Revitalizing Downtown Martinez through partnerships with city staff, landlords, and the Main Street Martinez Program to bring in a mixture of national name and small independent businesses that fill unmet needs, but fit into existing building space.
If elected, I would work with the the City Economic Development Department and grassroots organizations like Main Street Martinez to actively recruit a mixture of small national name and independent businesses to downtown. I think the marketing power of a few, small, national name businesses can be leveraged to bring increased foot traffic to downtown. This increased foot traffic will benefit independent businesses that don't have the capital to market to a wider audience. Martinez currently has several fine independent businesses that are struggling because they don't have the resources to effectively market their products outside the core downtown area. I would work very hard to ensure the John Muir Festival Theater/Willows Indoor Theater Project is executed because I believe it will have a significant positive impact on downtown business. Finally, I would partner with local historical societies and the Main Street Martinez Program to investigate the avenues available to get a historical designation for downtown, which could be a possible funding source for building renovations.
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