The Main Street Miracle

How to bring dying downtowns to life

The Revitalized Downtown of Ladysmith, British Columbia

A remarkable revolution is taking place in downtowns from one end of Canada to the other. In Fort Macleod, Alta., a revitalized centre town attracts unprecedented numbers of tourists. In Shediac, N.B., new businesses open and sales receipts go up. In St. John's, Nfld., historic buildings are brought back to life. In Cambridge, Ont., the number of downtown jobs skyrockets. In Matane, Que., membership in the local business association jumps by 30%.

Success stories such as these are part of a remarkable turn-around enjoyed by scores of Canadian communities over the past few years. These successes are particularly noteworthy because they were accomplished in the face of a contradictory trend that has spelled long-time woe for many downtowns.

Downtown's troubles date to the late 1940s when Canadian communities suffered a nationwide building shortage. The shortage was caused in part by a two-decade-long construction slow-down (in the '30s, the Depression all but halted the building industry and in the early '40s resources were directed to the war effort). The shortage was exacerbated in the late '40s by a burgeoning population: the start of the baby boom and the arrival of three million immigrants from war torn Europe.

To encourage building, the federal government joined forces with the construction industry and undertook the single most ambitious development program in the nation's history. The result was the suburbs. And soon, the suburbs created their own shopping venues, the malls and shopping strips. The new housing tracts provided first time homes for millions of Canadians but there was a downside, as well. The suburbs drew population away from the established neighborhoods and the malls and strips attracted 50% of the retail dollar. Over the years, this competition devastated downtowns. Sales plummeted. Vacancies rose. There was unemployment, buildings became dilapidated, spirits flagged.

Various initiatives were undertaken to revitalize the traditional hearts of our communities, notably the urban renewal efforts of the 1960s and the beautification schemes of the '70s. For the most part, these efforts failed. In 1979, Heritage Canada launched a program called Main Street Canada and developed it on the premise that downtowns are complex entities: to prosper they must develop both economically and environmentally. The program's strategy was based loosely upon the approach the rival shopping centres used: open an office in the heart of the shopping district; install a coordinator who lives and works in the community; operate a program based on the four-point approach of organization, design improvement, economic development, and marketing. There were important ways in which the program differed from the shopping centres: its approach was incremental, emphasized widespread local participation, developed local resources, and promoted the local communal identity.

The Main Street Canada strategy was tried experimentally in 10 communities: St. John's, Nfld., Bridgetown and Windsor, N.S., St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Ste-Marie de Beauce, Que., Perth and Cambridge, Ont., Moose Jaw, Sask., Fort Macleod, Alta., and Nelson, B.C. Each community enjoyed a remarkable environmental and economic turnaround. Based on their success, the Department of Industry, Science and Technology (then DRIE) in 1985 contributed $5 million to help Main Street take its program to 70 communities by 1991. In the following years, more extraordinary successes were achieved. Two examples:

• CARBONEAR. Five years ago, Carbonear was in trouble. The picturesque out port on Newfoundland's Conception Bay had an unemployment rate that, thanks to the closing of a nearby fishery, nudged 40%. The downtown was devastated: almost half its buildings were vacant. Then Carbonear (pop. 5,000) invited Heritage Canada's Main Street program to town. A Main Street office was established on Water Street and a coordinator, Jerry Dick, was hired. A market survey identified new investment opportunities. A tax incentive encouraged new businesses to locate in the core. A community market and artisans' incubator were launched. Tourism was emphasized. Promotions such as the annual Stationers Festival were linked to local traditions. In just over two years there was a net increase of nine new businesses. The vacancy rate was reduced by 17%. Thirty jobs were created through business starts. About 4,000 people attended local festivals. Ten major building renovations were undertaken, representing a quarter million investment -- a sum that matched the previous 10-year financial input.
  
  
• LADYSMITH. This Vancouver Island community (pop. 4,400) was also in trouble in the mid-1980s. Its main source of employment was a lumber company that closed thanks to the early '80s recession. To make matters worse, half of the town's retail dollars were being attracted away by shopping malls in nearby Nanaimo. In the mid-'80s, Ladysmith jumped on the Main Street bandwagon. In addition, the town tapped private and public funding sources including the provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs' Downtown Revitalization Program and the Heritage Area Revitalization Program of the Ministry of Tourism, Recreation and Culture. An office was opened and Elizabeth Low was named coordinator. As elsewhere, the Main Street approach here emphasized the development of local heritage resources, the collaborative management of the downtown, and aggressive marketing. The Downtown Merchants Association was established in 1986 to promote and market downtown. Emphasis was placed on regaining local retail dollars and on attracting tourists. The most visible change in Ladysmith is the face-lift on First Avenue: a new civic square was created; a streetscape plan was implemented; and renovations by owners were carried out on a large percentage of downtown buildings. The physical renaissance reflected a business rebirth. Since the beginning of revitalization, vacancies have been reduced to nil, 21 shops have opened, and most owners of established stores have reported an upswing in business some as much as 20% in one year.

In these two communities and in scores of others, the Main Street Canada program has helped improve downtown's attractiveness, quality of life, commercial viability, and sense of identity. Seen in its entirety, the program's first decade is chalking up some astonishing statistics. Based on just $5 million federal seed money, the program will create in 10 years no fewer than 6,000 jobs, 1,500 business starts, 700 major building renovations, and generate $90 million in private sector investment.

There is clearly a need for the program. Almost all the 71 original Main Street communities back it. Just listen to a few of hundreds of endorsements: "There is no question about the value of Main Street. Support in our community is unanimous," says Mayor PierreMaurice Vachon, of Ste-Marie de Beauce, Que. "Some kind of fire has been lit under the owners of businesses on Water Street," writes columnist Ken Maher of Carbonear's "The Compass." "The project has been most beneficial to our city and we would like to see it continue," reports Mayor K.R. Burgess of Brandon, Man. "Revitalization by preservation has been implemented with remarkable success," says Mayor J. Roy McIssac of Bridgetown, N.S.

The renewal rate for the program once Heritage Canada officially withdraws from a community after three years is 97%. In addition, there are more than 400 communities, which have shown interest in joining the program. "In spite of its success," says Main Street's director, Gordon Fulton, "the program nears extinction. The federal seed money runs out soon and this means that Main Street is about to pull back on its services." Indeed, if new funds are not received this year from the federal government, the body of expertise the program has developed over the past decade will be lost.

"We still have the expertise, the human resources, and the tools to take our approach to all parts of the country," says François LeBlanc, vice president in charge of Heritage Canada's Demonstration Department, "but we do not have the financial resources to meet the demand. We've made a strong case for the federal government to continue playing a role. If it provides us with an increase to our endowment we can take this most successful program to hundreds more communities across Canada."