Communities Receive ‘Main Street’ Status

Canoga Park and Pacoima have been designated “Main Street” communities by the state, which will bring technical help and resources to their small businesses, officials said Thursday.

Main Street, a nationwide nonprofit program, helps communities design business districts and gain funding for scholarship and job training programs, officials said. The program helps communities market themselves but does not give them state funds. Main Street’s three-member Sacramento staff suggests grant and foundation sources for funds.

Certification is an important step in Canoga Park’s revitalization, said Leslie Lambert, a project manager with Los Angeles’ Community Redevelopment Agency and a member of the local Main Street board of directors.

“It really complements what the city has been doing out there for six years,” she said.

About $13 million has been spent to improve parts of Canoga Park, especially along the Sherman Way business district, Lambert said. Main Street status will become part of Canoga Park’s promotional materials, and banners celebrating the designation are scheduled to go up soon at several Sherman Way intersections, she said.

Despite improvements in Canoga Park’s commercial area, there are still high vacancy and tenant turnover rates, officials said, adding that the community needs more sidewalk cafe style restaurants.

The Los Angeles City Council authorized $100,000 in federal block grant funds to hire an administrator to run the program locally, Lambert said.

In Pacoima, money is needed to help businesses along Van Nuys Boulevard from the Golden State Freeway to Glenoaks Boulevard, said Marlene Grossman, design committee chairwoman of Pacoima Partners coalition, which sponsored Pacoima’s bid.

Money would be used to plant more trees and clean up streets, she said.

“Any opportunity that Pacoima gets to get the kind of technical assistance Main Street can provide is so valuable,” Grossman said. “A lot of businesses are hanging on by a thread.”

Canoga Park and Pacoima are the first Los Angeles Main Street communities. Both demonstrated wide local support for certification from residents, volunteer and business groups and merchants, said Lon S. Hatamiya, secretary of the California Trade and Commerce Agency, which oversees the state Main Street program. There are 38 Main Street communities statewide and 1,700 across the nation.

“All the applications require that kind of personal commitment,” Hatamiya said. “Certification reinvigorates the city centers. Having Main Street designation gives it a great marketing tool to attract those businesses back downtown.”