One of the benefits of being born and raised in the Puyallup valley is that I know many of the folks in the school districts, local chambers and the city staff and government officials in Puyallup, Sumner and Orting. Those relationships have come in handy in my job as executive director for the Sumner Downtown Association. It has been great fun getting to know my counterpart in Puyallup, Dave Eatwell. Not only do we run into each other at local functions, but it’s a treat for me to pop in and chat with the staff at Puyallup Main Street. It’s a hoot to share stories, ideas and give Eatwell a bad time.
It’s telling that his recent column and mine are going to run parallel themes about partnerships. But that’s a big part of what Main Street organizations are all about. It was encouraging to learn at last year’s National Main Street Conference in Seattle that collectively state programs have exceeded all expectations in the communities where they have been implemented. Now how many times have you ever heard that a federal program has “exceeded” anyone’s expectations? But here’s where it gets interesting. They are now speculating that the reason for the success is because the Main Street model requires substantial community volunteer involvement and private investment. In other words, the federal government doesn’t throw money at the project/model to make it work, it requires investment of local government, people and resources which equals grassroots support or “buy-in.” I just about had the “vapors” the first time I learned the Walla Walla Main Street program recorded over 60 million dollars of private funds invested in building rehabilitations in their downtown historic district in the first 10 years of its existence. And this is not an anomaly. The National Trust of Historic Preservation has published a book with hundreds of examples like this across the country. Think what that amount of private investment could do in our local communities.
Building relationships is critical for the Main Street program’s success. I feel that we’ve gotten off to a good start with partnerships here in Sumner since I became a downtown director almost three years ago. We host meetings with property owners to address building upgrades (including that controversial topic “fire sprinklers”) we have drafted a preservation ordinance with the city’s help that is now working it way through local government review processes, and my favorite project is the branding campaign I’m currently working on with our city communication director. Sharing the process with city staff and our downtown membership, and watching everyone move toward a consistent image of Sumner is just too much fun. We have about another month of gathering input before we start planning for the campaign rollout, and I can’t decide what part is the most rewarding. Everyone working together, or the branding campaign processes. Either way I’m really enjoying my job and working with all our great volunteers.
For these reasons and more, it’s not unusual to hear me say, “you’ve got to love Sumner.” To the point that I have seen folks put their finger down their throats indicating that they are tired of hearing it and I should move on. And I’m just as fond of the Main Street program and their support of partnerships. The next time I see Dave Eatwell I’m going to tell him I really liked his geese analogy. And that here in Sumner...I think we’re already flying in the “V” formation.
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