LANSING, Mich., July 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Jennifer M.
Granholm today announced the four communities chosen by the Michigan State
Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) to take part in the coveted Cool
Cities Michigan Main Street program and Cool Cities Blueprints for
Michigan's Downtowns program. This year's designee for the Michigan Main
Street award is the City of Scottville. The communities receiving the
Blueprints for Downtowns award are the cities of Caro, Clio and Ypsilanti.
Through the Cool Cities Michigan Main Street program, Scottville will
receive five years of intensive technical assistance through MSHDA, with a
focus on revitalization strategies designed to attract new business
investment and job creation to its central business district. The cities of
Caro, Clio and Ypsilanti, through the Blueprints for Downtowns program,
will receive a comprehensive, market-driven strategy toward developing an
action-oriented downtown that will result in economic growth, job creation
and private investments in their downtown communities.
"Michigan's economy cannot thrive without thriving downtowns -- big and
small," Granholm said. "These programs are creating opportunities for new
development, economic growth and jobs in downtowns across our state."
The Cool Cities Michigan Main Street and Cool Cities Blueprints for
Michigan's Downtowns programs are a part of Governor Granholm's efforts to
create Vibrant Communities across the state. These efforts are based on
numerous recent studies showing that investing in our downtowns creates
vibrant centers where people want to live, work, and invest, making our
state economically stronger.
The underlying premise of the Main Street approach is to encourage
community economic development through:
-- Organization: getting everyone working toward the same goal and
assembling the appropriate human and financial resources to implement a
Main Street revitalization program.
-- Promotion: selling a positive image of the commercial district and
encouraging consumers and investors to live, work, shop, play and
invest in the Main Street district.
-- Design: getting Main Street into top physical shape. Capitalizing on
its best assets, such as historic buildings and pedestrian-oriented
streets, is just part of the story.
-- Economic restructuring: strengthening a community's existing economic
assets while expanding and diversifying its economic base.
Communities wishing to become a Main Street Community are asked to make
application to the Michigan Main Street Advisory Committee based on the key
points mentioned above. For more information, visit the Web site at
http://www.michigan.gov/mshda/0,1607,7-141-45746_45779-168499--,00.html.
The Cool Cities Blueprints for Michigan's Downtowns program takes a
comprehensive, market-driven approach toward developing an action-oriented,
downtown enhancement strategy. The prime objective is to develop an action
strategy that will, over a five-year period of time, move forward a
community's traditional downtown toward economic enhancement. Measurable
results include the creation of new private jobs and private investment in
the downtown.
"Programs like Michigan Main Street and Blueprints for Michigan's
Downtowns go a long way in not only helping revitalize traditional
downtowns, but also in making them a more desirable place to live, work and
invest," said Michael R. DeVos, Executive Director of MSHDA." Economic
vitality of our vibrant communities and cool cities is the cornerstone of
continuing economic success for the entire state."
MSHDA is a quasi-state agency that provides financial and technical
assistance through public and private partnerships to create and preserve
safe and decent affordable housing, engage in community economic
development activities, and address homeless issues. MSHDA's loans and
operating expenses are financed through the sale of tax-exempt and taxable
bonds and notes to private investors, not from state tax revenues. For more
information on MSHDA programs and initiatives, visit the Web site at
http://www.michigan.gov/mshda.
SOURCE Michigan State Housing Development Authority
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Related links:
http://www.michigan.gov/mshda
CONTACT:
Mary Lou Keenon of the Michigan State Housing
Development Authority, +1-517-373-0011
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