Juneau Report: Juneau Goes Main Street

Large sections of Juneau's downtown core look more like a ghost town than a thriving state capitol.
Tourism businesses close in the off-season - leaving entire blocks of empty storefront windows and no trespassing signs behind.

The City and Borough of Juneau is the first in the state to embrace the Main Street Movement - a preservation-based economic development and community revitalization effort that focuses on transforming downtowns.

CBJ Planner Allison Eddins

CBJ Planner Allison Eddins says, “The City is hoping that we can coordinate all our efforts and coordinate some of the strategies that we are using to attack some of the challenges we have downtown - mainly housing and homelessness, historic preservation, and restoration of some of these older beautiful buildings that we have downtown that are in need of some facade work.”

Main Street is a road map for locally-owned - locally-driven prosperity created by leveraging local leadership - transforming the economy and improving the overall quality of life

Transformation catalyst strategies focus on particular customer segments like the elderly or young families. They also respond to underserved market demand in an industry - product or service segment.

Main Street points include economic vitality - which offers capital, incentives,  and other economic and financial tools to assist local businesses, encourage property development and create a supportive environment for entrepreneurs and innovators.

Main Street also uses design to enhance the physical and visual assets that set the district apart by organizing resources and community involvement as well as cultivating partnerships downtown.