After interviews with community members and leaders this week, the Main Street Alabama team presented their initial findings for what a revitalized downtown Jasper could be like and provided some of the steps to make it a reality.
“The visioning process is to get as much input from the public as we possibly can. We went through individual sheets, asked a lot of questions. Then, we took those same sheets, got you together into groups, put those down and then voted,” Main Street Alabama President Mary Helmer said. “We took all of those pieces of paper, 10 pieces of paper with 70 plus or more ideas on them, and crafted a vision.”
In order to achieve the vision, Main Street leaders spoke on four points: organization, economic vitality, promotion and design.
Monica Miller of Main Street said organization is “those nuts and bolts that are going to help you accomplish everything else.”
Miller said fundraising, volunteer development, communicating the “story of Jasper” and strong leadership will provide the framework for organizational success.
“One of our recommendations, right away, is you put together how to become a Main Street,” she said, adding that the board put in place to guide the Main Street project needs to serve as the organizational committee for recruiting support for revitalization of the historic district.
Seeking 501(c)(3) non-profit status will need to be one of the first things on the agenda to help obtain and keep donors for Main Street efforts in Jasper.
Miller did recognize Mike Putman and the board for possessing the leadership skills necessary to earn community dedication and support.
“Boy, do you ever have skilled staff. We have all been so impressed with Mike. He’s just super,” she said.
Main Street’s Casey Woods said it will be important, moving forward, to collect data through targeted surveys, examine infrastructure and retain recruitment.
He says data will be vital in determining who the city needs to target when implementing new businesses and redeveloping existing structures.
“We have something in the development game that we call the rule of four, and that’s basically for every hour somebody travels, they have to have four hours of stuff to do,” Woods said. “You are less than an hour from a major metropolitan area, and you can form clusters where you can identify a sub demographic. ... If you can identify a target market and you can give them four hours of things to do, you can pull from a very, very large area.”
He added that Main Street Jasper needs to provide incentives for interested business owners, including programs, historic tax credits and logistical support.
“Hand holding people through the business start up process through looking at different buildings or identification of infrastructure, guiding them through some of the different incentives that are out there, it’s critical to business success,” he said. “It doesn’t cost you anything but a little bit of time.”
Woods also suggested making an ordinance to hold property owners of vacant buildings responsible, and Randy Wilson of Main Street said the vacant buildings will become a disadvantage to the design stage if the problem isn’t addressed.
“One of the things that we heard a lot the other night was the vacant buildings and the unsightly buildings,” Wilson said. “You don’t want to slap lipstick on a pig. It doesn’t do anybody any good to have a beautiful building that sits vacant. We need to put vibrant, sustainable businesses in all of those enhanced buildings.”
Wilson recommended a restructuring of the parking design in his report, as parking was another hot button issue among those interviewed. “You have a convenience issue, not a capacity issue,” he said, adding that clever signage would help people traveling into the community understand where they can park without committing a violation.
Adding taller trees downtown, constructing a landmark sign at one of the exits off I-22 to welcome travelers to Jasper, creating unique artwork or vinyl clings in vacant storefronts and developing a strong visual of what downtown can be were all suggestions by Wilson to begin the design phase.
He also recommended repurposing of the old Downtown Foods building as a new grocery store and remodeling an older downtown building into loft apartments as options for a vibrant downtown with multiple retail and entertainment options.
Jan Miller of Main Street said events such as the recent Tallulah Bankhead Tribute are crucial for bringing people downtown to promote the district.
“You already have a ton of successful events in your downtown by many different organizations,” Miller said, adding, “People don’t realize what cool shops you have.
“We’ve been down there at night, and people are eating and walking around, and they’re having a great time. ... People were downtown, we just have to do some more work with our retailers.”
Wilson said community members must embrace downtown, find its unique qualities and explore the possibilities.
“That is the Main Street approach to design in a nutshell, ‘I’m so glad you don’t look like me.’ I’m so glad that Jasper, Alabama, doesn’t look like any other place on the planet, and the Main Street approach to design is precisely that. It’s taking the unique, physical characteristics that you have and preserving them and enhancing them,” he said.
While the full report won’t be available until August, Main Street Jasper Executive Director Mike Putman said the community must hold on to the passion generated during the vision sessions, allowing the drive to grow and flourish.
“None of this is going to get done by looking at plans and by being excited for a week. The momentum has to continue,” he said. “This community is full of people who love it, who care deeply about it, who want it to be bigger and better than it ever was. ... If it doesn’t happen, it’s our fault, and that just can’t happen. This is a battle we just have to win, because our children, our grandchildren are depending on us.
“This team has given downtown all the tools we need to make this happen. It’s up to us. It’s now our turn to go forward with it.”
Helmer added, “There’s no magic wand, no magic potion, but if you’re going to work it and lead it and push it, you will be successful.”
