DOWNTOWN EXPERTS HERE THIS WEEK

When three historic buildings, including a stone mill, were threatened with demolition in Burlington, Iowa, a town of 26,000, Main Street program participants stepped in.

They asked the local development corporation to donate the buildings to Main Street of Burlington, along with the money the corporation would have spent to demolish them.

The Main Street program used the money to rehabilitate the first of the three buildings, which it sold to a local businessman. Then the program used the proceeds from that sale to rehabilitate the second building, which it sold, and then turned its attention to the stone mill.

Torn apart by intense racial strife in the 1960s, downtown Port Gibson, Miss., with a population of 1,800, suffered severe economic deterioration. Racial tensions improved; the economy didn't. So, in 1990 the community joined the Main Street program.

With a diverse board of directors, the Port Gibson Main Street Program got to work. In its first few years, it persuaded Claiborne County officials to rehabilitate an 1830s Greek Revival building into the county library; stimulated 17 building improvement projects; initiated an aggressive marketing campaign; and helped a number of businesses expand or open.

Some great things are happening in Main Street communities, and Cape Girardeau officials hope similar positive results occur here from its Main Street program.

Downtown revitalization training sessions will be held Wednesday and Thursday.

"This is an opportunity for us to learn appropriate and effective techniques that can be utilized to enhance our local efforts," said Judith Anne Lang, Old Town Cape Inc. board president. Old Town Cape, the local project's name, covers a wide area of downtown Cape Girardeau.

Gov. Mel Carnahan has designated Cape Girardeau and Fayette as the state's 13 and 14 Main Street projects.

Three Main Street experts will be here this week:

* Sheri Stuart of the National Main Street Center in Washington.

* Scott Sewell of Eclipse Communications of Topeka, Kan.

* Mark Miles of the Missouri Historic Preservation Program of Jefferson City.

Four three-hour workshops will be held at the River City Yacht Club, upstairs at the Port Cape Girardeau restaurant.

"We had a lot of interest in the program," said Lang. The state's economic department is providing the workshops.

"Successful local Main Street programs are a direct result of understanding, accepting and implementing a comprehensive approach to downtown revitalization," said Randy Gray, Main Street state coordinator.

Lang said the sessions are designed around the four primary areas of Main Street -- promotion, organization, economic restructuring and design.

Additional information is available from Old Town Cape board members Stephen Huffman, 651-2808, or B. Ray Owen, 336-6611.

The program for Cape Girardeau encompasses an area from Water Street along Broadway to Pacific Street and to Morgan Oak, which leads to the Mississippi River bridge. It includes the primary downtown business area, the Haarig area, upper Broadway and old St. Vincent's Seminary, site of the proposed river campus of Southeast Missouri State University.

Cape Girardeau and Fayette will receive technical assistance from a national network of people with experience in downtown revitalization. Since the state program's inception, participating downtown organizations have created more than 650 new businesses and 1,900 new jobs, with more than 650 building renovations and $66,800 in reinvestment.

The Main Street program has been one of the most powerful economic development tools in the nation, even though it focuses on historic preservation and community character.

The reinvestment in Main Street communities since it started in 1980 is $10.9 billion. The number of new businesses generated nationally is 47,000, with more than 175,000 jobs.

SCHEDULE

Wednesday

9 a.m., Promotion, Scott Sewell, speaker.

3 p.m., Design, Mark Miles, speaker.

6:30 p.m., Organization, Sheri Stuart, speaker.

Thursday

8 a.m., Economic Restructuring, Sheri Stuart, speaker.