Main Street Arkansas Calendar June 28-July 2

*******************************************************************

MONDAY Greg, Susan, Mark & Nancy in DeWitt

TUESDAY Greg, Nancy & Mark in Helena; Susan in Paragould

WEDNESDAY Greg, Nancy & Mark in Russellville, Susan in Rogers

THURSDAY Susan-Rogers

FRIDAY

*****************************************************************

Arkansas Preservation Grants awarded last week

Press coverage with video at http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=107024&catid=2

Nice Press for opening in downtown Paragould

Tour (on video below) Harry Truman Moore's newly rehabilitated place in a historic bank building in downtown Paragould. With law offices below and new apartments upstairs, it's a Main Street showcase, and one of MSA interior design consultant Susan Shaddox's biggest projects this year.

Downtown Rogers business wins national green award

Brick Street Botanicals won a Green Plus North American Sustainable Enterprise award from the Institute for Sustainable Development. Brick Street can proudly call itself the Green Plus Sustainable Sole Proprietor of the Year. www.gogreenplus.org

Historic rehabilitation tax credit programs are efficient job creators

Rutgers University has comprehensively studied the impact of the Federal Historic Tax Credit Program since its beginnings, in 1976. Their report shows the tax program to be a “highly efficient creator of jobs.” Highlights and link to the report: http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/community-revitalization/jobs/

On a related note, PlaceEconomics just completed an economic impact assessment of the state of Delaware’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program, which has proven to be a major economic development tool in the state. We hope the same will come of Arkansas’s new program. http://www.placeeconomics.com/index.html

Face Time: How to Reach Young Donors

(May 11, 2010) Although we often associate people ages 20 to 40 with texting, Facebook and other high-tech communications, donors in that age group say that when it comes to requests for their time or money, they put high value on face-to-face communication. http://www.afpnet.org/Audiences/ReportsResearchDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=4455

Getting a Green Light from the IRS

We hear this complaint all the time. A Main Street program files an application for 501(c)(3) status using the model application provided by the National Trust Main Street Center (NTMSC). The organization has carefully conformed its articles of incorporation to the sample purpose statement endorsed by the NTMSC. The application is identical to the successful application filed by an organization in the neighboring town. And yet, the IRS turns them down. How could this be?

http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/main-street-news/story-of-the-week/2010/getting-a-green-light-from.html

Main Street Arkansas Calendar June 21-25

****************************************************************

MONDAY

TUESDAY Mark and Susan – Transportation Program Workshop in LR

WEDNESDAY Nancy – Batesville, Susan - Texarkana

THURSDAY Mark – Rogers, Susan & Caroline - Searcy

FRIDAY

********************************************************************

IN THIS ISSUE:

Back to the basics of business

Retail Expert Rick Segel reflects on the basics of small business after a peaceful retreat without cell phone service. An excerpt reads:

As you revisit your dream, add this to the equation. Ask yourself how you and your business can enhance the lives of your customers. Are you bringing unique merchandise that they can’t find elsewhere? Are you providing a service that is so special they wouldn’t go elsewhere? Or realize that your competitive advantage is the location and the convenience you offer your customer? Just know what makes you special and/or why your customers think you are special. After all, if you are going to be a specialty business, it’s time you put special back into your businesses. http://blog.ricksegel.com/

Historic law library and more in downtown Paragould

For most of us a law library would not be very interesting. But what about the location that the library was located in? The building itself part of history..part of Paragould's history. http://www.kait8.com/global/story.asp?s=12661694

A Green Model in Arkansas

MSA staff attended a lunch seminar last week about the Green Built Arkansas Model Home. The Model Home is located in the Woodland’s edge, the first 4-star Green Certified Neighborhood in West Little Rock. Although not quite compatible with historic building rehabilitation, there are some basic principles on best practices in sustainability and green building on their web site. Web site also includes a list of Certified Green Professionals in the state. www.hbaglr.com/Green-Built-Arkansas.

Eleven principles for creating great community places

The Project for Public Spaces (PPS) identifies 11 key elements in transforming public spaces into vibrant community places, whether they’re parks, plazas, public squares, streets, sidewalks or the myriad other outdoor and indoor spaces that have public uses in common. http://www.pps.org/11steps/

Tips for State Transportation Fund Applicants

For those of you who are applying with your cities for the Arkansas State Highway Transportation Enhancement Funds (deadline: Augst 25!), the National Transportation Enhancements Clearinghouse’s web site is a great resource. There are plenty of Arkansas examples in the Project Examples section: West Memphis Broadway Revitalization, Rogers Frisco Park and Trail, and Hot Springs Creek Greenway. Also the Searles Prairie in Rogers in the Environmental Mitigation section, and the Big Dam Bridge Little Rock in the Pedestrian-Bike Facilities section. http://www.enhancements.org/index.asp

Application deadline for the Arkansas Transportation Enhancement Program is August 25, 2010. If you have questions about this program please call a Main Street staff member.

Goodbye, Slipcover!

Jaw-dropping change: A recent rehabilitation in downtown Paragould is the talk of the town this fall. Owners Rita Ellington and Madelyn Holifield began work on their historic property, located at 209 and 211 South Pruett Street, in early Spring of 2009. Today, the building is virtually unrecognizable, unless you’ve time traveled from the 1920s, the period to which the building’s exterior was restored.

The historic façade on Pruett Street is one of many hidden architectural gems that lie beneath metal surfaces all over small town America. As was happening to historic buildings all over the country in the 1960s, a metal slipcover was placed over the façade in an attempt to compete with modern shopping malls of the era. On the bright side, the slipcovers have kept original facades considerably intact, as is the case in downtown Paragould. Still, much work was needed to appropriately restore the 1920s character of this building. The brick work was cleaned, tuck-pointed, repaired and replaced where needed. After a masonry primer coat was applied, the façade was painted a masonry spiceberry color. A new cornice was fabricated to resemble the original that had long since been removed. The project was finished with the installations of custom-made awnings and valances in the traditional style.

“The look of Pruett Street has greatly improved, thanks to this newest example of what interested, committed owners and a talented informed contractor can accomplish,” said Main Street Paragould executive director Gina Jarrett. Much of the work on the Holifield-Ellington building was done by a local contractor who is today the go-to person in Paragould for restoration work. The contractor, Chris Bass, one of the first advocates for Main Street Paragould, bought his first historic downtown property ten years ago when the program first started. Lacking a formal background in restoration but ever-willing to learn, the contractor trained himself over the years by using the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, preservation briefs, and online resources. Now a skilled craftsman in historic building rehabilitation, he has bought and restored three buildings downtown.

The new hallmark of downtown Paragould, the Holifield-Ellington rehabilitation is a catalyst for further economic growth in the Main Street area. Such projects create “a little bit of peer pressure on owners who know their buildings need work,” says Jarrett, which causes them to make improvements. Jarrett has also seen such changes impact the community in ways that are not measurable. “All of the [slipcover removals] have made an impact on the downtown area, not only in terms of design and how things look, but in a feeling of pride of ownership.”