Discover Downtown Middlesboro (DDM) ... An Introduction
Downtown Middlesboro is a vital component of the local economy and an irreplaceable community resource. It already has several important assets: historic architecture, a walkable downtown with broad sidewalks and attractive streetscape. But the vacancies in many downtown buildings speak to the need for revitalization. The backs of buildings and parking areas appear neglected. The need for renovations and elevator access to upper floors limits the marketability of many downtown buildings, as does the absence of broadband technology. Our local economy suffers for it.
Communities that have successfully achieved downtown revitalization consistently note positive changes such as:
- Renewed confidence in the downtown through an improved image
- Stabilized and improved property values
- New job opportunities through the attraction of new businesses and strengthened service and retail markets
- Savings in tax dollars. Revitalization stabilizes and strengthens the tax base while protecting the investments already made in downtown.
- Maintenance and preservation of an important part of a community's unique heritage
- Better quality of life for residents and employers.
Middlesboro must take action to create a more positive downtown environment. With strong vision, organization, a plan, and an involved and informed citizenry, that potential can be fulfilled. Middlesboro can do better. It deserves better.
Downtown Revitalization...What it is, what it isn't.
Discover Downtown Middlesboro is working towards the revitalization of downtown Middlesboro. That does not mean turning the clock back 50 years when downtowns across the country were centers of retail trade. The realities of today's economy make that all but impossible. It does mean rehabilitating and restructuring the downtown to capitalize on 21st century opportunities.
What are those opportunities? Perhaps the best answer would be a few examples.
- Paris, population: 9,183. Not many years ago, driving through downtown Paris, Kentucky was "heartbreaking," said Betty Lewis in a December, 2005, Lexington Herald-Leader article. "There were something like 23 empty storefronts." She and her mother opened their downtown antique shop anyway, completely refurbishing an old five-and-dime building in the process. Working with the downtown revitalization program, Lewis and other civic-minded business people turned Paris into a center for antique arts and collectibles. "Downtown Paris has really found its niche. There's a new energy, a new excitement in the downtown area," said Paris Mayor Don Kiser.
- Paducah, population: 26,307. Paducah's downtown revitalization program hit a home run with its nationally recognized Artist Relocation Program. Established in August, 2000, this program is now a national model for using the arts for economic development. The Artist Relocation Program has been awarded the Governors Award in the Arts, the Kentucky Chapter of the American Planning Association Distinguished Planning Award, the American Planning Association National Planning Award, and the Kentucky League of Cities Enterprise Cities Award.
- Glasgow, population: 13,020. In the mid-1990s, when the Internet was still a mysterious concept to many people, Glasgow, Kentucky acquired high-speed Internet connectivity for its businesses and citizenry. In 1999, in a report for the Rutgers Computer and Technology Law Journal, Steven C. Carlon wrote that Glasgow had "created a communications system that is the envy of Silicon Valley...Municipalities across the country are following the model of Glasgow, Kentucky."
What these and other Kentucky communities have accomplished was no small task. It required imagination and foresight as well as focus and organization. It entailed collaborative partnerships with local government, local civic organizations, econonomic and community development entities, and with state entities such as the Kentucky Main Street Program and Renaissance Kentucky.