Main Street Summit offers ideas for downtown redevelopment

Community leaders, economic developers, government officials, and business leaders from throughout the Hudson Valley region recently attended a one-day conference on how to redevelop main streets and downtowns. The Hudson Valley Main Street Summit, which was held June 12, was sponsored by The Community Preservation Corp. (CPC), the City of New Rochelle and the New Rochelle Business Improvement District (BID). The free seminar and networking event stressed the importance of revitalizing main streets to the economic health of individual cities as well as the entire region. New Rochelle, which hosted the event, is undergoing one of the most successful downtown revitalization efforts in the region. The conference agenda featured key presentations on the New Rochelle model and success story, as well as a walking tour of the revitalized New Rochelle Model Block where the BID has initiated $50 million in development and won an award for Excellence in Historic Preservation from the Preservation League of N.Y.. Among those making presentations were: Ralph DiBart, executive director, New Rochelle BID; Sadie McKeown, Hudson Valley regional director, CPC; Joseph Rabito, director, Office for Small Cities, N.Y. State Division of Housing and Community Renewal; A.J. Coppola, principal, Coppola Assoc.; and John Simone, president & CEO, Connecticut Main Street Center.