 "In Illinois there are 60 active Main Street communities with more
than 1,500 new downtown businesses, and these communities are
credited with creating 3,200 full-time jobs and 2,400 part-time
jobs," the governor said. He "encourages the expansion of Main
Street's vision for the future."Barb Reinwald, president of Main
Street Lincoln, and its executive director, Wanda Lee Rohlfs, were
at the national conference March 1-4.
The trend from national data is a return to the downtowns because
they remain the symbolic heart of the community, where community
demographics, economics, energy and cost forces come together. There
are no new malls being built and the convergence for the chains is
to downsize and move back to the center of the community.
Main Street communities are the best place to locate because of
their advocacy, energy, organization and commitment of the
businesses, property owners, shoppers and residents in those
commercial districts.
Quinn concluded that as we are "Becoming Main Street 2.0" -- the
conference title -- economic development and community renewal will
come as a result.
[Text from file received from
Main Street Lincoln] |
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