Why Main Street? Didn’t we just complete the Blueprint Study?

One of the questions the Saline Historic Downtown Alliance is asked when talking about our efforts to become a Main Street community is, “what happened with the Downtown Blueprint Plan?”

Well, what happened was amazing! The 2005 Downtown Blueprint provided by Hyett Palma was a comprehensive five-year plan to revitalize the downtown. The blueprint provided a strategy for success. The plan included many recommendations for physical improvements, parking and traffic improvements, marketing, real estate and business development. A Downtown Director was hired part-time by the City of Saline, as recommended in the plan, to coordinate the initiatives.

Over the last five years, many of the recommendations were addressed and or completed as budgets allowed. Recognizing that downtown revitalization needed to be ongoing, the City of Saline’s Business Development Association (SBDA) requested the City to apply to become part of the Michigan Main Street program. The City of Saline was accepted into the program in 2010 at the associate level. The Michigan Main Street program provided the City and it’s BDA an introduction to the Main Street Four-Point Approach. Main Street training was offered in Select and Master Level Main Street communities throughout the State.  Over the past year, many individuals from the community attended the training sessions and learned first-hand that the Main Street program is a way to focus on downtown revitalization in a comprehensive, volunteer and results-driven manner.  The Hyett Palma Blueprint provided a plan, but the Main Street program will ensure the continued revitalization of Downtown Saline through work completed by community volunteers and partnerships for many years to come.