Economic Restructuring - Develop a diversified economic base while retaining and strengthening existing businesses. There are four major reasons why downtown is important. Downtown is an area that needs to be protected for investment reasons. City investment is in the form of sewers, sidewalks, streets, alleys, and water lines. It is the obligation of the city and private citizens to protect downtown to see that the tax base stays strong.
Downtown is an incubator for new businesses.
Starting and overhead costs are often too high in shopping centers for new merchants. Downtown, where the overhead is lower, is the logical place for beginning businesses. It is up to downtown viable shopping district that will afford opportunities for new growth. The rehabilitation of downtown is an incentive for attracting community-wide investment. When industry leaders look at a community as a possible location, the officials examine many aspects, among which are availability of industrial parks, adequate airport facilities, land, water, and utilities.