After seven years in the Main Street program, Lake Orion’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) has failed to be accredited for the sixth time.
Main Street is a national program focused on revitalizing historic communities. Lake Orion’s DDA participates in conjunction with Main Street Oakland County (MSCO).
Of the 10 accreditation criterion, the DDA was fully satisfactory in only one of them: Main Street Network membership. It received a ‘no? for meeting four other criteria, and a ‘yes, but needs additional development? in the remaining five.
DDA Board President Gene Carlson said, ‘We’re looking at all the comments very closely. We’re looking at action items for each deficiency to get us back in compliance. Next year we expect that we’ll improve greatly and take care of any issues. We want to be certified next time around.?
According to Main Street evaluators, ‘timely information about the progress of the Lake Orion Main Street program was not provided prior to the visit. ‘Additionally, a number of indicators on the MSOC-provided checklist were missing from the completed checklist version, making it very difficult to review/evaluate without the requested data. ‘The challenges appear to be the same in 2009 as ? in 2003.?
The evaluation goes on to say that the relationship with the village government does not seem to have improved.
‘It appears that getting past these old histories continues to be a stumbling block. As a result, the program will not move forward until these past issues are corrected and the DDA can forge ahead.?
According to DDA Director Lois Golden, the authority has been continuously working on Main Street goals for several years. Some of the DDA’s poorest evaluation scores came from board and committee participation. Aside from the DDA’s handful of paid staff, all of the work done by the authority, including board and committee participation, is on a volunteer basis.
‘Board and committee members were a no-show for the big visit,? Golden said of the Main Street evaluators? visit, adding that the DDA has a difficult time getting board members to attend workshops.
According to Bob Donohue, Main Street Oakland County coordinator and principal planner, the program should be run by volunteers and not so heavily dependent on DDA staff. For this reason, the DDA received a ‘no? under this accreditation criteria.
‘I think there’s a tendency for the staff to do it all and not reach out to volunteers,? he said. ‘The whole premise of Main Street is community involvement and institutionalizing it.?
Donohue added that the evaluation isn’t as bad as it seems at first glance.
‘There’s nothing there that can’t be changed with a little bit of work,? he said. ‘We hope that next time around they’ll be accredited.?
Golden is equally optimistic about the DDA’s growth in Main Street. She listed Meek’s Park bridge, helping with Rotary’s Dual-a-thon and the Farmers Market among the authority’s recent work in creating a volunteer-driven program.