Public Needed for Blissfield Main Street Program Baseline Assessment

With the village preparing to adopt bylaws and a manager, Blissfield will begin hearing a lot more about the Michigan Main Street program.

The program will be front and center from Sept. 27-29, when the Downtown Development Authority and Michigan Main Street officials will conduct a baseline assessment in Blissfield.  DDA/Main Street board members are in the process of inviting various members of the community to participate in the process. Many people will be invited with hand-delivered invitations. Most of the community involvement takes place Tuesday, Sept. 28.

“This is a very important step in the Main Street process,” said DDA chairman Lynn Southward. “We need people to get involved. We’ve done a lot of work to qualify for Main Street. And the work has just begun.”

Organizers have several objectives.

• To assess the local community and neighborhood individual technical service needs and to tailor future services to those needs.
• To discuss the timeline for technical assistance deliveries and target Main Street development goals in the year ahead.
• To recognize downtowns strengths and weaknesses.
• To identify obstacles that might impede the development of the Main Street program.
• To promote the visibility and importance of the program.
• The assessment begins at 6 p.m., Sept. 27 at the Depot, where the Main Street team from Lansing will meet the Main Street Board of Directors.

Tuesday, the schedule is more intensive. Some locations have not yet been determined.

• At 8 a.m., the Main Street team will meet with downtown property owners, residents and business owners to gather information about revitalization issues.
• At 10 a.m., the team will meet with the village president Jae Guetschow and village administrator Jim Wonacott to learn about the overall village for downtown and the community, as well as ongoing initiatives and strategies.
• At 11 a.m., the team will meet with key city staff, including the police chief and, potentially, the new Main Street manager to go over issues and other initiatives.
• At noon, the team will meet with the downtown workforce to get feedback on downtown’s strengths and weaknesses. This meeting will likely take place at a local restaurant.
• At 1:30 p.m., the team will meet with existing and potential Main Street partners, including members of the chamber of commerce, historical groups, service groups, industry leaders and more.
• At 3 p.m., the team will conduct a walking tour of Blissfield to introduce themselves to some downtown businesses and try to learn more about their own experience in the district.
• At 6 p.m., the public is invited to attend a reception where Main Street will be promoted. This event will likely take place at the library.

On Wednesday, the team will meet with members of the various Main Street committees before breaking off to outline a summary of observations and recommendations to present to the DDA/Main Street board. At noon, the team will meet with the DDA board and other leaders to present the summary.