Thursday, September 28, 2006

Clayton Selected as Main Street Community

Gov. Mike Easley announced today (October 5) that four North Carolina towns have been selected to participate in the North Carolina Main Street Program, an initiative for smaller cities that focuses on creating new jobs and investment by helping revitalize downtown areas. The new participating cities are Clayton, Fuquay-Varina, Hickory and Wake Forest.

“The Main Street program has a proven track record of achievement in revitalizing downtowns across North Carolina,” Easley said. “Encouraging new business investment and job creation, as well as supporting the continued growth of our downtown areas in our smaller cities, is vital for their success.”

Clayton’s Downtown Development Coordinator, Bruce Naegelen, said, “We had been hopeful (about being selected), but there were seven other communities in the application mix for four slots. When we received the call late Monday afternoon, we were very pleased, and are looking forward to being part of the Main Street community.” He said the application was a "team process" which included representatives from the DDA board, town staff, Johnston County Tourism, Johnston County Arts Council and letters of support from a number of businesses, Chamber of Commerce, Johnston County Commissioners and Johnston Community College. Naegelen said he was also appreciative of the support given by the state legislative delegation, State Senator Fred Smith, and State Representatives Leo Daughtry and James Langdon.

He added that, "Just like the application process, revitalization is a team effort. It's taken a team to get this far along in the process and it's going to take the community team to continue the process." He added, "The Main Street designation will certainly help us achieve and continue our goals for the revitalization of downtown Clayton."

The N.C. Main Street Program, which provides technical assistance to its designated communities, is part of the N.C. Department of Commerce’s Division of Community Assistance. New communities are selected through a competitive application process. Main Street participation is open to any community with a certified population of less than 50,000. Eligible communities must commit to hiring a full time downtown manager and funding the program for an initial three-year period. Towns under 5,000 may hire a part time manager.

As Main Street communities, these towns have access to support services designed to help revitalize and stimulate growth in their downtown areas. Some of the support services available include technical assistance in the areas of organization, design, promotions and economic restructuring. Other services include guidance, training and networking.

Clayton’s Downtown Development Coordinator will manage the Town’s Main Street Program. “The training and technical assistance we will receive will greatly benefit the revitalization efforts of Downtown Clayton,” said Naegelen.

The Main Street program was developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1980. Since 1980, North Carolina Main Street communities have seen more than $1 billion invested, experienced a net gain of 11,500 jobs, renovated more than 2,700 buildings, and had more than 2,800 new business startups in their downtowns.

With the addition of these four towns, there are a total of 57 Main Street communities in North Carolina. Other North Carolina Main Street communities include: Albemarle, Belmont, Boone, Brevard, Burlington, Clinton, Concord, Eden, Edenton, Elizabeth City, Elkin, Farmville, Forest City, Goldsboro, Henderson, Hendersonville, Hertford, Kinston, Lenoir, Lexington, Lincolnton, Lumberton, Marion, Mocksville, Monroe, Mooresville, Morehead City, Morganton, New Bern, Newton, North Wilkesboro, Oxford, Reidsville, Rocky Mount, Roxboro, Rutherfordton, Salisbury, Sanford, Shelby, Smithfield, Southport, Sparta, Spruce Pine, Statesville, Sylva, Tarboro, Wadesboro, Waynesville, and Wilson.

Along with these four new Main Street Communities, the Department has also selected the newest participants in the Small Town Main Street Program. The new participants are the towns of Ayden, Fairmont, and Mount Gilead. These towns will join the other seven small town main street participants. This program follows the same principals of the Main Street Program but is designed for communities with a population of 7,500 or less with no downtown manager. The other Small Town Main Street participants are the towns of: Chadbourn, Mount Olive, Spring Hope, Weldon, Williamston and Zebulon.

For more articles:
http://www.newsobserver.com/152/story/489257.html
http://www.claytonnews-star.com/news/2006092702338.html
http://www.claytonnews-star.com/opinion/2006092701333.html

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