http://blog.preservationnation.org/2014/03/14/main-street-can-teach-us-sustainable-preservation/#.UydArVFdVFdVYx
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Lewiston, Idaho
en.wikipedia.org |
Hello Everyone:
Historic preservation is one of the environmentally friendly professions in the building industry. Let me clarify, the historic preservation field has the sustainability as a built in value. After all, one of the goals of the preservation is to rehabilitate and repurpose old places for future generations. However, what about main streets in small towns like Lewiston, Idaho? National Trust for Historic Preservation is a strong supporter of small communities across the United States. The mom-and-pop shops that do business on the local Main Streets know the value of repurposing old buildings in the way they draw the local and tourist populations to the downtown area and call attention to historic places within the communities they reside in
(http://www.preservationnation.org).
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Lewiston-Clarkston Downtown circulation
wgmgroup.com |
The Idaho community of Lewiston has a long history of a strong local economy. It begins with its ideal location on the deep-water accessible Snake and Clearwater rivers which enables local businesspeople to ship out timber, grain, and other products across to the Pacific Ocean. Ric Cochrane, assistant director of the Preservation Green Lab, recently traveled to the small town near the Idaho/Washington State border to to report on the revival of its downtown. Lewiston is the epicenter of the aluminum jet boat universe. It is located on the entrance to Hell's Canyon and headquarters to Potlactch lumber mill. Mr. Cochrane has a special connection to the place, until twenty years ago, his mother ran a Main Street shop. That was until big box stores such as Wal-Mart and Costco moved in, leaving the downtown in a struggle for survival. However, thanks to the Beautiful Downtown Lewiston program, Main Street is thriving once again and on its way to becoming the next designated Main Street in accordance with the National Main Street Center network.
(http://www.mainstreet.org)
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Downtown Lewiston, ID
resultsrealty.net |
Ric Cochrane speculates that Downtown Lewiston will outlive the chain stores. How is this possible. Mr. Cochrane believes the reason for this optimism is that the downtown initiative is lead "...by people who care about each and take a long view of prosperity..." If this sounds somewhat idealistic, Mr. Cochrane offers up evidence to support his claim that small town Main Streets are the future. The majority of his time spent as associate director of the Preservation Green Lab is focused on running the America Saves! project, a national campaign to provide energy efficiency to small business and building owners in Main Street communities and older urban neighborhoods. Through Green Lab's research, the group has learned small businesses and small building owners have neither the time or the resources to invest in energy efficiency, even when it translates in to saving operation costs, asset value and local job creation.
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The Commercial Trust Company
326 Main Street. Lewiston, ID
thehurlbutmansion.com |
Mr. Cochrane believes that the key to helping Main Streets fully realize the benefits of energy efficiency is through aggregation-i.e. grouping together businesses to create economies of scale and leveraging a community's existing social capital to attract resources and investments. Essentially, this means grouping together businesses that will mutually benefit from each other while taking advantage of the interaction among proprietors and customers to build communities. What makes the whole thing work is community members supporting one another, mobilizing participation, and maintaining the momentum. This idea has caught the attention of the sustainability movement.
On November 12-14, 2013, Mr. Cochrane traveled to Boston, Massachusetts for the annual EcoDistricts Summit
(http://www.ecodistricts.org), which is focused on sustainable neighborhood development. Ric Cochrane reports, "In a marked change from previous Summits, Boston included a large number of community-based organizations (CBOs). Why? Because the ecodistricts movement is realizing that technical resources alone don't achieve sustainability objectives..." Technical resources are fine but people want to be in charge of their own communities, and the tool: governance models, financial mechanisms, and sustainability metrics must be of service to the people. Mr. Cochrane further reports that he was approached by quite a number of people who asked him if EcoDistricts was just a different name for the same thing they've doing for years. His answer, "Yes, it is. The same could be said about Main Streets."
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Downtown Des Moine, Iowa
city-data.com |
The strengths of the Main Streets program are key to achieving its goals and realizing the related economic, social, and environmental benefits. New sustainability-centric tools are available to help Main Street communities move their efforts to the next level. Mr. Cochrane cites Main Street Iowa as his favorite example for showing how this is accomplished.
The Iowa Economic Development Authority and Main Street Iowa are leading statewide efforts that support community development, sustainability, and economic activity. The motto for Main Street Iowa is "We Help Communities Achieve Historic Preservation with High Economic Impact." The results are impressive. In fiscal year 2013, for every dollar used by the Main Street Iowa program yielded more than one hundred seventy-three dollars in private investment. More than 2.5 million volunteer hours have been clocked in the nearly thirty year of this program's existence.
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A sure sign of civilization, a Starbucks in Des Moines
city-data.com |
The strong base of the Main Street network permitted the IEDA to push energy efficiency initiatives forward, bringing with it technical instruments and sustainability solutions to places that have been mobilized. One example, the towns of West Union and Woodbine are showcases for holistic sustainable approaches to community revitalization, improved energy performance, district energy, storm water management, building rehabilitation, enhanced public spaces, and upper-story redevelopment. Main Street Iowa received a $261,000 United States Department of Agriculture grant to take the successes of the test cases and conduct thirty-six "greening your district" site visits, build sustainability program, and conduct education and training. Woodbine boasts forty-five buildings participating in an energy efficiency program. In the meantime, nine buildings have already shown 30% more energy efficiency. Further, the IEDA and Main Street Iowa recently received a federal grant to develop two Regional Energy Manager positions to work with the twenty Main Street Iowa cities in order to increase demand for city-owned building energy efficiency projects. The IEDA will work in conjunction with the cities to develop financing options for energy efficiency programs.
The Iowa case study vividly demonstrates the necessity of helping communities determine their own priorities and redeveloping the resources to help people achieve their objectives. The historic preservation took kit: practicing cultural heritage and the oral history of a place are the backbone of Iowa's success and preservation every where.
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