Local business owners, chamber of commerce members and greater Cambridge residents gathered at City Center Mall for the launch of Cambridge’s downtown revitalization project on Thursday, Sept. 22.
The meeting’s purpose was the formation of a working group of stakeholders and citizens to steer the revitalization project over the next six months.
The launch meeting follows the work of the city of Cambridge’s existing Downtown Task Force and the Minnesota Design Team’s visit to Cambridge earlier in 2016.
Those in attendance were introduced to Todd Streeter, principal consultant for Community Collaboration, an organization that aids community organizations in various types of effort.
Streeter has been hired by the city of Cambridge, along with the Minnesota Design Team’s Hans Muessig, to aid with the downtown revitalization initiative.
Streeter gave an overview of his prior experience in community-oriented improvement efforts, which include time as mayor of the city of Lake St. Croix Beach and as executive president and director of the Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce, during which time he worked on a similar project to revitalize downtown Stillwater.
One of the main points Streeter emphasized was the role the downtown business owners present will be important to the revitalization effort of the personal stake they have in the success of downtown Cambridge.
“You have to do the work,” Streeter said, “because there’s not anyone who’s going to be as concerned about downtown as you are.”
Some at the kickoff meeting asked Streeter questions or expressed opinions about issues and options for the downtown project.
Points included defining what the group wants to achieve for downtown and what kind of businesses the working group will hope to attract to Cambridge.
“It has to be a wide, varied business mix that will attract people downtown,” said Neil Johnson, owner of The Leader in downtown Cambridge.
After Streeter’s presentation, there was time for those present to sign up to participate in the downtown revitalization working group.
The revitalization project is still at an early stage. Part of the group’s job will be to produce ideas that may or may not be realized down the road.
“Anything and everything that you want to bring to the table, to the group, is all valid,” Streeter said. “Everything is a maybe.”
For more information on the downtown revitalization initiative, visit www.ci.cambridge.mn.us or contact Cambridge City Administrator Lynda Woulfe at 763-689-3211 or lwoulfe@ci.cambridge.mn.us.
For more information on the Minnesota Design Team, visit www.aia-mn.org.
For more information on Todd Streeter and Community Collaboration, visit www.involvementisgood.com.