Cape Girardeau selected as DREAM town

Cape Girardeau is one of 10 Missouri communities that will benefit from the DREAM Initiative, Gov. Matt Blunt announced Tuesday.

DREAM, which stands for Downtown Revitalization and Economic Assistance for Missouri, was first announced in June and is designed to give small towns an advantage in gaining state dollars and planning toward urban renewal.

Cape Girardeau is joined by Excelsior Springs, Hannibal, Hermann, Kennett, Neosho, Sedalia, St. Joseph, Washington and West Plains as inductees into the project. The communities were selected from 98 applicants statewide.

"They represent the potential for all Missouri's diverse and historic towns and cities working to revitalize their downtowns and attract new private investment opportunities," said Blunt at a ceremony in St. Louis.

Mayor Jay Knudtson, city manager Doug Leslie, Old Town Cape Board president Dr. Steven Hoffman and other city representatives attended the event.

While everyone agrees it's a great honor, they're also still waiting for the details to be fleshed out.

"I think we're all anxious to find out exactly what it means. None of us is completely clear on that," said Hoffman. "What we understand is this is going to give us priority access to programs the state already has in place and get state expertise into the city to help us accomplish projects that are a high priority."

Hoffman pointed to the Broadway corridor and the neighborhoods around Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus as the city's top priorities for redevelopment.

The DREAM Initiative does not include any new state dollars. Instead, it promises a redistribution of things like historic preservation grants and redevelopment tax credits which Blunt says have historically been gobbled up by St. Louis and Kansas City.

Leslie hopes the initiative will start bearing fruit sooner rather than later. "This will give us an advantage with state expertise, for instance a state housing specialist can look at increasing housing opportunities in downtown areas. We hope to be able to get some of those folks for a walk-through the Broadway area and give them a hands-on look at the needs of that area very soon," said Leslie.

He added that Old Town Cape and the long-standing commitment to urban renewal espoused by Cape Girardeau could have been an advantage in the selection process. "They want to see successes in the first three years of this program, and we're in a good position to deliver that," said Leslie.

All 10 communities will be part of the program for three years. Blunt said the inductees will receive technical assistance, exclusive invitations to training opportunities and seminars and training on existing redevelopment programs.

Tim Arbeiter of the Chamber of Commerce compiled and submitted Cape Girardeau's application.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

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