Episode #7: How to Save Your Downtown with Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss
Is it possible to rebuild a downtown without relying on recruiting big box retail? Yes! Ilana Preuss shows us how to do it with the small-scale manufacturers already in our communities.
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Episode #7 of the Econ Dev Show Podcast is now live.
What's your downtown like?
As a county economic developer, I can look out over several different cities, all with a diverse array of downtowns:
- Some are vibrant, beautiful tourist destinations.
- Others are transitioning and improving with city dollars and commercial reinvestment into new stores, new facades, new lighting, new life.
- Some suburban cities, to their shame, don't even really have downtowns. (Unfortunately, I live in a town like that.)
- But still, others are shells of their former selves; Empty storefronts with faded signs and broken sidewalks -- places that you don't go after dark -- not because they're dangerous per se, but because there's no reason to.
Our guest today, hopes to change that. Ilana Preuss and her book Recast Your City: How to Save Your Downtown with Small-Scale Manufacturing offer an excellent primer on how to rebuild your downtown without relying on outsiders to bring their businesses to your community.
I hope that you enjoy my conversation with Ilana, and read her book.
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