Clawson Receives National Main Street Accreditation

This story was written by Benjamin Torres.

Main Street Oakland County honored several communities  at Leon & Lulu in Clawson Tuesday. 

The event was put together to recognize newly accredited communities.  Since 2000 the program has been solidifying the unique charm specific to local area downtowns and maximizing their potential while preserving their heritage and sense of place.  In addition, the Main Street program looks to nurture growth for entrepreneurs by keeping profits in town.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson kicked things off by noting that while many milestones had been reached since the programs birth, this marked the first time that so many communities had reached full certification.  The downtowns that received accreditation during the meeting were:  Clawson, Farmington, Ferndale, Highland, Holly, Lake Orion, Oxford, Ortonville, Pontiac and Rochester.  Each of them received a perfect 10 out of 10 on their 2012 national evaluations. 

Today, Oakland has the only county-wide full service program in operation.  Since inception (in 2000), to 2012, more than $685 million in public and private investment in our Main Street downtowns created over 8000 full-time jobs and 818 new businesses along the way.  Patterson went on to note that all this took place during the “worst recession since the great depression."   

Here are statistics regarding real costs and impact of a storefront sitting vacant for one year in small-town commercial districts.

•       $250,000.00 in lost sales
•       $12,500.00 in lost sales tax revenue
•       $15,000.00 in lost rents to the property owner
•       $1,500.00 in lost property tax revenue to local government
•       $51,000.00 in lost loan demand to local banks for the building
•       $15,000.00 in lost loan demand to local banks for the business
•       $750.00 in lost property management fees
•       $24,750.00 in lost business profits and owner compensation
•       $16,250 in lost payroll

*Estimates prepared by Donovan D. Rypkema, Place Economics, Washington D.C. 

Matt Gibb, Deputy County Executive for Economic Development said that “The visions he (Patterson) created so many years ago are now proving to be fruitful for us in Oakland County.”  

In April/May 2013 the county experienced its single largest employment gains since they started keeping records.  In one month 10,497 jobs were added, almost meeting the entire annual projection of 11,600.

Gibbs stated that this was due in large part to programs like Emerging Sectors; however, it owes an even greater thanks to programs that we (Oakland County) run.  Gibbs also advised that the greatest hiring surge comes from small businesses and small start-ups, “Whether they are in Nano-technology from California that moves here or whether they are Leon & Lulu’s in Clawson, Michigan.” 

The event was preceded by performance by the Clawson High School (Trojans) Cheerleaders.  At the end of the presentation each of the communities accepted their official certificate of accreditation, followed by a meet and greet with county officials.