Revitalizing a Community

Empower a community, restore pride, these are just some of the ideas the Herkimer now group has to revitalize Main Street. Today the group welcomed an expert on revitalizing main streets. "The Main Street Program is a very comprehensive program and what we're doing is trying to is analyze whether Herkimer has the capacity, the will, the interest in developing a comprehensive program for downtown revitalization." Herkimer now is a grass roots effort and today they gathered government officials, business owners and the community to talk about the revitalization project. "They want downtown to be like how they remember it with stores and businesses, Mom and Pop shops. They are concerned about safety, they're concerned about economic development for the area. And so those are the things a lot of people are talking about." Herkimer Mayor Mark Ainsworth is a member of the Herkimer now committee. He says this project will bring a sense of pride back to the area. "Main Street is the heart of the village, it always has been, its right in the center of town. So certainly I think if we can find a way to get Main Street back to where it used to be or bring things in to make people want to come back down then it certainly helps the entire community not just Main Street." With 25 years' experience Teresa has seen hundreds of communities and what tough economic times can do to them. "They're facing a lot of similar issues, the decline of downtowns is not new but of the revitalization, the renaissance of these downtown communities is also something that we're seeing all over and I see tremendous opportunities here for Herkimer." The revitalization may be in the beginning stages but the group is confident the project is going in the right direction.

Herkimer Now Website - http://www.herkimernow.com/