Hamilton vs Middletown - Economic Dev. Strategy

I figure this thread would be a good comparative look between Middletown and the city. Hamilton is arguably becoming a success story, and Middletown... is still struggling. 

Trot: 1. Invest in quality of life infrastructure - like their music pavilion on the river edge. Great space for people to hang out and listen to some music, even if it is not a big act. In the process of attending the concert and being a participant, money is spent. In the process, concert goers feel a connection to their city and each other, which builds community. When was the last time Towne Mall or Briel Blvd. ever built any community?

Mike mentioned the AK Pavillion, which, along with the idea of Lake Middletown has proven to be a bust. The Broad St Bash is where people come together to listen to music. Already in place and successful by Middletown standards.

Trot: 2. Foster creativity - it's an easy formula. Cheap, undesirable space + poor, but creative people = filled, desirable space. Imagine how much more productive the strip center with the former Hill's and Kroger off Briel across from AK would be if it was free R&D space. So Joe Blow could come in, bring some tools, and build things to sell. Maybe even become successful in the process, hire some employees, and create good-paying jobs right here in Middletown. Hamilton is effectively doing this with its new Artspace project. Why doesn't Middletown step it up a notch and put the focus on manufacturing?

Gotta get the owners to let the people use all of these vacant stores. So far, I haven't seen any real effort in advertising as to occupancy in the vacant downtown stores nor the old Hills/Kroger strip mall. The owners don't seem to be in any hurry to get the stores filled. In both locations, the property has been sitting for decades. Same goes with the old Target down on S. University. It would appear that the owners don't want the stores occupied judging by the length of time they have been empty.

Trot: 3. Aggressively pursue state money - like really aggressively. Even in ways where Middletown, according to a quick read of the requirements, is not even remotely qualified. Hamilton is trying hard to get any state money it can scrape up. Look at its green initiatives. $2 mil in state funding to "become more green" (read - $2 mil straight toward improving decrepit facilities that's NOT coming from individual taxes). It's a no-brainer, leverage every cent you can get. Even if the rules say you can't

Hey! You don't have to tell the Middletown leaders about pursuing any grant/ fed/ state or any other money taps. They are the experts when it comes to the search for easy money. That's in lieu of producing city revenue the old fashioned way.....job creation and the corporate and payroll taxes that come with it. Middletown leaders have made more of an attempt at asking the feds, the state and any other government source to send money than they ever have on creating sources on their own. Totally dependent on others while making little effort on their own as to revenue generation.

Trot: 4. Proper signage / streetscaping. I saw in the I-75 thread that this was getting bashed. And honestly, I agree - but the reason why I agree is because the nature of the interchange does not lend itself well to having landscaping improvements make an impact. But in neighborhoods, sure. For instance, the neighborhood by where the hospital used to stand is beautiful. But what's its name? You may say no one cares, but what about the funding and accreditation that comes with being a certified historic neighborhood? Look at German Village in Hamilton. Without those signs and landscape improvements, no one would even know it exists. But now it makes a statement, a statement of "this is a nice neighborhood". Property values go up there. Property values go up near there. And then it spirals (in a good way).

The neighborhood where the hospital use to be is called the Highlands. It is filled with rich folks who can keep their properties up on their own without the historic designation and monetary help. I believe it has this label despite that fact. Helping historic areas like the Highlands and the S. Main St. residents only help those areas of town. Don't see how the majority of us benefit from taking care of the wealthy people's property for them through grants, etc. Property values go up if we post signs telling everyone this is a nice neighborhood you say? What about the rest of us in town who live in nice neighborhoods? No one helping us but we, the owners, as to "niceness". Again, let the rich people in the historic neighborhoods take care of their own houses like we have to do. Case in point......the S. Main St people want old fashioned street lights in their area (which, by the way, aren't accurate). The city wants ALL OF US to pay for their lights. If the dam S. Main St people want their lights, let them open up their wallet. I'm not getting any benefit at all from them having new lights. I live in the east end, miles away from the S. Main St area. I don't care about their neighborhood and have no interest in helping them prosper.....just as they have no interest in my area of town.

Want to really help Middletown and level the playing field with Hamilton and other communities? LIVABLE WAGE JOB CREATION........MORE LIVABLE WAGE JOB CREATION......."YA JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH LIVABLE WAGE JOB CREATION"...... FIX THE STREETS AND SEWERS.......REDUCE THE CRIME AND GET THE DRUGGIES OUT OF HERE.......GET THE OVERSATURATION OF SECTION 8 OUT OF HERE........CLEAN UP THE GHETTO IMAGE ITEMS-- IE- DILAPIDATED HOUSES, JUNK CARS, TRASH LAYING AROUND.......STOP CONCENTRATING ON THE DAM DOWNTOWN AND START PAYING ATTENTION TO THE REST OF THE CITY......WORK THE EAST END/FREEWAY AREA TO IT'S FULLEST POTENTIAL.......FOCUS ON GETTING A HIGHER CLASS OF CLIENTELE IN TOWN WITH THE AMENITIES THAT GO ALONG WITH THAT....... WORK WITH EXISTING/NEW BUSINESSES INSTEAD OF FIGHTING WITH THEM EVERY STEP OF THE WAY-INVITE THEM IN/ HELP THEM OUT......RETAIN THE PROPER POLICE AND FIRE SERVICES.......MAKE AN EFFORT TO "POLISH THE IMAGE OF THE CITY" MOVING FROM LOW INCOME GHETTO TO AT LEAST RESPECTABLE MIDDLE CLASS. IMO, THAT'S A START TO BRINGING THIS CITY OUT OF THE HOLE IT IS IN NOW.

OH, DID I MENTION LIVABLE WAGE JOB CREATION?   

thanx, Miami
interesting read with many excellent points that I had not considered

fair and balanced--objective--no stones thrown

very nice contribution!

Miami9,                                                                    Thank you for a refreshing commentary.            

Paul Nagy,
I don't understand why you think Middletown doesn't want growth. My experience is that the city leaders are working hard to try and grow the city (unfortunately they don't have much to show for their efforts). I do think that they want to shrink the section 8 population and grow the middle class and this may result in a net population reduction. To say they don't want growth I think is a mischaracterization.

acclaro wrote: Hamilton won the PG sub only because West Chester did not want to change the zoning to a less restrictive manufacturing zone. A win by forfeit of West Chester.

Miami9, thanks for all the info! I do not have an inside perspective of Hamilton, so I appreciate the insight. I was just observing what I have witnessed happening there and threw out some ideas I have seen from other locales for consideration.

Speaking of money coming in what's going on down on Main St. Have they reduced the speed limit down to 25 or has it always been 25 on Main St. They put up speed meters to show you your speed, that can only mean one thing, the cruisers are next to write tickets. We have to up the revenues in the city since they seem to have lost some of the funds they applied for.

That's strange!!!

When they were trying to justify re-paving S. Main Street in the so-called "historic district" (when so many more heavily travelled streets needed it worse), this same group was claiming that S. Main was the "main entry to the city"!!!