Fort Pierce Up for the "Great American Main Street" award

Meisel@hometownnewsol.com

FORT PIERCE - Beginning in the late 1970s as malls developed, downtown Fort Pierce lostbusinesses and buildings remained vacant."It was a typical scenario of what was goingon around the nation," said Doris Tillman, the director of Fort Pierce Main Street.Thenin 1988, a workshop was held to find ways to revitalize downtown and 300 people showedup, despite a "blistering rain storm," Ms. Tillman said."That was a real turning point for downtown," she said.In recognition of the progress since then, Fort Pierce Main Street was named a semifinalist for the 2010 Great American Main Street awards last week. Fort Pierce will compete with Aledo, Ill., Columbus, Miss., Fairmont, W. Va., Farmland,Ind., Ferndale, Mich., Lee's Summit, Mo., Paducah, Ky., Pontiac, Ill. and Rochester, Mich. The winner will be announced during the National Main Streets conference in Oklahoma City on May 4.Fort Pierce could end up being only the second Florida city to win. The first was Deland. Ms. Tillman said this was the first time Fort Pierce Main Street applied. She said in past years, with numerous projects going on, the "timing wasn't right."Since 1988, she said, downtown Fort Pierce gained 404 jobs, 88 new businesses, 136 projects to rehabilitate existing buildings and 17 new buildings. There's been $14.5 million in public investment and $25 million in private investment.But it all started with that workshop when people helped develop a master plan for downtown, said Ms. Tillman, director of Main Street since 1991."We were all excited and ready to make a change and it happened," she said. Ms. Tillman recalled that early on, a woman told her that she was ashamed to go downtown, but had decided to be a part of the change. The woman started a business, she said. And that was typical of many, Ms. Tillman said. In only six months, not long after the initial workshop, 60 businesses were attracted to downtown, she said.In the years since, progress has included the Manatee Center, the rehabilitation of the Sunrise Theatre and renovation of the old City Hall. More recently, Main Street moved its headquarters to the former residence of landscape artist A.E. Backus and renovated the dwelling. Efforts to convince St. Lucie County to maintain its presence in downtown Fort Pierce were successful and the results have included a new Clerk of Courts building.The success came about,in part, because Fort Pierce Main Street has a board of directors that never shied away from major projects, she said. But it's also occurred because of support from residents and enthusiastic city officials, such as former Mayor Eddie Enns and former city manager Dennis Beach, she said.Besides all that, she said, success has come because of promoting downtown. That has included holding events, such as Friday Fest and putting information about businesses on its Web site.

New Jet for Piper

Vero Beach Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson asked about staffing plans and witnessed a testflight of the new PiperJet during his hour-long visit and tour of Piper Aircraft Inc.'s facilityThursday afternoon.“He’s always heard about the operations but never had a chance to see what they are doing,”said Nelson’s spokesman Bryan Gulley. The tour was not open to the press or public.“They (Piper management) talked briefly about the job losses and how it’s related to the economic downturn. They told him that they’ve seen this before and they’re confident the jobs would come back. He pressed them on their commitment to staying in the area and they reiterated their commitment to staying.”Piper president John Becker, who is resigning from Piper effective Dec. 1, and three other employeesin sales and engineering accompanied Nelson on the tour, which started just after 4 p.m. Vero Beach Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson asked about staffing plans and witnessed a test flight of the new PiperJet during his hour-long visit and tour of Piper Aircraft Inc.'s facility Thursday afternoon.
In October, County Commissioner Peter O’Bryan, the commission’s liaison to the Economic Development Council, said he would meet monthly with county and company officials for updates and to discuss the status of the stateand county’s $32 million incentive package given to Piper. The package is tied to employment levels and production of the new PiperJet. Piper had contemplated relocating to Oklahoma City or Albuquerque, N.M., beforethe local offer was presented in 2008.