Right from the Heritage Ohio's "About Us" page this organization "was developed as a statewide, not-for-profit organization dedicated to encouraging and assisting people and organizations to protect and preserve our heritage. Historic preservation and downtown revitalization are vitally important in the movements to protect the buildings, landscapes, art, artifacts and landmarks we have inherited."
There are Wellsville residents that feel the ville is ripe for both historic revitalization and more importantly economic revitalization that they decided to take the bull by the horns. Encouraged by what the ville's Revitalization Committee has been able to do renewing some interest with just the floodwall murals they asked themselves why not? After some research on their own they approached that committee, members of city government and the Chamber-of-Commerce.
With a positive acceptance of the idea they contacted Heritage Ohio and this past Thursday, October 1. 2009, Jeff Siegler, Director of Revitalization for Heritage Ohio, came to town to explain their program. They have been in existence for 10 years now and are in partnership with the Ohio Dept. of Development. Again to quote their web page, their goal "is the historic preservation and downtown revitalization to enrich our quality of life, enhance our neighborhoods and revitalize communities as better places in which to live, work, invest and visit!" The idea started with one lady with a dream in Wooster, OH. Wooster is one of their model communities.
Sigler said the whole concept is developed with interested members of the community volunteering their time to get the program off the ground. The first step is to get four committees organized. One would be for Economic Development, one for Design, one for Organization and one for Promotions. Three of them are fairly obvious in their purpose. The Design Committee would concentrate on the appearance. The program is called Main Street Ohio.
Interesting to note is that Sigler said that for every dollar spent in town there is approximately 65 cents that stays in town. When you take your shopping dollars out of town to the malls and big box stores the return starts taking a sharp dive. It goes down to zero for every dollar spent when shopping on-line. Saving money at Wal-Mart is very expensive for hometown America.
The membership in the Main Street program is $1,000 per year at the network level. It is $3,300 a year to have a Heritage Ohio director. There is a one time assessment fee of $2,500. Being considered an Appalachian community might make the ville eligible for some discounts on those fees plus increase chances on being favorably considered for grant applications.
The whole idea for the program is to get the town cleaned up and more attractive to encourage support for local businesses and to be inviting to new businesses locating here. With an attractive appearance and a good marketing program it would encourage shoppers to support the community instead of leaving town to spend their shopping dollars. Heritage Ohio has 10 years experience leading the way. It's an idea worth looking into. I don't think Wellsville will ever be the bustling commercial center is was in the mid-1800s through the mid-1900s but there are many residents that would take pride in returning the village to being prosperous and attractive.
Shown above are Chamber members Connie Carmichael & Candy Bangor, Heritage Ohio's Jeff Siegler, and Chamber President Randy Allmon. More information on Heritage Ohio is available on their web site http://www.heritageohio.org/.
ole nib
11 comments:
One of the first things that needs to be done is to get rid of the idiot's currently in office. Perfect example, the stupidity involving the historic Wilson house that served as an office and home, as well as an historical landmark for the Spring Hill Cemetary and the village.
With the money they have already spent for an empty shell of a trailer and running water lines etc.they could have applied it towards the repair of the house. Idiots I say, idots. With no regard for preserving our history.
So to justify moving the trailer downtown now , it can be used to store documents because the basement at the municipal building is too damp. You can buy dehumidifiers for around $100 each to solve that problem.
Hey Jay - did you mean to post this on the Property Committee report?
nib
Nib , yes I did. Sorry about that. I guess now someone may call me an idiot :o)
We'll have those days...
nib
Is it the Chamber interested in sponsoring Heritage Ohio or is it Revitalization?
I for one, hope the Village gets behind this and will roll up their sleeves to help the Village a better place. I applaud these folks effort. I would even get involved myself for this causes.
From what I observed at that introductory meeting it is a joint, cooperative effort with all concerned. Most of the Revitalization Committee are also members of the Chamber as are some village officials.
Siegler remarked one of the keys to a successful program is volunteers. Ir's a daunting task but it is not unrealistic. As I alluded to there are many in town that have the pride,talent and time to make it work. I too applaud the initiative of those getting it started. I think we'll be hearing more on this.
nib
I don't see the village getting on board with this. However, I applaud the people who are at least trying to come up with some kind of plan.
Connie Carmicahel announced at village council the revitalization committee is going to sponsor it.
why did they leave out the Chamber of Commerce?
What are you talking about? The Chamber was included practically from the beginning from what I understand. Did you read the report?
nib
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