As published in the August 9, 2024 edition of The Altoona Mirror, by William Kibler:
Partisan enmity between the blue and red is in full flower nationally with the presidential election, but partisan colors were only complementary Thursday in Altoona, in service of providing extra momentum for the city’s ongoing downtown revitalization.
As a representative of the Democratic administration of Gov. Josh Shapiro, Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Rick Siger was here to tout the state’s bipartisan Main Street Matters program, approved in the recent state budget, and to inspect the kind of businesses in this Republican-dominated city that have benefited from similar state programs in the past.
Successor to the Keystone Communities program, Main Street Matters is much bigger — $20 million, instead of $6.6 million — and therefore broader in application, including the capacity for helping communities retrofit old anchor properties, said Siger, who visited several locations along 11th Avenue with local political, economic development and business officials.
Christopher Cook is developer of multiple anchor properties, one fully funded and expected to be complete this year — the former McCrory’s, which he discussed Thursday with Siger — along with the Penn Central building, for which he’s currently in pursuit of funds.
He’d be interested in exploring the Main Street Matters opportunity for Penn Central, he said.
He’s all for bipartisanship in economic development.
“We all have to work together,” Cook said. “When you’re talking about economic growth, it shouldn’t matter what side you’re on.”
Economic development is “a team sport” — politically, and in terms of the various sectors of the business and institutional community, Siger said.
The state’s administration is Democratic, but the General Assembly is split — a Democratic House and a Republican Senate, observed Jesse Ickes, a member of City Council, which is all Republican.
There are issues, including social matters, on which the two sides aren’t going to agree, Ickes said.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities for “reasonable, responsible” governance, he said.
The “bold economic development plan” laid out in the recent state budget provides such an opportunity, and moreover, nicely “dovetails” with the city’s new comprehensive plan — which calls for the revitalization of downtown, among other goals, Ickes said.
Given that there are a variety of recently completed, recently started or recently proposed projects for downtown, Main Street Matters provides a “hit-the-ball-out-of-the-ballpark opportunity,” said Councilman Dave Butterbaugh.
Economic development is a nonpartisan policy subject that affects Democratic and Republican strongholds equally, said Steve McKnight, CEO of the Altoona Blair County Development Corp.
“We all need to work together to get these projects funded,” McKnight said.
Levity Brewing co-owner Luke McKelvy spoke at length with Siger when the delegation reached his establishment.
He’s interested in Main Street Matters.
“We want to grow in Altoona,” McKelvy said. “We’re paying our bills for now, but we’re hopeful of more.”
The growth he’d like to see could be in the form of partnerships with other companies — perhaps on the model of the co-branded beer his company now sells at Altoona Curve games, he said.
Because of its greater capacity than its predecessor program, Main Street Matters should help in the continuing evolution of downtowns to become not only places for mom and pop stores and “cool cafes,” but hubs of entrepreneurship and innovation, Siger said, citing the place where Thursday’s walk began — the Curry Innovation Center.
DCED’s cooperation was critical in helping to develop the center, which includes as its primary tenant an outreach for Saint Francis University, said Curry Principal Partner Mark Ritchey.
That cooperation is represented by bipartisanship — “that’s when you really get things done,” said Democratic Blair County Commissioner Laura Burke.
