City officials growing weary of MainStreet's lack of progress

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — The volunteers of Gallup MainStreet will tell you it's been a busy 10 months since the private non-profit the local branch of a national downtown revitalization program elected its first steering committee.

But officials with the city, which has pledged $25,000 to the cause and already invested the first $10,000, believe the group should be further along. And with some potential state funding on the line, they're starting to get anxious.

"It's frustrating to see the progress Aztec and Artesia have been making while we've been languishing," City Manager Eric Honeyfield said. "We're doing things one would have thought would have been done months ago."

Honeyfield may be the most vocal of the group's critics of late, but he's not alone. According to Gallup Development Commission Director Glen Benefield, who's had the most contact with the group among city officials, the general consensus is that Gallup MainStreet really should be further along by now.

By the end of the first year, Honeyfield said, the group should have a stable revenue stream, projects underway, and a full-time director. And by his calculations, that year has already expired. But it really depends on when you start counting: the group had its steering committee in place by October, although Gov. Bill Richardson had tapped Gallup for MainStreet status by March, nearly a year after local organizers began actively pursuing the designation.

Of the city manager's three benchmarks, Gallup MainStreet has achieved only one: the group's board of directors which eventually replaced the steering committee hired a director, Krista Kennedy, in May.

"We are all working hard to get MainStreet rolling," Kennedy writes in an Aug. 25 e-mail to The Independent.

"It has taken longer than anyone would have liked," she concedes, "but I hope the city will be able to see a big change very soon."

During a phone interview, however, Kennedy explained that the delays have been somewhat by design. She said the board made a decision to place accuracy above speed in drawing up its articles of incorporation its version of a constitution which it just recently adopted.

"That was the biggest step before we could start moving at any speed," Kennedy said.

With those articles in place, she said, the group can now begin collecting with confidence on the donations a handful of local private businesses have already made and begin soliciting more.

It's the first critical step toward the financial independence city officials are so adamant the group eventually achieve. The City Council only reluctantly awarded the group its first $10,000 in January, and only on the condition that it match the public contribution with private donations before asking for more.

Honeyfield doesn't place the financial burden squarely on MainStreet, its director, or its volunteers. He called the reluctance of the downtown businesses set to benefit from Gallup MainStreet's work to invest in its future a "huge obstacle" for the group. Mayor Bob Rosebrough has likewise lamented the business sector's meager buy-in, especially in light of the $5 million his administration has either spent on, or committed to, downtown projects.

But Honeyfield still expects more from MainStreet. He said the program's New Mexico director, Rich Williams, shares his frustration. According to Kennedy, the state had started pressuring the group to hire a permanent director; the board was relying on an interim director before it hired her.

During a phone interview with The Independent, however, Williams sounded much more conciliatory.

"Each start-up process ... has its own ups and downs," he said, and Gallup has been no exception.

That process typically takes two years, and with a director in place and an initial if tense partnership with the city, he said, Gallup MainStreet was on its way.

Williams and his staff have been working closely with the group to help it along. But without some more concrete signs of progress, Honeyfield said, "I don't know when their patience will run out."

He believes that patience will be critical in convincing the governor's office to hand over any of the money it's set aside for MainStreet projects around the state this year if Gallup manages to get its application in on time, that is.

As critical as he is of the group's progress, the city manager called it "vital" to downtown Gallup's future and hoped to see it succeed.

A national program out of Washington, D.C., MainStreet has regional offices in 38 states including New Mexico that oversee local efforts. Its goal is to restore the economic vitality of downtown communities across the country. Once mature, Williams said, a local MainStreet program turns every dollar of public investment into an average of $50 worth of investment by private business.

City officials are hoping Gallup MainStreet gets there soon.