What is MainStreet, and what does it mean for communities across New Mexico?
New Mexico MainStreet helps communities revitalize their downtowns, supporting local businesses while preserving history and culture. I always say, MainStreet is like a self-help program for a community. They decide what will work best for them, and we help make it happen.
Our approach is not cookie-cutter. Every community is different, so the focus is on the individual assets each community has. Whether it’s revitalizing a downtown area or a commercial corridor, the community is defining the work they want to do. They’re the ones who decide where their needs are and where they want to grow.
What are some upcoming events you’d like folks to know about?
The New Mexico MainStreet Institute in Alamogordo this October is one I’m really looking forward to. We’re going to have our entire Main Street network there. We’re going to be celebrating our programs forty-year anniversary and highlighting some of our Great Blocks on MainStreet projects.
With Great Blocks, the goal is to start with a two- or three-block core. Then we help redo the infrastructure and make streetscape improvements, creating safe, pedestrian-friendly, creative spaces.
The goal is to bring more people downtown, but also to stimulate private reinvestment. What we’ve learned over time is that when you invest in the public infrastructure in the community — especially sidewalks, streets, lighting, and buildings that have been vacant for a long time — people start investing in their buildings. We work with local businesses and building owners to start putting those buildings that may have sat dormant for years back into productive use. That’s some of what we’re going to be showcasing in October.
I’m also looking forward to the Route 66 Centennial Celebration that starts in January. We’re working with all our communities to create events and marketing campaigns to capture that Route 66 spirit.
New Mexico has one of the most total miles of Route 66. Tucumcari, Santa Rosa, Las Vegas, Nob Hill, San Pedro Ave, Barelas, Downtown Albuquerque, the South Valley, Las Vegas, Grants, and Gallup are all MainStreet communities along the route through its various iterations over time.
We’re expecting a lot of international visitors that we don’t typically get coming through the state for the celebrations. We’re working with all our local communities to develop great reasons for travelers to get out of their cars and spend more time in the communities.
Originally, for communities along the route, it meant they were continuously getting traffic coming through. People stopped to eat and stayed the night in our communities while traveling — not just driving through. The question is, how do we capture more of that traffic for the centennial?
I’ve driven the route myself on motorcycle, from Albuquerque to Santa Monica, then back through to Chicago. You really get a feeling for how people may have experienced it in the past, because you’re actually going through these same awesome communities that have a lot to offer. We’ve lost a lot of that connection because of the highway.
There are still a lot of legacy businesses out there that used to depend on that traffic — restaurants, stores, and gas stations, that have been serving people for decades.
So how do we recapture some of that? As an asset-based community economic development program, we’re looking at each community. What qualities or assets do they have that make them unique? They’re all different, so we’re highlighting the things that make them special.
We’re working with the Tourism Department and the Governor’s Route 66 Centennial Working Group. There have been a number of grants from Tourism for Route 66 MainStreet communities for mass marketing and for public infrastructure projects that enhance the experience of the people coming through.
We’re super excited about all the work being done.
What are some of the recent successes you’re most proud of?
In April, at the Main Street Now Conference in Philadelphia, our communities received two national awards.
The big one is a Great American Main Street Award (GMSA), which was awarded to Raton MainStreet. In addition, Alamogordo MainStreet Board President Claudia Loya received the Mary Means Leadership Award. Communities across the United States compete for those awards, so it’s a huge honor.
This is only our second time as an award winner, and it was exciting because Raton’s Mainstreet and Arts & Cultural District was our first Great Blocks projects. It was our first really big public infrastructure project where we invested $1.2 million into the $2.2 million project, creating a space that inspired others to invest in it too.
I know it feels great for Raton to get recognized in that way. They’re one of our model communities in that they have all the different components working together — the local Main Street program, the local government, and the state all doing their part, headed in the same direction and supporting each other.
Tell us a little bit about your background and what you enjoy most about your job?
I’m from Northern California, San Francisco, and the Central Valley. I went to UC Davis for undergrad, Native American studies and both archeology and cultural anthropology. My grad school work was all cultural anthropology at the University of Illinois.
I wanted to be an Anthropology Professor. My research was on cultural citizenship and community development in terms of how people claim and utilize space.. So, in that sense, I’m not doing the research component anymore; I’m actually doing the work. That “hands-on” approach is really what shifted me into community economic development; I didn’t want to write about it; I wanted to do it.
I helped start a MainStreet program in New Mexico as a founding member of Barelas MainStreet. To me, it’s about providing support so people can realize their dreams.
Anything else folks should know about you?
I love music and I love going to concerts. All music, but I especially love me some Bay Area thrash; that is what I grew up on. I love classic rock too. The Beatles are still my all-time favorite band. If I could only pick one album to take to a desert island, it would actually be two: the Beatles red (1962-1966) and blue (1967–1970) greatest hits collections. It would have to be both.
