Richardson, Homans address Main Street Conference

NMBW Staff

New Mexico Business Weekly

Monday, May 10, 2004

Some 1,500 city planners, preservationists and business leaders from across the country attending this week's National Main Street Conference in Albuquerque will hear from New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and the state's Economic Development Department Secretary Rick Homans.

Richardson and Homans were scheduled to speak during the May 10 opening session of the four day conference taking place at the Albuquerque Convention Center from May 9 through May 12. More than 80 forums, tours and workshops conducted during the national conference will address commercial district revitalization issues and recommendations for turning downtown urban areas into bustling, vibrant commercial centers.

The conference was organized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Main Street Center in Washington, D.C., in partnership with the New Mexico Main Street office in Santa Fe, Bernalillo Main Street, and Albuquerque's United South Broadway, Nob Hill-Highland Renaissance and Downtown Action Team organizations.

Established 24 years ago, the Main Street Center assists communities of all sizes to revitalize their older and historic commercial districts. The Main Street program is involved in more than 1,700 downtown and urban neighborhood projects in the United States.

The National Trust says the program has generated more than $1.6 billion in new investment and that participating communities have created more than 226,000 net new jobs, 56,300 net new businesses and rehabilitated more than 88,700 buildings, leveraging an average of $39.93 in new investment for every dollar spent on main street district revitalization efforts. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, nonprofit membership organization whose mission is to protect the irreplaceable.