Suggestions:
1. Don't post identical requests in multiple places.
2. Use a better title than "Suggestions anyone?"
3. You may need to be a little more up-front: what small town or more about it... it may make a difference in suggestions offered.
4. Read Recky's response... that is much of what I was going to offer.
Study your enemy: the big mall developer used urban planners and politics to move the business out of your downtown. They had government help and tax incentives. You need to do the same, plus you need to prove the point of why the death of downtown actually hurts the community. It needs to be dollars-and-cents explanation, not just emotion and nostalgic rationale.
Study other communities who did the same. It has been done and can be done. Sometimes it involves a lot of change. Rick Caruso does it all the time. His transformation of "dead" areas often don't look anything like what they once were, but they are transformative in the sense that they totally revive an area into something new and vibrant.
Good luck to you and your town.
1. Don't post identical requests in multiple places.
2. Use a better title than "Suggestions anyone?"
3. You may need to be a little more up-front: what small town or more about it... it may make a difference in suggestions offered.
4. Read Recky's response... that is much of what I was going to offer.
Study your enemy: the big mall developer used urban planners and politics to move the business out of your downtown. They had government help and tax incentives. You need to do the same, plus you need to prove the point of why the death of downtown actually hurts the community. It needs to be dollars-and-cents explanation, not just emotion and nostalgic rationale.
Study other communities who did the same. It has been done and can be done. Sometimes it involves a lot of change. Rick Caruso does it all the time. His transformation of "dead" areas often don't look anything like what they once were, but they are transformative in the sense that they totally revive an area into something new and vibrant.
Good luck to you and your town.
