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September 2, 2010
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Monroe looks to Madison for guide
Published October 21, 2009
When Monroe was awarded its Main Street designation earlier this month, city officials didn’t have to go far to find an example of the good the city revitalization program can do.
Even before Monroe was awarded the designation by the state Department of Community Affairs, leaders toured the Morgan County city, eyes gleaming with dreams of turning downtown Monroe into a similar tourist destination, lined with quaint shops and eateries.
“We visited the cities of Covington, Conyers and Madison,” said Monroe Councilman Jimmy Richardson, council liaison to Monroe’s Downtown Development Authority. “We received great feedback from all these cities, but the City of Madison stood out, especially with the way they have developed a park in the middle of town with many restaurants and businesses surrounding the park. I think anytime we can copy another towns success stories, we should do it. I think the city of Monroe’s future is bright with our current leadership, with the DDA and the plans we are putting in place with the park we have and the exciting news for the growth for restaurants and shops we have coming in the near future.”
Madison, which has been a Main Street city since 1984, has used the Main Street program to not only promote the city but utilize funds designated to Main Street cities to improve the look of the area through facade grants and projects like the park.
So how does Monroe go about following Madison’s lead?
Ask Madison Main Street Director Ann Huff and Monica Callahan, the city’s planning director and DDA executive director.
The duo works together to handle all of the planning and marketing the Main Street program encouraged through grants and planning resources.
“It takes the right mix,” Huff said. “You’ve got to have a good number of restaurants, a good number of professionals and your government downtown. It’s the mix that creates activity.”
Callahan, who is also president of the Georgia Downtown Association, said there is no magic formula for success, but she tells city leaders who tour Madison there are five things needed to utilize Main Street’s resources properly:
1. Quality stable consistent leadership. The program can’t work without a proactive and supportive government.
2. Extraordinarily supportive and engaged volunteer base. Citizens need to be involved and education.
3. Identify a good vision. There needs to be a really strong understanding of where you’ve been, what you value in your community.
“Madison doesn't have the best architecture,” Callahan said. “People identify with it because of a sense of place — a strong identity. Thirty years ago the city laid out what it wanted to be re-enforced.”
4. Learn how to identify and remove impediments.
5. Sense of layering. No one thing will solve it.
“One grant is not going to fix your community,” Callahan said. “No one thing can take precedence over the other. You’ve got to be working on all of it.”
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