Community Revitalization Desktop Guide

interviews with Pennsylvania Mayors Karl E. Eisaman , Mayor of Greensburg Part-time Mayor | In ofﬁce 1995-present | Owner of downtown Greensburg insurance agency If I can give two pieces of advice to future Mayors of this and other older communities, they would be ﬁrst, to listen to everyone in your community that you can, but once you ﬁnd a project to move on and you have listened to everyone, see that it gets done. Second, win the trust of your employees and political partners and ensure that even when you disagree, you will all work together towards the betterment of the city. When I came into ofﬁce, the ﬁrst month I set up meetings with as many groups as possible and listened to what their needs and concerns were. I also listened to what their proposed solutions were and asked what they would be able to contribute to the revitalization of the city, what new partnerships we could create. As the Mayor you are considered the leader, but if you just listen, you learn a lot. My other priority in my ﬁrst few months was to win the trust of my employees and make sure they would work with me. After all, city employees are the most important partners that a Mayor can have. I also shook things up a bit to ensure the best people were in each job. I made the Recreation Director my City Administrator because she was a great communicator and that was the most important skill needed for that job. I examined how city departments worked from the inside and I found that they had distinct cultures. In fact, there were three or four departments with different letterheads and business cards. Within a matter of months, everyone shared a uniﬁed look and understood we were all one team. Finally, as a former City Councilman, I had credibility with City Council but I wanted to ensure them that I would work as a team. We wouldn’t get anything done if we were ﬁghting among ourselves. I agreed to bring ideas to them and give them a chance to shoot them down. I feel strongly that “the more information you can present, the more positive is the reaction. When you try to keep things secretive, the rumors start.” I am open to sharing my ideas and to hearing anyone telling me why my idea is not a good one, but I would rather you tell me up front. I am never afraid of being proven wrong before I start. But once we agree to go forward, then I need your support. When I moved from the private sector to the public sector, I learned that in the public sector, the problems are bigger, it takes much longer to get anything done and you must involve many more partners. As a result, to be successful, you need to look out for opportunities even in the bad things that happen. Bad things can be leveraged to create an opportunity. The catalyst for the Performing Arts Center was a ceiling collapse of a building Seton Hill was considering. Later a 40-year-old, 450-space parking lot collapsed. The city needed about 100 spaces. So, I began talking to some private business owners in the area. My proposal was simple: if you will rebuild the lot into a smaller lot with 200 spaces, we will rent 100 from you monthly. Then you will have the other 100 for your own use. As a result, the city did not have to pay to construct a new parking lot and the private owner would be guaranteed that half his parking lot would be full from day one. Today, a 200 space lot stands on that spot. Never be afraid to ask. In Greensburg, we had no real relationship with our local university but I asked whether they could build some of their campus facilities in town and they said ‘yes.’ Meet regularly with partners and potential partners to explore potential synergies and brain storm. Do not delegate attendance at these meetings. It is a powerful statement of the commitment of time and interest for the Mayor to be there. Every month, I meet with President Boyle of Seton Hill University, the City of Greensburg, the County of Westmoreland, the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Westmoreland, the Greensburg Salem School District, local legislators, and the Westmoreland Trust. I plan to continue these meetings for my entire term as Mayor even though they were begun to discuss one project – the construction of a new Performing Arts Center which will break ground in a matter of months. These meetings have generated a number of ideas that will beneﬁt Seton Hill and the City of Greensburg. For example, Seton Hill began a football program last year and needed a ﬁeld. Stadiums can cost millions of dollars. Meanwhile, the School District had a football ﬁeld that they used for Friday night games. College games are played Saturday afternoon. So the School District ﬁxed up the stadium, the University donated astro-turf and both have a football ﬁeld to be proud of. And the city has an event on Saturday afternoons that draws in students and residents. Other ideas we are batting around include Seton Hill taking over and renovating an older historic building next to the Center to create a Bed and Breakfast for its tourism and hospitality students to run. Seton Hill may need an additional facility for its women’s entrepreneurship program. When you have developers interested in building what you want for your city, help them and support them. We did not bend or break a single rule or regulation to get the Performance Arts Center its permits. But we offered timely support whenever a problem arose. We are both working towards the same result and our job is to facilitate as well as to regulate. Each win provides a new opportunity. Most of our stores have vacant or underutilized upper ﬂoors. As the Performing Arts Center creates new proﬁts for retailers, we will talk to them about renovating their upper ﬂoors into apartments they can rent to students. That means a better use of downtown space, more proﬁts for the retailers, more property taxes for the city, and the opportunity to introduce students to Greensburg in hopes that they will ﬁnd a job and stay here after graduating. As a result, everyone wins. 23 INTERVIEWS WITH PA MAYORS

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Community Revitalization Desktop Guide

PA Community Revitalization Desktop Guide Table of Contents How To Attract High Impact Investment to Core Communities Goal One: Choose One Asset-Rich Redevelopment Area Interviews with Pennsylvania Mayors Goal Two: Prepare Redevelopment Area for Market Interviews with Developers who Have Invested in Pennsylvania Cities and Towns Goal Three: Welcome Investment Interviews with Developers who Have Invested in Pennsylvania Cities and Towns Goal Four: Apply Strategies That Work Conclusion

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