Alamogordo MainStreet effort assessed
Janessa Maxilom Alamogordo Daily News
10/23/14
The Alamogordo Main Street Initiative was reviewed Thursday by the New Mexico MainStreet Program assessment team.
Committee Chairman of the Alamogordo MainStreet Initiative, Dr. Terry Marquardt and the other members of the initiative met with the N.M. MainStreet representatives in Alamogordo’s commission chambers.
Marquardt said Alamogordo was selected as a finalist on Oct. 3 for the Emerging MainStreet designation process. He said the N.M. MainStreet program is an economic development program that helps cities revitalize the downtown areas of their communities.
Marquardt said the MainStreet team visited to assess if the city was compatible with the requirements of the state MainStreet program.
“We’re trying to find out how much the community knows about the program, how much support there is and what the capacity is to begin and start up the program here,” said N.M. MainStreet Director Rich Williams.
Williams said he and his team have been impressed by the efforts of the people involved in the Alamogordo MainStreet Initiative.
“We’re very pleased with what we’re hearing and we have been pleased for a while because there have been connections and connectivity and participation in a number of our workshops that we have around the state,” Williams said. “Alamogordo has been engaged for over a year and we’ve seen the persistence, the interests and the educational elements to get people involved.”
Williams said his team would know if Alamogordo is selected to be part of the state MainStreet program before the end of the year. The New Mexico legislature has appropriated funding for two new MainStreet communities in 2014 and Alamogordo is vying for one of the slots.
Williams said he could not list the other communities that Alamogordo is competing with to be in the program.
Williams said the purpose of N.M. MainStreet was to help communities revitalize local areas of commerce through place based economics.
“So many communities are property rich but owners are cash poor and to be able to afford the types of technical assistance and professional assistance we have would cost them too much money,” he said. “So the investment that we make helps assist property owners and people.”
Williams said the program is not a grant.
“We’re a self-help program,” Williams said. “We help communities help themselves by providing our expertise and knowledge. We really work with existing assets and help a community improve upon them.”
Williams said Alamogordo meets many of the requirements for being part of the state’s MainStreet program.
“You guy’s have great bones here,” Williams said. “You have a really great historic downtown.”
Williams said Alamogordo passed the requirement of having local municipality support by having the Alamogordo and the Otero County commissions back the initiative.
Marquardt said becoming part of the program would stimulate the economic vitality in Alamogordo.
He said the program would provide resources, education, training, technical assistance and services that preserve and enhance the local historic culture and heritage of buildings in the downtown area of the city.
Marquardt said he was proud of the work his team has done putting together the Alamogordo MainStreet Initiative.
“I’m very encouraged about our prospects for becoming a state MainStreet community,” Marquardt said.