As we bask in the glory of Jamestown being selected by the State as the recipient of the Western New York Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) funding, which will result in a $10 Million economic boost to the City, it is important to reflect on why Jamestown was selected. Although there are numerous reasons, two overriding explanations capture the essence of the why: Jamestown has the right stuff, and we prepared and submitted a great application. The DRI allocation is the shot in the arm that Jamestown needs to get over the top, and should act as proof to the private sector that Jamestown is headed in the right direction and is therefore a sound investment. If the State believes in Jamestown to the tune of $10 Million, then the private sector should believe in Jamestown as well.

The Right Stuff. For the purposes of the DRI requirements, it is evident that Jamestown has the right combination of need and hope. If the City didn’t need the funding, it is safe to say that the State probably wouldn’t have awarded it to them. We’re not Hamburg or East Aurora.yet. It is also safe to say that the State wouldn’t be investing in Jamestown if they didn’t think it was a sound venture. The last thing they need or want is for this investment in Jamestown to be a bust. Efforts by the private and public sectors as well as a formal partnership between the two, is largely responsible for Jamestown’s upward trajectory.

The Private Sector: The private sector has exhibited their faith in the City by investing in the downtown. If not for these outlays of private equity, the City would not be where it is today. This includes private developers, foundations, business owners, homeowners and others who have put their hard-earned cash on the line believing they would get a return on their investment.

The Public Sector: Over the past decade, the City leadership and council have sought ways to stabilize the local economy and to plan for the future in order to promote private investment. One such initiative was the creation of the Jamestown Urban Design Plan, which was developed in 2006 by local stakeholders under the direction of Goody Clancy, a well-respected urban planning firm headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. An initial recommendation emanating from the plan, which was adopted by the City in 2006, was the creation of a public-private partnership which would be charged with implementing the concepts and other ideas put forth in the plan.

Private/Public Partnership (JRC): The stakeholders moved quickly to form and officially create the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation (JRC) in 2007, a public-private partnership consisting of community stakeholders charged with implementing the Urban Design Plan. The administration of JRC, a not-for-profit corporation, is funded solely through local community-based foundations. JRC also receives some state and federal funding; however, this capital is directed solely at the development of physical projects in downtown Jamestown. These project dollars are applied for by JRC staff on a competitive basis and, in most cases, are heavily leveraged with developer or business owner cash without a direct infusion of city taxpayer dollars.

A significant factor that influenced why Jamestown was selected as the WNY DRI community is because we have something very unique formal and informal collaboration between the public and private sectors, aka JRC. Projects resulting from this partnership, including improvements to Jamestown’s alleyways, the renovation of building facades, the demolition of dilapidated buildings, the development of pocket parks, the creation of an historic district, incentives for businesses and developers, grant writing resulting in the securitization of state funding for businesses and public projects, promotion, public events, the creation and operation of a downtown farmers market, investment in neighborhoods, the hosting of community educational sessions, the creation of market-rate housing, and more, are among the attributes the State was looking for and saw in Jamestown when it made its DRI selection. State representatives who tour the City leave with a good feeling about its bones, about the way it looks, about the way it functions, and about the way it feels. They are confident that the City has the right stuff to become a place where more people want to live, work and play.

The Application: Jamestown’s DRI application, which all Western New York communities had three weeks to complete, was exceptional. It was assembled by what might be referred to as the “Dream Team.” JRC had a big hand in initially assembling the stakeholders and building the campaign. Under the leadership of Greg Lindquist – Executive Director, and Mark Geise – Senior Planner, JRC began strategizing, building the campaign, and assembling pieces of the application in January in order to position Jamestown so that it was unlikely that it could be outdone by any other City in the region. In April, the Gebbie Foundation allotted funding to hire Goody Clancy to conduct a half-day session with key stakeholders for the purpose of defining transformative projects for inclusion in the DRI application. The Gebbie Foundation has a terrific resource in Andrea Magnuson – Associate Director, who is an extraordinary grant writer and assisted with the application. And last but not least, the City’s Development Director – Vince DeJoy, and Bill Rice – Principal Planner, guided the effort as lead applicants, and orchestrated the development of a well-conceived video that accompanied the submission. According to reliable sources, Jamestown’s application far surpassed the applications submitted by approximately a dozen other Cities in the region, and this was principally because : 1) Jamestown has the right stuff; 2) we started early in the planning process; 3) the application had broad stakeholder input; and 4) it was well written and presented.

Greg Lindquist is executive director of the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation (JRC) (www.jamestownrenaissance.org). Mark Geise is senior planner for the JRC and executive director of the Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation (www.chautauqualandbank.org).