Olympia Historic District Freeway Signage

If you travel the I-5 corridor through Olympia, Washington you may have seen the brown signs that read “Historic District” attached to several regular DOT directional signs that are on the side of the freeway…  These medium brown signs are quite large and definitely get your attention as you are driving through the state capital area.  The signs serve as both advertising for the Olympia Historic District and also serve the purpose of helping folks who are looking to visit the district find their way.  We have seen similar signs in different areas across the nation - - we are wondering how the Centralia Historic District could get this type of signage on the side of the freeway leading into town going both north and south on the I-5 freeway???  Imagine the difference the signs would make…..  anyone know how to go about getting them???

Growing Pride of Ownership in a Historic Downtown

The process of rehabilitating a historic district is a movement among varied groups/tasks in a community – economic development, streetscape improvement, establishment of a downtown association or formalized organization, business owner and building owner participation, to name a few. 

One of the groups that have the biggest impact on the success of the revitalization process is the people who own the buildings in the downtown sector. The revitalization process cannot be fully completed without the iatrical participation and commitment of the folks who own the buildings that comprise the district that is being revitalized.  Often times as areas are coming out of the “blighted and economically depleted” phase and into the rehabilitation phase, there is a change in ownership of many of the buildings in the downtown sector.  New property owners come in with a vision to restore their buildings banking on the future forecasted growth of the area as the revitalization movement gains momentum.  Most of the time these new building owners are aware of the revitalization process and enrolled in following the historical flow of the rehabilitation process. 

Bringing the Locals Back Downtown

There are many factors that contribute to a downtown area being the “center of economics” in a community.  Centralia’s downtown is currently on the path to become designated as an official “Main Street” downtown.  Thriving downtown areas that are historical in character are an obvious draw for heritage tourist visitors – but what about the local population becoming re-interested in a downtown as it goes through a revitalization process?

Interestingly, one of the prominent conditions of blight in an area is when the local community “gives up” on their downtown and stops frequenting the downtown sector for goods and services.  Business then dries up and storefronts become more empty than filled.  One of the challenges for a downtown area that is on the path of revitalization, is to change the perception of the local community about the downtown area and bring back the locals as downtown patrons.

The blight process takes time as the economics decline in a downtown city center.  As the local community abandons the downtown sector they find other sources for goods and services outside of the downtown core.  The challenge then becomes luring the locals back to the downtown and changing their attitude regarding what “downtown” is all about.  Just as the economic downtown took time, reintroducing the local community to a “new downtown” takes time as well.

Revitalization is a process.  Most statistics indicate that rebuilding of a “new and better” downtown area is about a 10-12 year process depending on the severity of the blight conditions and the impact the blight conditions had on the local economy.  The true mark of successful revitalization downtown is the attraction of both visitors and locals alike.  The goal is to attract people back to the “heart” of downtown and in doing so winning over their hearts for downtown.

Thank You for Your Support

Hello Blog Friends ~ Thanks so much for the recent outpouring of care and concern about how we faired through the recent flood emergency in Centralia.  We are thankful to have so many folks who care enough to touch base and make sure that we are OK. Many of you have inquired how the Historic Downtown was affected.  Gratefully most all the downtown businesses were only affected very minorly.  Not enough to stop business Thank God. Our Historic Downtown is busier than ever as the holiday retail merchants are working overtime to accommodate the needs of the community at large.  The downtown is decorated beautifully with lights and garlands hanging all across Tower Avenue.  Additionally there are over 40 businesses that have decorated their windows with the “Name that Holiday Tune” game contest.  Great FUN for the whole family to come out and check out all the windows and celebrate the season.   Truly, this is one of the most beautiful times of year in downtown and we hope that you come to support the local merchants who make our historic downtown Hub City so special!

Flood Disaster Recovery Information

 BUSINESS DISASTER RECOVERY INFORMATION MEETING SCHEDULED

Chehalis, WA – The Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce has scheduled a Business Disaster Recovery Informational Meeting for Monday, December 10 at The Aerie in downtown Centralia, (219 S. Tower Ave). The meeting will run from 11:30 am to approximately 1:30 pm.

Business owners and representative managers are encouraged to attend to receive the most current information available about business disaster recovery. Local and State governmental agencies will be on hand to provide information on how to make assessments of losses to property as well as economic losses due to inaccessibility.

Businesses seeking cleanup assistance can call The Chamber office to request volunteers. Volunteers will be available on Friday,
December 7 and Saturday, December 8, beginning at 8:00 am both days. Volunteers will be dispatched on a first-come, first-served basis based on registered requests.

11,000 cleaning kits have been provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and can be picked up at the LDS church at 2195 Jackson Hwy in Chehalis. In addition, kits can be picked up at 542 NW Center Street in Chehalis until 5:00 pm both today and tomorrow. Kits will be available at both locations until supplies run out. Buckets are available for business and residential disbursement.

This informational meeting will focus on business disaster recovery only. The Chamber has not planned residential recovery meetings at this time. For further information please contact The Chamber office at 360-748-8885.

Flood Update…

Dear Blog Friends ~ 

Our hearts go out to those who have been affected by the floods in Lewis County –  the state of emergency here is truly of catastrophic proportion.  We are prayerful for those who have lost everything and amazed by a community that is banding together to help those in need. 

We feel so grateful that the water damage to the Wilson Hotel was minimal in proportion to the magnitude that many have experienced.  We are working to “dry out” the wet items in storage and “mop up” the water intrusion that was suffered in the annex section of the building.   Our damage was mainly caused by the roof flashing that joins the two buildings together. The flashing was over come by the tremendous downpour of rain in such a short amount of time that the water rose above the flashing edge.  This sent a sheets of water flowing down the inside walls of the annex section and on to the floor in traveling puddles.  We had some water intrusion through the back of the building as well as the drainage has not yet been corrected to keep water flowing away from the building in the rear.  But again, the water damage is “dealable” compared to those who have lost everything. 

 If you are at all in a position to contribute to those in need here is the latest update from the Centralia Downtown Association with contact information on how you can support those who are completely without.  Thank you for checking in to the site today.  We are hopeful to get everything cleaned up by the end of the weekend and be back to our rehabilitation efforts.  Stay tuned…  Here is the CDA update: 

After some checking around here are phone numbers and organizations that are now accepting various kinds of donations. 

What is needed most right now:  water, food, and toiletries.  I’ve also heard that families are still seeking shelter.  

 Emergency Services (Lewis County) – 740-1151They are the local lead on things. 

Salvation Army – 736-4339 United Way – 748-811 

The United Way was bringing up a large container to accept donations, but, can’t get through.  So, all donations for them can immediately be dropped off at the Carpenters Union Hall at Pearl and Center Streets (diagonal across the parking lot in front of the City Hall).

 Late Til Eight – Without having a clear picture of the extent of the damage to the community or how long it will take to begin recovery, our downtown will continue to stay open late on Friday.  There may be some stores that won’t be open, but, many of them will be.  If you are a merchant and know if you will be open, please reply to this email and I will get the word out again tomorrow afternoon.  And, yes, we are aware that the banner that was hanging across Main Street has been pretty badly damaged and needs to be removed.  

Dining – Many of the restaurants along Harrison Avenue are closed due to water damage.  There are many places to eat downtown (10 or more; from two blocks South of Tower to 2^nd Street on the North) that are still operational.  

 Shopping – All of the stores near I-5 in Chehalis are not open (Walmart, Home Depot, Applebee’s, etc…).  There are several places to get groceries and supplies downtown; Fuller’s Market and Century Market for groceries and Anderson’s Hardware Store on N. Tower is open. 

  General Meeting – The general meeting scheduled for December 12^th has been cancelled.  We will res-schedule this meeting just after Christmas.   Again, if you have any questions or need assistance with information or support, please contact the CDA and we will either provide help or referral and networking. 

The CDA is proud to be a part of our community!  Everyone in our community has been affected in one way or another with the flood.  The citizens of Centralia have shown remarkable resolve and resiliency through this crisis; assisting with evacuations, taking the homeless into their homes, sharing resources and maintaining as positive an attitude as could ever be expected under such circumstances.  Many thanks go those who have worked tirelessly in the effort to save lives and properties over the past three days.   Please reply to this if only to check in and let us know you are doing okay. 

The Chronicle has a very active forum with lots of discussion and networking at www.chronline.com  

Centralia Downtown Association – 360-623-1338  mail@centraliadowntown.com

Chasing Water…

Hard to catch… water on the move that is - - better known in the hotel as water LEAKS!   Oh my… what a start to winter we have had!  For the past 7 weeks we have discovered a minimum of one new water leak each week inside the Wilson.  We fix one leak and then another one springs up either from the rotting pipes or from the roof.  The plumbing system in the hotel spans over 94 years with generations of plumbing retro fittings installed to confuse matters.  In fact, some of the original piping is STILL in operation. 

In the coming weeks we will be capping off several water feed lines that we have traced down to the top floors of the hotel and draining the lines dry.  This will eliminate the old rotten pipes from continuing to spring new leaks. The roof is another matter.  As we move forward with our construction plans we will be determining the fate of the current roofing material and determining what type of replacement roof the current framing structure can support.  

Centralia Downtown Association Creates Tourism Ambassador Program :-)

Exciting news!  Yesterday I heard from the Centralia Downtown Association Interim Director, Dan Henderson, that the CDA is creating a “Tourism Ambassador” program for 2008-2009 work years.  This is fantastic news for our growing historic downtown.  If you have not had an opportunity to read the article I last posted on the blog about the Tourism Ambassador program – it is worth a good read. 

Creating Tourism Ambassadors

The following article ran in the Milwaukee Business Journal today.  The concept of creating “Tourism Ambassadors” to enhance a tourist’s experience while visiting a city is fantastic in our opinion.  Just imagine the impact a program like this could have on Historic Hub City, Centralia!   As a historic hotel property we are accumulating data on how we can provide the best guest experience possible. 

Our objective is to exceed the expectations of every guest who stays with us.  We will be considering how we can modify this program to improve our hospitality services.  

 Visit Milwaukee is training frontline hospitality workers on all that Milwaukee has to offer to enhance visitors’ experiences.  The program will create so-called “certified tourism ambassadors,” who are trained to give information and background to visitors interested in Milwaukee tourism opportunities.

Centralia Downtown Association News Update

For the last several weeks there has been visible change and progress in downtown Centralia.  The “Late ‘Til Eight” shopping events have continued to grow the numbers of shoppers that have been downtown each Friday to take advantage of the excellent shopping and dining opportunities.  Last week was the first full week of advertising support for the participating businesses, and, coincidentally, the largest turnout of shoppers.  Though only about 25 of the shops stuck in there until 8pm, the foot traffic on the streets was noticeably improved!  Good job to the participating businesses!  Thanks for sticking in there!   The merchants have demonstrated a great deal of cooperation and teamwork to bring this shopping opportunity to everyone!  Benefiting from a promotional change in hours of operation takes some time and a bunch of advertising to accomplish.  But, the folks that have come down to shop have had nothing but good things to say about it.  Particularly, how enjoyable the downtown is becoming in the evenings.

 After the shops closed at 8pm, about 20 of the downtown merchants and families took advantage of the Panaderia Purepecha Bakery’s extended hours for the after closing get together that is becoming a regular thing.  This coming Friday, we will all be gathering at the Jersey Diner for eats and desserts.  I’m told that they will be offering a special that night.  Everyone is welcome!

 All 80 of the CDA – Late Til Eight radio ad sponsorships have been sold!  Special thanks to Don Blair, Attorney, located at 121 ½ North Tower for purchasing 10!  These spots will continue to run weekly until the 21^st of December.  The “out of region” advertising started last week as well.  As a result, we had shoppers from the Seattle area come down as a direct result of those radio spots!  As we get closer to Christmas and the ads continue to work, every business in the downtown area has an opportunity to take advantage of the expanded ad coverage.  It really works.