Emerging Ohio Main Street Program
Downtown Findlay is enrolled in the Emerging Main Street program through Heritage Ohio - the first in the State of Ohio! Our goal is to become a full-fledged Main Street Community by April 2013. Our focus until then is to incooperate the philosophy of the Main Street Program including Promotions, Organization, Economic Restructuring and Design. Check back to follow our progress.
Meet Your Neighbor/Business Fair/Annual Member's Meeting
Join us in May 2012 for a half-day program regarding initiatives in our Downtown. The program includes such things as, small business lending, marketing/promotion, business plan development, available Downtown property, and so much more. In addition, businesses will have display areas to showcase their products and services.
Public Safety and Hospitality
An important area of focus for the Downtown Improvement District is working to ensure that downtown is a safe and inviting environment for those who work downtown, those who live downtown and those who visit to dine, to shop or be entertained. The list of services, programs and communications is varied.
"Our clean and safe strategy will maintain and promote an inviting downtown experience"
Snow Removal Program has been established for the District to insure a safe environment and facilitate foot traffic in the winter months. The DFID performed a pilot program for part of Main Street to test the effectiveness and success of a pretreatment and walking path. We surveyed the district and heard only one negative comment and the rest positive. Many comments were that with so many vacant lots, there were many areas where the snow was not getting cleared and customers would have had trouble walking down the street. The sidewalks are pretreated to melt snow up to 2 inches, after which we push the snow. You may have seen the four wheeler with our name on it.
Signage Program - Parking and pedestrian signage program
This is to include large historic signage on I-75 to direct people to our historic downtown. This also calls for shopping mall-type kiosks that will show visitors where they are and how to get to other locations, as well as signage throughout the district to help
visitors find parking, retail and restaurants.
Holiday Lighting Program - We will have a Christmas director that will insure the proper set up, tear down and storage of holiday decorations for the city and coordinate with the property owners so we have a common theme and a unified effort to continue to grow the district's lighting program.
Tree Well and Flower Program
We planted flowers and placed them on the light poles and provide weekly watering on Monday - Wednesday & Friday.
Banner Program for the side streets that match Main Street
Light Pole Program - painting of all metal light poles in the DFID targeted area
District Website to maintain and display the entire profile of vacant rental properties and properties for sale
Flood Warning Program will electronically send text messages to District on the flood stages and be the organizer of sand bag deployment and storage for these events. We will work with the City of Findlay to develop a communication system where downtown property owners will receive a text message of the Blanchard River water level in the event of heavy rains
Sand Bag Program - Storing of sand bags and distribution of them to designated areas when needed
Federal and State Grants to improve District properties
Recycling Program
"Together we will create parking to address issues that strengthen the ability to access downtown"
City Parking Plan - Review the current inventory of existing parking area/facilities in downtown Findlay and work with the City to utilize best practices and increase parking opportunities in the District. Identify improvements to existing parking lot layouts that would help increase the number of spaces or make the parking area more user-friendly. Develop plans for additional parking areas and facilities in downtown Findlay with construction estimates and decide who is the potential end-user of the parking and frequency of their use. The DFID has partnered with First Federal Bank to open up their downtown parking lot Friday evening through Sunday. The DFID is responsible for towing and to keep the lot clean.
"Our goal is to generate commerce for downtown Findlay by creating marketing and development that will stimulate interests to expand and recruit companies to the Downtown area"
Strategic Direction - We strive to be the central resource to support all marketing and ensure DFID presents a consistent image and message. We will develop effective marketing materials to market downtown Findlay as a place to work, play, eat and live.