Is Oxford’s Main Street program headed in the right direction?
A ‘resource team? consisting of five Main Street experts will assess the community’s progress and make recommendations during an Oct. 4-7 visit to the village.
‘They’re going to look at our first year’s activities and see if we’re at least on the right track,? said Amanda Cassidy, executive director of the Oxford Downtown Development Authority.
It’s been one year since the Village of Oxford was welcomed into the Main Street Oakland County (MSOC) program, which now consists of 12 communities working to revitalize their downtown areas.
MSOC is an economic development program specifically targeted to provide technical assistance to the county’s downtowns.
The county program is partnered with the National Main Street Center (a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation) which has successfully helped revitalize more than 2,000 downtowns in 40 states since 1980 using its ‘Four-Point Approach? ? Organization, Promotion, Design and Economic Restructuring, each with its own committee.
Since its induction into the program, Cassidy said the first year has been spent recruiting volunteers and ‘educating? each of the Four-Point Committees on their various roles by attending Main Street workshops and seminars. Each committee has created its own work plan, which Cassidy said is basically a ‘map of the future? detailing ‘what you want to accomplish this year.?
A four-person Main Street ‘needs assessment team? visited Oxford back in April.
‘That visit was looking at what we had to begin with,? said Cassidy, adding she expects this second visit to yield more recommendations as to where Oxford should go from here.
From touring the downtown on foot and the entire village by car to interviewing a broad spectrum of local people, Cassidy said the resource team is coming here to ‘make sure we’re following the program? and offer ‘suggestions on how to keep our work plans on schedule and focused on revitalizing our downtown.?
‘In Main Street, you have to play by the rules,? she said. ‘They’re going to make sure we’re on the right path before we get too far.?
The first two days of the team’s visit will be spent fact-finding and information gathering through on-site reconnaissance and interviews with locals.
In addition to meeting with representatives from the DDA, village government and Chamber of Commerce, the resource team will also conduct a total of 14 half-hour-long inteviews consisting of two local people per session.
A diverse group has been selected for these 14 interviews including property owners, merchants, bankers, insurance people, real estate people, and representatives from the Oxford Beautification Commission, Northeast Oakland Historical Society, Oxford Lions Club and Oxford Women’s Club.
The interviewees will most likely be asked their views on downtown Oxford’s past and future along with their likes and dislikes about the area, Cassidy said.
The DDA director admitted she included in the interviews ‘people who haven’t really been involved? with Oxford’s Main Street program as a ‘tactic? to hopefully ‘get more people interested.? Cassidy said the DDA can always use more ideas and more volunteers.
Following their visit, the resource team will send the Oxford DDA a final report within six weeks suggesting strategies for local action.