March 21, 2019 — Like many small towns, Oneonta, AL, long struggled to bring life and tax revenues to its declining downtown. Unlike most, Oneonta had a downtown property and a plan. The city owned a vacant car dealership, and City Manager Ed Lowe believed that recruiting a college to offer classes on the site…To read more — login/sign up
March 7, 2019 — Economic developers in Dubuque, IA, conduct in-depth interviews with more than 300 employers every year. Their goal is to learn what employers are concerned about, and what challenges they face. The full-court press endeavors to keep jobs from leaving Dubuque — and the hands-on strategy is part of the reason some…To read more — login/sign up
February 21, 2019 — Like many cities, Durham, NC, wants commuters to take the bus, ride their bikes, and generally find ways to get downtown other than the standard solo drive. Unlike most cities, Durham is tapping into the discipline of behavioral economics to change drivers’ behavior. The first strategy, a planning tool algorithm, creates…To read more — login/sign up
February 7, 2019 — In Quincy, MA, a redevelopment boom is bearing fruit at precisely the wrong time, at least from a parking perspective. To ease the squeeze, Quincy has implemented a variety of strategies. At one city lot, Quincy more than doubled parking rates before 5 p.m. and offered free parking after 5 p.m. The city…To read more — login/sign up
January 24, 2019 — Downtown Lexington, VA, is home to an ambitious business incubator and makerspace that’s drawing interest from entrepreneurs in surrounding areas. Lexington Collaboratory & Makerspace is a 1,300-square-foot lab that lets startups tinker with their products. The Collaboratory also provides a team of mentors to dispense advice about legal matters, marketing, real…To read more — login/sign up
January 10, 2019 — A few years ago, the Downtown Association of Santa Cruz decided to eliminate big events that attracted large numbers of visitors but also blocked traffic and disrupted business. Downtown leaders in the California city still wanted to bring visitors to the business district, however, so they shifted their focus to smaller…To read more — login/sign up
