I have been in the Main Street Management field for almost 30 years, and I have always found that public service people, like main street managers, come under greater scrutiny during an election year.  Many times, it is derived by inference. Some person running for office or supporting someone running for office normally has an agenda or platform, and if something relating to your program somehow… someway… bears any resemblance to the platform or agenda, you end up in the cross hairs.

I remember one of my first meetings in Phoenixville, the council was selecting someone to fill a vacancy on council and one council member got up and told everyone the downtown was a disgrace and then he pointed at me and told me I was a disgrace.  I had only been there like three weeks, and it appeared that immediately my stuff was shaky.

In almost all cases, the hubbub goes away right after the election, but the period from the primary to general election is normally a time when people conducting higher profile public programs. It takes away from the pure nature of what you are trying to accomplish, because you get embroiled with a personality running for office.

In Downingtown, some guy ran for Mayor based upon getting me fired. I was in the midst of a couple of big projects with Kardon Park and the Amtrak Train Yard Keystone Opportunity Zone, and I saw that my chances of completing those projects diminished. By inference, those projects came under attack in a political campaign. 

Normally the funding for a downtown revitalization program can change every day, and when there are people making an issue about the direction and leadership of the organization, and, in many cases, the funding contracts. Downtown Programs are a consensus building-based effort, and it is important to address all issues that are presented in the planning documents and initial outreach efforts. Political issues are too random to plan for, because in most cases they are peripherally connected.

I have always advised downtown managers to keep their head down during this time of the year. If you try not to take personal offense to some of the things said during the election time, and keep doing your work, it will turn out better.

There are the personal reactions, as at times, a main street manger from out of town cannot relate to what is happening. I have seen where a wife of a business executive that had transferred to an area, took the main street job, and feeling insulted, she quit the position. I have watched as others looked for a new job. I have always kept my mouth shut in these situations, because it passes after the election.

When a Main Street Manager is hired from out of town, they seem to take a different view on what goes on with local politics. No one wants to be embroiled in an argument with one of the local politicos, but by the same token, one must maintain status as the prime mover for revitalization. This is where a good board of directors/committee comes into play, in an effort to buffer the politics out of the political arena. 

A good revitalization committee will buffer incidents of political pot shots from people running for office. In a small town setting, many of the people know each other through common acquaintances, school or church. It is better to have someone close to them tell them to keep the revitalization out of the political arena. There are times when the revitalization needs money, and that could put them on the front line of individuals with a more conservative fiscal bent. Normally those funding requests come at budget time and that catches the end of the election year.

One election year in Phoenixville, one of the candidates ran a digital countdown concerning when the council was going to renew me. It was all done anonymously and my board president hired an attorney to find out who was writing about me. Once we found out, he confronted the person and got an apology. These kinds of things are normal in small towns, but if it damages the revitalization, it has to be taken as a special circumstance that needs rectified.

In most cases, there is not intent to harm the revitalization, but just a desire to be elected. A person is ambitious and wants to succeed and grasps at whatever fits the program they created. A main street manager has to have thick skin, but sometimes people are so cold in their attacks that it creates a problem for even the most experienced of managers.

Barry Cassidy is a freelance grant and economic development consultant. He can be reached at barrycassidy@comcast.net.