Strong, dynamic downtown
critical to city’s success
IN THE CITY
by Ken Arndt
In 2008, the city embarked upon a concerted effort to improve the public infrastructure in “downtown” Presque Isle in hopes of stimulating business growth and investment. It is our belief that a strong, dynamic and attractive downtown is critical to the future of Presque Isle.
A May, 2008 Downtown Master planning document was developed during the winter of 2007-2008 and subsequently adopted by the city, as its guidance document. As an integral component, a public input process was structured to get broad based public endorsement and support for these recommended investments, primarily designed to stimulate economic development and additional investment in the center of our community.
In 2009, Presque Isle was successful in getting an award of $250,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding from the Maine Department of Economic & Community Development, which was then combined with other local funds, to construct Phase I-Infrastructure Improvements in the parking lot areas along Riverside Drive. We are currently in the process of developing pedestrian connections designed to encourage shoppers and visitors to spend time and money in the center of our community. Lighting, curbing, sidewalks and landscaping are all an important part of creating more excitement and greater attraction to the city’s core commercial area between Main Street, the Presque Isle stream and Blake Street.
We’d ask that you take some time from your schedules and walk around downtown, take in the new improvements along Riverside Drive and immerse yourself in the area. This effort to revitalize downtown will be ongoing over the next five years or so.
Over the next few months, the city will be gearing itself up to seek additional funding to continue the work in the Riverside Drive area by finishing the unpaved, underdeveloped and gravel portions of the city-owned property.
Presque Isle is extremely fortunate to have so much waterfront property in the heart of our community. We have a tremendous opportunity to create a totally new and exciting “riverfront commercial district” within a very close proximity to our present, well developed Main Street commercial district. This development opportunity and new commercial district should be compact and high value to compliment the present Main Street, it should be appropriately and consistently designed to compliment the existing downtown and most important of all the new development and investment must not be diffused, cheap and detrimental to existing Main Street businesses.
The city of Presque Isle serves as the “glue” which binds all of this redevelopment work together. We are a partner, we are facilitators and we share in the implementation responsibilities for downtown. Partners implies more than one party involvement, those other partners in this revitalization are the property owners and the businesses located in the area.
The city government wants to encourage leadership roles be served by the private sector, as well. Similar experiences, almost uniformly, show that when local government provides all the “answers”, few others are motivated to get involved.
Private sector involvement and investment are keys in this important venture for our City. Become involved in this new revitalization effort … for inspiration, take a moment to read a poem called the “Bridge Builder” by William Allen Dromgoggle and ponder its application to our beautiful community.
Here’s a portion of that poem that I love: “Good Friend, in the path I have come there followeth after me today a youth whose feet must pass this way. This chasm that has been naught to me, to that fair haired youth may a pitfall be. He too, must cross in the twilight dim … Good Friend, I am building the bridge for him!”
As always, if you have any thoughts or comments regarding the planning and development efforts of the City, please let us know. We’re on the second floor of city hall or by calling 764-2527.
Ken Arndt is Presque Isle’s director of planning and development. His e-mail address is karndt@presqueisleme.us.
