Entrepreneurial American Community Award
For its innovative use of public/private partnerships in its economic revitalization plan centered on high-end residential development.
Facing a decline in its tax base and the looming possibility of government financial crisis, the Mitman Administration and the Easton City Council entered into an Early Intervention Plan (EIP) managed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With advice from the EIP’s consultants, Easton chose to place high-end residential development at the top of their community and economic revitalization agenda. Through this strategy, Easton was able to foster a downtown atmosphere by engaging in partnerships with Lafayette College and local business associations. Governor Rendell and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have also granted 24 million dollars to Easton to be used in the urban core. The new downtown, spurred by the high-end residential development, is attracting urban professionals which has and will continue to increase the city’s overall tax base. The city of Easton has become a model turnaround success story in community revitalization through innovative partnerships.
The partnerships created by the City of Easton for economic and community revitalization have stimulated an investment of over 200 million dollars in development efforts. Lafayette College has provided more than 10 million dollars in current and planned initiatives directed towards downtown development to show their institution’s support for the revitalization efforts of the city. Additionally, initiatives such as the State-run Pennsylvania Main Street Program are providing the needed guidance to bring business, architectural and residential visions to reality. In fact, through close association with the Greater Easton Development Partnership, the Main Street Program has been able to secure over 200 thousand dollars in state and matching funding for 2006, and hopes to be completely community funded by 2010.
These initiatives, designed to foster an environment to attract a broader base of citizens and wealth, have created a number of notable downtown developments. As a result of the City’s strategy, the 1926 Hotel Easton has been completed with a 14 million dollar renovation to create luxury condominiums to reinvest wealth in the downtown area. It is projected that the City will bring in an extra 115,000 dollars of taxes in 2011 due to this development alone. Further development efforts by the City include the 3rd Street Corridor, which has been jointly funded by private efforts and Lafayette College to connect the school to the downtown area, and the restoration of the State Theater, a twenty year project initiated in the early 1980s.
Through the success of these programs, the city has not only been able to avoid financial collapse, it has also been able to provide competitively priced housing to long-distance commuters and foster collaborative partnerships to ensure the future success and growth for this treasure of Pennsylvania.