[OMS_MANAGERS] FW: Funding to revitalize your historic downtown

Fri Jan 9 10:32:54 PST 2015

☺

Peggy
Peggy Moretti, Exec. Director
RESTORE OREGON<http://www.restoreoregon.org/>
503 243-1923

From: OMS_MANAGERS [mailto:oms_managers-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] On Behalf Of Kelly Haverkate
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2015 8:45 PM
To: Oregon Main Street program managers
Subject: Re: [OMS_MANAGERS] FW: Funding to revitalize your historic downtown

Done!

On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 12:41 PM, Peggy Moretti <PeggyM at restoreoregon.org<mailto:PeggyM at restoreoregon.org>> wrote:

Hello, Main Street Colleagues!

All of your mayors should have received the attached email letter this week.  Please take this opportunity to reinforce your support for the Revitalize Main Street Act and encourage your mayor and/or city council to endorse the bill and ask your state legislators to support its passage.  The attached sign-on letter provides an easy template for their use and a simple click-through to our web form is all it takes to endorse the bill.

Our list of supporters is growing and we are gaining interest from key business, cultural, and environmental groups.  But MAIN STREET VOICES ARE ESSENTIAL as the state budget remains very tight!

We would still like a few more MAIN STREET MATTERS photos – so please send them along.  And if YOU didn’t get around to endorsing the bill<http://restoreoregon.org/rehab-tax-incentive/>, please do so NOW.

Thank you!

Peggy
Peggy Moretti, Exec. Director
RESTORE OREGON<http://www.restoreoregon.org/>
503 243-1923<tel:503%20243-1923>

From: Peggy Moretti
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2015 11:08 AM
To: Peggy Moretti
Subject: Funding to revitalize your historic downtown

Dear Mayor,

I’m following up a letter sent last month asking for your endorsement of state legislation that creates a Historic Rehabilitation Incentive<http://restoreoregon.org/rehab-tax-incentive/> (HRI) to restore the iconic but often deteriorating buildings in our historic downtowns.  A coalition of leaders from across the state has been working with Restore Oregon to introduce this important bill, including your colleague Sharon Konopa, mayor of Albany.

The Revitalize Main Street Act<http://restoreoregon.org/rehab-tax-incentive/> would authorize an HRI in the form of a 25% rebate for the rehabilitation of historic commercial buildings – stores, hotels, theaters, apartments, factories, mills, etc.  There are probably one or two that come to mind in your downtown that would have a big impact if fixed up and the upper floors re-occupied.  The rebate would help offset the high cost of restoration, seismic retrofitting, and code compliance.  Funded by the auction of state income tax credits at a capped amount (similar to the successful film production credit), a significant percent of the HRI would be directed toward rural communities.

This modest, cost-effective investment by the state will help revitalize Oregon’s downtowns and pay dividends for decades to come in the form of new jobs, income and property taxes, cultural heritage and tourism, business incubation, seismic safety, and the reuse of existing infrastructure.

An economic impact study conducted by EcoNorthwest projects that in 2018, with a state investment of just $10.6M, we would see:

•  4 times more buildings restored than without the state incentive.

•  1,369 Oregon jobs per year generating income of $25.5M.

•  $2.3M net increase in property taxes per year to pay for schools and services.

•  $13.3M new federal Historic Tax Credit dollars invested in Oregon per year.

•  $35.8M net increase per year in direct development spending.

As the attached data sheet<http://restoreoregon.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/RevitalizeMainStreet_DataSheet_10-21-14.pdf> shows, 35 other states are boosting private investment and stimulating local economies through a state HRI.  Its time Oregon did the same!  If you agree, I’m hoping that you will:

1.    Endorse the Revitalize Main Street Act.  Reply to this email and confirm we can list you and/or your city council as a supporter. There is also an online endorsement form<http://restoreoregon.org/rehab-tax-incentive/> that you and members of your community can sign.

2.    Include this in your legislative agenda and ask the League of Oregon Cities to support it, too.

2.  Contact your state Representative and Senator and ask them to support this bill.  Add your signature to the attached sign-on letter and forward it to your state Senator and Representative.  Feel free to add specific examples of buildings in your town that, but for the incentive, will continue to waste away.

A state HRI as provided in the Revitalize Main Street Act could be the single most important thing we do to bring new life (and seismic safety) to Oregon’s historic downtowns.

Thank you for your support!

[cid:image002.png at 01D02695.A5AB3D70]
Peggy Moretti
Executive Director, Restore Oregon
________________________________
   “I encourage the legislature to pass the Revitalize Main Street Act.  It provides a crucial incentive to invest in the restoration of our historic downtown buildings, bringing them back to life as places to work, live, dine, and shop.  Without it, the cost of repairs, code compliance, and seismic retrofitting are prohibitive and buildings such as Albany’s St. Francis Hotel will continue to sit largely empty and deteriorating.”

-       Sharon Konopa, Mayor of Albany

________________________________

[cid:image004.jpg at 01D02695.A5AB3D70]<http://www.restoreoregon.org/>
24 NW First Avenue, Suite 274 | Portland, OR  97209
503 243-1923<tel:503%20243-1923>
Visit our newsroom for 10 Reasons to Support the Revitalize Main Street Act<http://restoreoregon.org/10-reasons-revitalize-main-street-act/>

[cid:image006.png at 01D02695.A5AB3D70]<https://www.facebook.com/RestoreOregon?v=wall&viewas=0>

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