : 450 587-5588

Téléc. : 450 587-7104

Courriel : ruesprincipales@

tlb.sympatico.caFig.2 Le Monde Sur La Main photo: SDBSL

RUES PRINCIPALES SAINT ROMAUD

Rue Principales Saint Romaud used this network to help it put on line their own list of enterprise. It is a different style of list from the one currently employed by the SDBSL characterized by a different categories.

It is interesting to note that a connection to the Rues Principales program can enable a group to accomplish efforts of very diverse nature – from Chrismas decoration solutions to web application solutions.

www.ruesprincipalessaintromuald.com

Martine Bussière, coordonnatrice

2321, chemin du Fleuve

Saint-Romuald, Lévis (Québec) G6W 1X9

Tél. : 418 834-3662

Téléc. : 418 839-2794

Courriel :

info@ruesprincipalessaintromuald.com

HISTORIC PLAQUES IN THE POINT

This was a colaboration between the Comité de revitalisation des rues du Centre et Wellington et la Société d’histoire de Pointe-Saint-Charles

The southwest borough in Montreal worked on the RUE Centre. Their project connected historical plaques with the local merchants by having them displayed in the shop windows (ie. instead of on the street)

This is a project that mirrors the efforts by the SDBSL and les Amis du Saint-Laurent along the main. For the continuing/future success of the SDBSL’s historical plaque campaign colaboration with Pierre Luc Côté might bear fruit.

Pierre Luc Côté,

Responsable du Projet et Commissaire, Développement Économique Local

815, rue Bel-Air , 1er étage

Montréal (Québec) H4C 2K4

Tél. : 514 868-5037

Courriel : pierre-luc.cote@ville.montreal.qc.ca

Fig.3 Guitar Circle photo: SDBSL

OTHER MAIN STREET PROGRAMS

The Younge Bloor Bay Busines Development association

http://www.ybba.org/

TheTorontoBusinessDevelopmetnCenter

http://www.tbdc.com/

The Oregon commercial district revitalization Program 

 http://www.oregon4biz.com/

Portland Mainstreet

http://www.pdc.us/bus_serv/business_support/mainstreet.asp 

The Boston Main Streets Program

http://www.cityofboston.gov/mainstreets/ 

The Alberta Main Street Program 

http://www.albertamainstreet.org/default.aspx

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Holdsworth “Reviving Mainstreet” National Main Street Center book “Guiding Design on Main Street: The

Professional’s Manual for Managing Design” Canada Foundation for Saskatchewan Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport (2009)

“Main Street Past and Present” Main Sstreet Handbook “Fill-in-the-Blank Business Recruitment: A Workbook for

Main Street Business Development”

Please See the bookstore at the website of the National Historic Trust:

http://www.preservationbooks.org/Bookstore.asp?category_id=76