The handwriting had been on the wall for the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The organization’s board has shrunk over the years, the JRC hasn’t been a consistent advocacy group for quite some time, and public awareness of the organization had shrunk over the past few years from 16 members to 10 members, with three of its board members listed on the JRC’s website being Mayor Kim Ecklund, Crystal Surdyk, city development director, and Ellen Shadle, former city planner. A fourth is a representative of the Gebbie Foundation. Essentially, 40% of the existing JRC board remains in place, just not around the same board table.

It is instructive to go back to the JRC’s roots and see just how far the organization had strayed from its original mission of implementing the Urban Design Plan and, later, the city’s 2010 Neighborhood Plan. Many of the achievable actions in those plans have been attained – particularly in neighborhood plan update. A key tenet of that second neighborhood plan was to focus on four key areas to host the Renaissance Block Grant challenge. According to a presentation at a recent City Council meeting, two areas are running well while two remain to be firmly established.

What’s happened with Urban Design Plan 2.0 is also instructive. One key tenet of the plan – renewal of the Chadakoin River – has largely been driven in recent years by the city and Gebbie Foundation, not the JRC. Making downtown more walkable and better connected took a step forward when the state redesigned Washington Street, but strengthening street-level activities on Second and Third streets hasn’t happened as funding has dried up. The health and wellness district included in the plan is largely being driven by the health care industry and the city as it secures grant funding. Expanding on programs and events that draw the community downtown, a fourth key point of Urban Design Plan 2.0 – is a job no one wants – including the Renaissance Corporation, which turned many events over to other groups years ago.

Programs run by the JRC aren’t necessarily ending. Instead, they will be divided up between the Gebbie Foundation, which is taking on economic development projects, and the city, which will handle JRC’s housing programs. The issue will be focus and manpower. JRC was down to two staff members – down from five in 2018 when the second Urban Design Plan was finalized. It will be up to the city and Gebbie Foundation to find partners to take on the JRC projects that remain and, ideally, push forward with new ideas and programs.

In our view, there is an unexpected benefit to bringing neighborhood programs back under the auspices of the city government. It will be much easier to keep track of progress when those responsible for programs hold regularly scheduled public meetings, with public minutes, rather than a non-profit board that doesn’t have to hold public meetings or public updates. As for development – success will be evident: full buildings and more foot traffic downtown.

It doesn’t matter whose name is on the letterhead. It does matter that the city, Gebbie Foundation and their partners keep pushing the city forward. That comes down to money and commitment, not the existence of a non-profit organization.